Alexandra Palace: Music, Leisure, and the Cultivation of 'Higher Civilization' in the Late Nineteenth Century

Abstract

Alexandra Palace and Park, situated on Muswell Hill in North London, opened in 1873. Envisaged as a ‘palace of the people’, this enormous structure and landscaped gardens were constructed to provide leisure and entertainment to a local population estimated to be one million people. It provided a cornucopia of attractions including flower displays, circus acts, horse racing, art exhibitions, and the performance of oratorio, opera, and orchestral, band, and symphonic music. Like many ventures of its time, the Palace and Park were not economically viable and by the late nineteenth century its future was in jeopardy. This article examines the first twenty (or so) years of its operation and the economic, social, cultural, and musical pressures placed upon it. In addition to ‘reading’ the musical life of the Palace as textbook case of the expression of nation, Empire, and religion, we argue that a more subtle reading of the Palace’s mission was to promulgate a so-called ‘higher civilization’ that was prevalent in popular and scholarly discourses of the day.