ABSTRACT

What exactly did Leo mean when he told Hallé that Manchester music needed ‘taking in hand’ (if, indeed, the phrase was Leo’s – Hallé quotes it in his narrative, 1 but the surviving contemporary letter, as given by Charles E. Hallé in 1896, 2 does not include it)? Manchester was not a land without music. Some descriptions give the impression that the city had no music to speak of before Hallé arrived, except for the Gentlemen’s Concerts – and that these were of limited interest to real music lovers until he took charge of them. 3 But, though music in the city was different before he came from the shape it took later, there was no lack of activity, nor of audiences.