1823

Each year up to this point has seen a fundraising sermon with musical performances, to raise money for the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.

With diminishing funds and an increasing apathy towards the event, the last fundraising sermon was held at the Cathedral, raising less than £100.

On the suggestion of local businessmen Richard Mackenzie Bacon (who owned the Norwich Mercury newspaper) and Edward Taylor (himself a keen musician), a decision was made to scrap the annual sermon and occasional ‘Grand Musical’ festivals in favour of one larger, four-day music festival every three years (i.e., triennial).

Once again, the aims would be both philanthropic and artistic; the best performers in the country would be hired and a locally formed festival chorus would accompany them in some of the most popular pieces of the time. The proceeds of this new Triennial Festival would be given over in full to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.

The Hospital governance boards took some convincing that this was the right course of action but once a guarantee fund was raised, they agreed and gave their full backing.

Committees of local people, usually dignitaries or others from positions of high standing in society, gave their time for free to organize the festival and King George IV consented to be patron.