1848
The Duke Of Cambridge Attends
A four day music festival, as part of a run of triennial events.
The Festival committee wrote to the composer Felix Mendelssohn asking for a new oratorio to be performed at Norwich. Mendelssohn was unable to commit but, in his response, spoke highly of the reputation Norwich had on the continent. He was to die a short time later, and so the 1848 Festival staged a concert of his Elijah in his memory.
The Duke of Cambridge attended the festival but arrived in the middle of a concert – the orchestra stopped their performance of Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony in order to play the national anthem!
Having been such a success during her first visit to Norwich in 1847, Soprano Jenny Lind was offered 1,000 guineas to sing at the 1848 Festival – unfortunately, she was unable to accept the invitation but instead sent a cheque for £50 towards the hospital funds. She returned to Norwich in 1849 and again in 1856 and 1862 but would never sing at the Festival itself!