Vauxhall Gardens Revisit'd

In his book London: A Social History, Roy Porter portrays the English capital in the 18th Century as an astonishing place. Its tale was one of phenomenal success and an unprecedented creation of wealth. The prosperity that first spawned public concerts in London and later Vauxhall Gardens and its competition was primarily the offshoot of a stable government, growing international commerce with the Crown's colonies, and the manufacture of goods to be marketed domestically and internationally. London spelt demand; it paid good prices for agricultural products and high wages that functioned like a magnet to those at the top of their profession. The more people that were drawn to London, the more the demand for goods and services increased, filling the void between the aristocracy and the commoner with a new social stratum, the middle class. It encompassed merchants, tailors, brewers, clothiers and a host of professionals.

As a result of this unprecedented prosperity, many affluent members of the new and burgeoning middle class suddenly discovered they had time for socializing, and music - especially the nightly concerts at Vauxhall Gardens and other venues - became an integral part of London's cultural life. Music could also be found in the opera house and at music clubs. Public concerts were taking place in London almost half a century before they began in many European cities. In 1672, John Banister began hosting concert programs at his Whitefriars' School and later Thomas Britton's series was held above his shop in Clerkenwell. In the future, these would be replaced by larger and more formal affairs, including The Professional Concerts, the series held at the Pantheon, and the Bach-Abel concerts. Composers Carl Friedrich Abel and Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach, jointly managed the latter.

England rapidly became one of the major musical centers of Europe; a magnet, if you will, attracting some of the leading musical talent from the continent. Geminiani and Castrucci came from Italy, DeFesch and Hellendaal from the Netherlands, Barthélemon from France and of course Handel from Germany. The result of this influx of émigré talent spurred a number of England's brightest and best of the era to follow in the musical footsteps of their European counterparts. While Handel - and to a lesser degree Bononcici - dominated the opera houses, the music of Thomas Arne (1710-1778) drew eager and appreciative crowds at the theaters. Musical evenings in the homes of the affluent included trio sonatas of William Boyce (1711-1779) and Michael Christian Festing (1705-1752) or string concertos by John Hebden (1712-1765). The churches resounded with the organ voluntaries of blind composer John Stanley (1712-1786) and the stately anthems of Boyce and Maurice Green (1696-1755).

London's parks and gardens had been open to the general public since the era of the Stuarts. Hyde Park with its famous Serpentine was perhaps the first, being made available by Charles I in 1635. Later in the century London's fabled pleasure gardens emerged, charging a modest admission and offering refreshment, cold suppers, music, and other forms of entertainment. Two of these - Ranelagh and Vauxhall - began respectively in a tavern and a Thames River country house. The gardens flourished in the 1700s and the tradition persisted well into the 19th Century with Cremorne, Ranelagh's natural successor staying open until 1878 and Chelsea's Eagle Tavern lasting until 1882. Of the 631 London gardens that have been documented, almost four dozen are known to have provided musical entertainment. But it was in the issue of the relatively modest beginnings of Ranelagh and Vauxhall that native English musical talent would become unquestionably dominant.

Outlasting all of its competitors - chief among them Ranelagh, which was an entirely Georgian creation - Vauxhall was one of the English capital's chief social locations; it became famous for its walks and effects like the cascade, activated at 9:00 in the evening. Originally Vauxhall opened in 1661 as Spring Gardens, a plantation with walks and arbors. In its heyday, Vauxhall sported arcades, supper alcoves decorated by the likes of Hogarth and other contemporary painters, and a rotunda where an orchestra and organ would play music both old and new. Vauxhall was also legendary for the ham served with the cold suppers; contemporary reports indicate the slices were "…as thin as muslin." Prior to 1750 most visitors arrived by water on boats from Westminster or Whitehall. After the construction of the new Westminster Bridge, Vauxhall could be accessed by road, but it was a somewhat tedious journey that was further complicated by traffic jams on the most popular nights.

Vauxhall also found a home in English literature as shown in this excerpt from Tobias Smollett's Humphrey Clinker (1771) where the character Matthew Bramble wrote:

"I no sooner entered, than I was dazzled and confounded with the variety of beauties that rushed all at once upon my eye. Image to yourself, my dear Letty, a spacious garden, part laid out in delightful walks, bounded with high hedges and trees, and paved with gravel…exhibiting a wonderful assemblage of the most picturesque and striking objects, pavilions, lodges, groves, grottoes, lawns, temples, lawns, temples, and cascades…the whole illuminated with an infinite number of lamps, disposed in different figures of suns, stars, and constellations…the place crowded with the gayest company…and animated by an excellent band of musick."

In the Victorian era, Charles Dickens - via his Sketches by Boz - echoed the praise accorded Vauxhall in Smollett's book:

"We loved to wander through these illuminated groves, thinking of the patient and laborious researches which had been carried on there during the day and witnessing their results in the suppers which had been served up beneath the light of lamps and to the sound of music at night. The temples and saloons and cosmoramas and fountains glittered and sparkled before our eyes; the beauty of the lady singers and the elegant deportment of the gentlemen, captivated our hearts a few hundred thousand additional lamps dazzled our senses; a bowl or two of punch bewildered our brains; and we were happy."

Though Vauxhall was quite popular it could also be a place for "affrays and adventures." In Evelina, written in 1778 by Frances (Fanny) Burney - daughter of English musicologist Dr. Charles Burney - the protagonist errs in taking a stroll down a long, dark alley and is accosted by a number of "gentlemen" who assume she is a lady of questionable virtue. In spite of the associated perils and pitfalls and the arrival on the scene in 1742 of Ranelagh that catered to a more select clientele, Vauxhall - with its late spring to early autumn season - was a sort of social mecca for both the aristocrat and commoner. There are numerous other descriptions of characteristic evenings by contemporary diarists such as Dr. Samuel Johnson and Samuel Peyps and novelists that include William Makepeace Thackery. Surviving artwork by Antonio Canale, called Canaletto, Thomas Rowlandson, and others helps further attest to the popularity as well as the splendor of the London gardens in general and Vauxhall in particular. Initially, the bandstands - called 'orchestras' - were of simple construction with the audience listening from the promenade or their supper boxes. Later, buildings offered shelter for the musicians and audiences alike. In 1752 Vauxhall added an indoor music room called 'The Umbrella' and an outdoor orchestra known as the 'Moorish-Gothick Temple.'

In A General History of Music, Burney remembered Jonathan Tyers, who founded Georgian Vauxhall, for his "…taste of laying them out (the garden paths, walks, alcoves, and arbors)…good wines, and cold collations." Quoting Burney again, Tyers "…attracted much company thither and rendered it (Vauxhall) a favourite and delightful place of public amusement in fine weather." In 1745 Tyers secured the musical services of one of London's most respected native talents Thomas Arne, his family and associates. After Arne's death in 1778, James Hook directed the music until the 1820s when the reins were handed over to Henry Rowley Bishop. He remained with Vauxhall until the 1830s.

With the advent of the Arne years, vocal music - performed by Mrs. Arne, among others - was added to the programs of instrumental music. Even small-scale operas, accompanied by an orchestra numbering around two dozen players, were presented. Handel and Boyce were among the handful of leading composers who did not write music specifically for Vauxhall. But the music of Handel - especially the organ concertos, the Twelve Grand Concerti, Op. 6, and excerpts from the oratorios - was consistently in favor there, being performed by the likes of tenor John Beard, and bass Thomas Reinhold, both associated with performances of Handel's music. As for Boyce, he was content to heap praise upon the beauties of Vauxhall in several of his song settings.

Because of the nature of the venue, the Vauxhall concerts were informal and somewhat less structured that their modern day counterparts. Like its competitors, Vauxhall offered between a dozen and 20 musical items each evening. Vocal selections included arias and choruses from Handel's oratorios as well as songs specifically composed for the Vauxhall evenings. Instrumental works performed were principally overtures, symphonies and concertos and there was no line of demarcation between the old style (Handel, Corelli, and Geminiani) and the modern (J.C. Bach, Haydn, and Mozart). Also no distinction was made between serious and popular works. They stood side by side, as did sacred and secular. Reproduced below is the first half of a typical program from a Vauxhall evening in 1786:

While the above sample program testifies to the variety of music programmed at Vauxhall, the concerto appears to have been the most popular form in the concerts. There are records indicating numerous performances of such works for the violin, cello, oboe, and clarinet, but the organ concerto was by far the most popular. The only distinguished Vauxhall composers whose organ concertos survive are Thomas Arne (Six Favourite Concertos for the Organ, Harpsichord, or Piano-forte) published posthumously circa 1787 and James Hook (Grand Concertos for Organ or Harpsichord, Op. 20 and Grand Concertos for Organ, Harpsichord or Pianoforte, Op. 55). There were of course, other composers including Thomas Gladwin and James and John Worgan that wrote organ concertos, but many of them are lost. The most lasting contribution of Vauxhall to English musical life was vocal music. Arne, John Worgan, Hook, and Bishop produced 33 collections of songs. Composers of strophic ballads included Arne's son, Michael, Festing, DeFesch and a host of others.

A portion of the instrumental music was independent of the main concert proceedings and was provided by roving groups of wind players called harmonie. Some of these were hired independently of the Vauxhall band to provide tafelmusik (banquet music) at private suppers. The most famous wind band performance at Vauxhall was one of the earliest: the public rehearsal of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks on April 21, 1749 that attracted some 12,000 people, creating massive congestion. However outdoor harmonie did not become established at Vauxhall until the 1760s and then it recalled recent ceremonies as Handel's had commemorated the signing of the treaty at Aix la Chapelle, ending the War of the Austrian Succession. In the last years of the 18th Century the popularity of military of 'martial' music increased, particularly during and after the war with France.

Late in the 18th Century, the pleasure gardens in London began to decline. The culprits were the emerging professional concert societies, changes in musical taste, and the advent of the Industrial Revolution. The latter demanded vast amounts of land for industrial development and housing for the associated workforce. After many years of financial foundering, Vauxhall finally yielded its once legendary elegance and fabled splendor, closing its doors in 1859 almost two centuries after it opened as Spring Gardens. Marylebone was shuttered in 1778 and Ranelagh ceased operation in 1803. As is still the case in the cause of progress, the trumpet of evolution had heralded the end of a tradition as well as an era in English music making.

If you would like to learn more about Vauxhall Gardens, I have appended a short reading list that will be of assistance. Of course there are many other sources that you can enlist via the Internet.

Edelstein, T J: Vauxhall Gardens
New Haven, CT: Yale Center for British Arts, 1983

Hunt, John Dixon: Vauxhall and London's Garden Theaters
Alexandria, VA: Chadwyck and Healy, 1985

Southworth, J G: Vauxhall Gardens: A Chapter in the Social History of England
London, 1941

In recent years, a portion of the concert repertoire of Vauxhall, Ranelagh, and Marylebone has begun to make its way to compact disc. Several titles that may be of interest are also listed below. This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive list of either books or recordings. It is merely a starting point for those of you who are curious enough to want to seek additional information on Vauxhall as well as sample the music of the composers' whose works were popular in London venues in the 18th Century.

18th Century British Symphonies (Abel, Arne, Collett, Erskine, Marsh, and Smethergell)
ASV GAU 2167; Graham Lea-Cox ; The Hanover Band

Hebden: Six Concertos for Strings, Op. 2
Chandos 8339; Cantilena

Arne: Six Favourite (sic) Concertos for the Organ, Harpsichord or Forte-piano
Hyperion CDA 66509; Paul Nicholson, keyboards; The Parley of Instruments

Stanley: Six Concertos in Seven Parts, Op. 2
Hyperion CDA 66338; Roy Goodman, violin; The Parley of Instruments

Bond: Six Concertos in Seven Parts
Hyperion CDA 66467; Roy Goodman, violin; The Parley of Instruments

In addition to these examples, there are symphonies by Arne, Boyce and Samuel Wesley; violin concertos of Thomas Linley the Younger - a close friend of Mozart - and James Hook; trio sonatas by Arne, and concertos by Charles Avison, Thomas Roseingrave, John Mahon and more. A more comprehensive discography can be obtained by contacting me at michael.carter@eku.edu.