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Marking the 200th birthday of one of the nation's most influential musical organisations, this week Composer Of The Week celebrates the story of the Royal Philharmonic Society - and the remarkable roll-call of commissions and world premieres given by the Society during its two centuries of existence.
From 1813 to the present day, the one-time "Philharmonic Society of London" (it acquired its "Royal" title in 1912) has been responsible for some of the greatest musical masterpieces of each successive generation. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was commissioned by the Society, as was Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony, Vaughan Williams' Ninth, Elgar's Violin Concerto, Saint-Saëns' "Organ" Symphony, and many others.
But more than this, the story of the RPS is one of our nation's relationship with some of Europe's greatest composers. Richard Wagner came to London to conduct the Society for one, tumultuous, season in 1855, following in the footsteps of his compatriot Felix Mendelssohn - a great supporter and friend of the organisation. Later, Dvorak, Saint-Saens, Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov all enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the Society, delighting audiences with their performances. Complementing an almost unparalleled playlist of commissions from the 19th century, each day we'll also hear a key RPS commission from the 20th and 21st centuries - showcasing works by Thea Musgrave, Alan Rawthorne and Mark-Anthony Turnage.
This week, Donald Macleod is joined by the cultural historian Leanne Langley to take us through all these stories and many more, exploring musical highlights both familiar and unfamiliar from the first 100 years of the organisation and the watershed the RPS faced in the late 20th century as it faced financial crisis and potential extinction.
He speaks to the Society's current Executive Director, Rosemary Johnson, about how the RPS dramatically reinvented itself in the 21st century as a commissioner and promoter of new music - and the remarkable litany of new commissions (more than 50 and counting since the turn of the millennium) that have seen the RPS reclaim their position at the heart of British musical life.
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Donald Macleod begins his exploration of the RPS's bicentenary with the story of how the Philharmonic Society came to be founded in 1813, as part of the great architectural and artistic projects of Regency London. He juxtaposes one of the Society's very first commissions, by the little-known Ferdinand Ries, with arguably their greatest-ever: Beethoven's monumental Ninth Symphony. The programme ends with another valedictory Ninth Symphony, commissioned by the RPS in the 20th century, by Ralph Vaughan Williams.