The Music Festival
- Background Information
- The Medieval Halls
- The Halls and the Reformation
- The Halls c.1600-1900
- The Halls Today
The Music Festival
- During the nineteenth century, the hall became especially important as the venue of a famous musical festival.
- The festival was founded in 1824 by Richard Bacon, the editor of The Norwich Mercury, to raise funds for the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.
[A print from the Illustrated London News showing the Royal party of the Prince of Wales at the festival of 1866]
- The festival proved a resounding success; on one evening a crowd of 2066 people packed into St Andrew’s Hall to hear a Beethoven symphony.
- The profits were £2400, and encouraged the committee to make the festival a regular triennial event.