"JULLIEN'S CONCERT, On Friday night, drew an immense crowd. So great was the rush that many people were carried in without paying, much against their inclinations; and the glass door was broken for fresh air.
"Ladies were borne out fainting; one lost her shoe; late comers and those who could not stand the crowd, lost the chance; and it was reported that among the mishaps of the evening was the loss of a very valuable bustle, which was worked off by the crowd, and the worst of it was, that it is said to have contained some very confidential correspondence."
To lose a shoe is a misfortune, to lose a bustle looks like carelessness.
Ladies having their bustles worked off and ladies enclosing confidential correspondence in the folds(?) of their very valuable bustles seem to me to be something original, though, for all I know, these things might have been commonplace.
Jullien's 'promenade' concerts, here in Exeter's Subscription Rooms,were the precursors of the Henry Wood concerts of today and perhaps the nearest to 'pop' concerts of the mid -nineteenth century. Louis Jullien, with his jewelled baton, was the Andre Rieu of his time, staging 'monster' concerts which included polkas, waltzes, galoppes and quadrilles alongside the classical repertoire. Too pop, perhaps, for The Western Times (8th February, 1845) reporter, - hence the heavy sarcasm?
The previous week's edition of The Times, though, was warm in its praise of M. Jullien's initiatives:
"M. Jullien deserves the thanks of the musical world for having brought first rate music within the ears of the million. The "promenade" price is one shilling; reserved seats for the 'top sawyer', folks, only half -a-crown."
Top sawyer is no longer used. Top sawyer folks were VIPs or superior people, people who had an easy life. The idea comes from the use of two-handed saws where the top or upper sawyer has a much less arduous time of it than his mate beneath..
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