ABSTRACT
Manchester, bustling industrial city and centre of commerce, had a lively musical life. In Manchester, however, Frederic Chopin was supported by a different section of the public. Thus in Manchester, Chopin's changes necessitated the printing of a supplementary programme by the Directors of the Gentlemen's Concert Society, whereas in Glasgow, John Muir Wood, the organizer, similarly suffered in his efforts to make Chopin commit himself. In Manchester, Chopin explained, 'some kind friends are awaiting her, wealthy manufacturers who have Neukomm staying with them.' The interior of the Concert Hall, Love remarked in 1842, was 'fitted up with a splendour which is in accordance with the musical spirit for which Manchester is celebrated'. Friends and visitors, in Manchester and at Glyn Garth, included not only the radicals John Bright and Richard Cobden, but also Geraldine Jewsbury, Mrs Gaskell, and the prison reformer Thomas Wright.
