District in Yorkshire (since 1974). It comprises the ancient city of Ripon, Harrogate – famous as a spa town in the 18th century – and a number of villages. The musical reputation of the area relied at first on the choral foundation of the ancient minster of Ripon, but has been much enhanced by the Harrogate Festival established in 1966.
It is likely that St Wilfrid (634–709), a native of Ripon, founded a choir school there, but the first documented references to music in the minster (a diocesan cathedral since 1836) belong to the Fabric Rolls of 1399, where the use of organs was mentioned. The names of organists and their emoluments in the 15th and 16th centuries are recorded. A later medieval manuscript (GB-Lbl Add.50856) from the Ripon minster library, devoted to the life of a saint, contains the words and melody of A ballet of ye death of Everyman and other fragments of vernacular songs without music. The choral foundation as re-established in the early 17th century allowed for two vicars-choral, six ‘singing-men’, six choristers and an organist. E.J. Crow, organist from 1873 to 1902, conducted the Cathedral Festival Choir and the Ripon Orchestral Society. His successor, C.H. Moody, was conspicuous for his efforts after World War II to maintain the existence of a choir school and a daily sung service. The first church in Harrogate to be provided with an organ was Christ Church, where an instrument of two manuals, with ‘German’ pedals (1½ octaves), was installed in 1834. This was built by Francis Booth of Wakefield, rebuilt in about 1906 by Hill, Norman & Beard, and by John Jackson in 1985.
By the mid-18th century concerts were being given in the playhouses of Harrogate. During the 19th century music became a principal amenity of a health resort with a rapidly growing reputation: recitals, military band performances and orchestral concerts proliferated. Military band music was particularly favoured in the Victorian era and players, paid £1 a week, were often expected to play four times daily, the first appearance being at 7.30 a.m. Among the many resident orchestral conductors in Harrogate the most important were Julian Clifford, who attempted to form a Yorkshire Permanent Orchestra based in Harrogate, and Basil Cameron, whose concerts in the Royal Hall in 1925 were notably successful artistically and financially. In the early part of the 20th century the Harrogate Municipal Orchestra came into being.
Amateur music has flourished for many years and the Harrogate, Ripon City, Knaresborough and Haworth Brass or Silver Bands testify to the strength of the most famous indigenous amateur tradition. Other music organizations there are the Harrogate Chamber Orchestra, String Orchestra, Music Club and Concert Society.
A festival was inaugurated in Harrogate in 1927, but it was not until 1966 that it was possible to make such an undertaking relatively secure through local authority support. Some performances are given in churches and in Ripon Cathedral. The festival organizers have commissioned new works from Leonard Salzedo, Norman Kay, Wilfred Josephs and Dominic Muldowney, and, in cooperation with the music department of York University, has provided a forum for the performance and discussion of contemporary music.
J.T. Fowler, ed.: Memorials of the Church of SS Peter and Wilfred, Ripon (Durham, 1882–6)
J.E. West: Cathedral Organists, Past and Present (London, 1899, 2/1921)
C.H. Moody: ‘A Choir School for Ripon’, MT, ci (1960), 444–5
E. Bradbury: ‘Harrogate Festival’, MT, cvii (1966), 885 only
T.L. Cooper: Brass Bands of Yorkshire (Clapham, Yorks., 1974)
PERCY M. YOUNG