ABSTRACT
The committee of the Belfast Philharmonic Society held its first meeting on 4 September 1874. The new committee appointed a German organist and composer, Heinrich Franz Daniel Stiehl, as conductor. In 1877, the Society was recorded in the Belfast & Ulster Directory: Belfast Philharmonic society. This Society was founded in 1874 for the practice and public performance of choral and instrumental works. In early October 1880 the Philharmonic Society announced the appointment of Sir Robert Stewart's successor. Adolf Beyschlag had behind him a variety of relevant experience with orchestras, choral societies and chamber music groups in Frankfurt, Mainz and Cologne and a reputation as a solo pianist. The Philharmonic Society chorus was self-sufficient; it had so far needed no augmentation. The orchestra needed professional augmentation for every concert. It was a good sign that by the end of the decade a local man could lead the second violins.
