The Wednesday Concerts were a series of concerts held at

Exeter Hall Exeter Hall was a large public meeting place on the north side of the Strand in central London, opposite where the Savoy Hotel now stands. From 1831 until 1907 Exeter Hall was the venue for many great gatherings of activists for various cause ...

in London, established in 1848 and discontinued in 1850. The purpose was to give a miscellaneous musical entertainment at a cheap price of admission, similar to that paid at the

Popular Concerts St. James's Hall was a concert hall in London that opened on 25 March 1858, designed by architect and artist Owen Jones, who had decorated the interior of the Crystal Palace. It was situated between the Quadrant in Regent Street and Piccadilly, ...

. The first series, consisting of fifteen concerts, began on 22 November 1848, and were continued once a week until 28 February 1849. The second and third series were continued until 27 June, twenty-seven having been given altogether. There was a small orchestra under John Willy as leader, and the programmes consisted of light overtures, operatic selections, vocal and orchestral, ballads, and light instrumental pieces. Occasionally more important works were tried, such as Mendelssohn's ''

Antigone ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP). History ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...

'', Rossini's

Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to the Virgin Mary that portrays her suffering as mother during the crucifixion of her son Jesus Christ. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Saba ...

, or Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1. A fourth series of fifteen concerts was given, extending from 24 October 1849 to 30 January 1850, and a fifth was attempted, but only twelve of the fifteen were given. The third and fourth series showed some slight improvement in the programmes; the orchestra was increased to forty, Karl Anschütz was conductor, and symphonies of Mozart and Haydn were occasionally given in their entirety. In spite of the fine artists engaged, these concerts failed to hit the popular taste. Among the artists who appeared were the vocalists Charlotte Birch, Charlotte Dolby, Elizabeth Poole, M. and A. Williams, Elena D'Angri, Jetty Treffz, Elizabeth Rainforth, Mr and Mrs Sims Reeves, John Braham,

Giorgio Ronconi Giorgio Ronconi (6 August 1810 – 8 January 1890) was an Italian operatic baritone celebrated for his brilliant acting and compelling stage presence. In 1842, he created the title-role in Giuseppe Verdi's ''Nabucco'' at La Scala, Milan. Personal ...

Johann Baptist Pischek Johann Baptist Pischek (; 14 October 1814 – 16 February 1873) was a Czech-Austrian operatic baritone. He appeared in opera houses and concert halls in Austria, Germany and England. Life Pischek was born in 1814 in Mšeno in Bohemia, at that tim ...

and Karl Formes; instrumentalists

Kate Loder Kate Fanny Loder, later Lady Thompson, (21 August 1825 – 30 August 1904) was an English composer and pianist. Biography Ancestry Kate Loder was born on 21 August 1825, on Bathwick Street, Bathwick, within Bath, Somerset where the Loder f ...

Sigismond Thalberg Sigismond Thalberg (8 January 1812 – 27 April 1871) was an Austrian composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. Family Thalberg was born in Pâquis near Geneva on 8 January 1812. Thalberg asserted that he ...

Prosper Sainton Prosper Philippe Catherine Sainton (5 June 1813 – 17 October 1890) was a French violinist. Life Sainton was the son of a merchant at Toulouse, where he was born. He entered the Paris Conservatoire under François Antoine Habeneck in 1831 ...

Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (8 June 1812 – 8 October 1865) was a Moravian-Jewish violinist, violist and composer. He was seen as the outstanding violinist of his time and one of Niccolò Paganini's greatest successors. He contributed to polyphonic ...

, Eugène Léon Vivier, Antoine Joseph Lavigne, and Distin and sons; and for the recitation of ''Antigone'', John Vandenhoff, Charlotte Vandenhoff and George Bennett.

References

Attribution * {{Grove1900, first=Alexis, last=Chitty, wstitle=Wednesday Concerts British music history Classical music concerts Classical music in London