The life of Robert Hausmann’s great-uncle (actually, son of great-uncle) Georg Hausmann can give us an idea of what chamber music concerts were like in the first half of the nineteenth century. Georg, who moved to Britain 1837, was active for over twenty years both there and in Germany. Besides playing in quartets and other kinds of chamber music, he performed as a soloist on concerts made up of vocal and instrumental numbers, and he also played in a few orchestras.
Looking at the reviews and advertisements for the musical events he was part of can give us an idea of how much the concert changed in the second half of the century. The early concerts were much more casually and spontaneously put together, and the public/private distinction could be unclear. There are many reports in the 1830s and 1840s of no-shows, programs that are out of order, and other signs of poor planning. In an 1839 report on “Mrs. Baxter’s concert” at the Hanover Square Rooms, George Hausmann was mentioned as playing on the first half, but leaving before his solo in the second half. This was perhaps understandable, given that “Mrs. Baxter herself unable to attend from illness,” and “Herr Kroff, who had been made a star in the programme, did not come.”
Hausmann played on many concerts where a musician hired professionals to participate in a modest venue. He and others played, for instance, on “Miss Bulling’s Concert” (1839), as well as the concerts of Miss Roeckel (1840), Miss Johnson (1841), the Misses Pyne (1841), Miss Neate (1841), Miss Lightfoot (1842), Miss Lucombe (1843), Miss Bincke (1843) and other ladies, who were almost all singers. Some of these concert givers can be identified and had long careers, while others vanish after one concert.
If the lady was foreign, it was more likely that she was an instrumentalist. For instance, Hausmann collaborated frequently with the pianist “Madame Dulcken.” Louise Dulcken (1811-1850) was the sister of the violinist Ferdinand David, and had been playing concerts since she was a child prodigy. In 1848 they and the “comic singer” John Parry made an exhaustive tour of the provinces, giving concerts in Cheltenham, Leamington, Derby, Lindon, Harrogate, Scarborough, York, Richmond, Darlington, Durham, Gloucester, Birmingham, Worcester, Clifton, Bath, Lynn, Norwich, Bury St. Edmunds, and Ipswich.
Hausmann also played on novelty pieces, such as a Romance for four cellos and an arrangement for three cellos of the famous trio from William Tell. When the German cellist Max Bohrer gave a London concert in 1849, he staged a sensational show piece of star cellists, a Serenade for Five Cellos, Double Bass, and Drums by Schwenke. Bohrer was joined by Hausmann, Alfredo Piatti, Bernard Cossmann, Lucas, and Erber.1The Dramatic and Musical Review (1849): 204.
When Hausmann played solos on concerts, he used a bravura style with special effects, such as imitating a bagpipe. This was met with mixed reviews—some referred to him as the Paganini of the cello, while others found it in bad taste and not even qualifying as music. A particularly negative review from Dresden in 1846 exclaimed: “How often virtuosos mistake the character of their instrument! Nothing other than artificiality, penny whistle sounds and other kinds of piping here in the depths and there in the heights; there was no question of a tune.”2“Daß doch Virtuosen so häufig den Charakter ihres Instrumentes verkennen! Nichts wie Künstlereien, Flageolettöne und sonstige Schnurrpfeifereien bald in der Tiefe bald in der Höhe, von einem Gesange war gar keine Rede.” “Aus Dresden,” Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (1847) 114-115.
On the other hand, his performance in Aberdeen in 1851 got a sensational review: “The effect of the solos of Herr Hausmann on the violoncello can only be adequately described by saying that they electrified the audience. His power over that most wonderful of instruments we have never seen equalled. He brings out a series of sounds of immense compass, and in passages requiring either great power or exquisite tenderness, he is equally successful.”3The Aberdeen Journal, March 19, 1851; Issue 5384.
These kinds of events became less frequent as the years went by, and the most respectable kind of “classical chamber concerts” gradually evolved. In the 1830s Hausmann played on concerts where chamber works by Mayseder, Hummel, and Mendelssohn were frequent choices. Beethoven was always a possibility; his Quintet in C major, op. 29, was much more popular than compared to today.
