March 1915: A Belgian Concert, in the Alhambra Theatre

An article on page twelve of The Glasgow Herald, on Wednesday the 10th of March, 1915, reads:

 

“A BELGIAN CONCERT.

 

Music is the first of the arts to hasten to the relief of suffering, and already great sums of money

have been realised by concerts for the benefit of charitable and other organisations connected

with the war. Many French and Belgian singers and instrumentalists have been almost ruined

through the disturbed condition of their country, but that has not prevented them from doing

their best for their even more unfortunate fellow countrymen. Before the war Belgium had not

a Red Cross Society.  One has now been formed, and a group of Belgian musicians are touring

this country with the object of providing the necessary funds. Already something like £4000

has been gathered, and some substantial additions are expected. Yesterday afternoon a concert

was given in the Glasgow Alhambra Theatre under distinguished patronage, and, while the

house was not filled, the audience was sufficiently large to show interest in a good object. In

concerts of this kind, as the Lord Provost pointed out, many tickets are taken without being used.

The company included Madame Maria Lannoy, pianist-professor at the Liège Conservatoire;

Madame Coryn-Levasseur of the Paris Conservatoire; M. Antoine de Vally, leading tenor at

Antwerp Theatre Royal; M. Jules Colbert, operatic baritone, Grand Theatre, Verviers; M. Henri

Verbrugghen, well known in Glasgow both for his conspicuous musical gifts and for his

disinterested efforts on behalf of his fellow countrymen; M. Adolphe Coryn, of the Opera Comique,

Paris; and the Glasgow Ladies’ String Orchestra, under Miss Hilda Bailey. …”

 

The article concludes with a brief account of the quality of the artists, and the programme which

“was naturally drawn mostly from composers of the Allied countries, those of France predominating.”

These include Gounod, Delibes, Hahn, Debussy, Grainger, Vieuxtemps, Liszt and Chopin, among others.

 

 

Please see the entry for the article, “For Belgian Red Cross”, on page two of the Daily Record and Mail,

on Wednesday the 10th of March, 1915.

 

 

George Fairfull-Smith, May 2022.