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The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a membership society, and while it no longer has its own orchestra, it continues to promote concerts of new music. The society's Gold Medal for outstanding musicianship is awarded only occasionally.

Contents 1 History 2 The Gold Medal 2.1 Recipients 3 Honorary membership 3.1 Honorary members 4 External links

In London, at a time when there were no permanent London orchestras, nor organised series of chamber music concerts, a group of professional musicians formed the Philharmonic Society of London on January 24, 1813. The society's aim was "to promote the performance, in the most perfect manner possible of the best and most approved instrumental music". The first concert on March 8, 1813 was presided over by Johann Peter Salomon, with Muzio Clementi at the piano, and included symphonies by Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven.

The society asked Beethoven to come to London, but the composer's health prevented his accepting the invitation. However the society's request for a new symphony from him resulted in the Choral Symphony. In 1827 Beethoven wrote to the society outlining his straitened circumstances; at a special general meeting the society resolved to send the composer £100 immediately (George Bernard Shaw once referred to this as "the only creditable incident in English history"). Other works written for the society include the Italian Symphony by Felix Mendelssohn. Distinguished conductors included Hector Berlioz, who conducted a concert of his works in 1853, Richard Wagner, who conducted the whole 1855 season of orchestral concerts, and Tchaikovsky, who conducted his own works in 1888 and 1893.

The society became the Royal Philharmonic Society during its 100th concert season in 1912, and continued organising concerts through the two world wars. It is now a membership society which "seeks to create a future for music through the encouragement of creativity, the recognition of excellence and the promotion of understanding."

The Gold Medal was first awarded in 1871. The medal depicts the profile of a bust of Beethoven by Schaller which was presented to the society in 1870, Beethoven's centenary. It is awarded for "outstanding musicianship", and is given rarely — by 2005 it had been awarded to a total of fewer than 90 musicians.

1871 William Sterndale Bennett Christine Nilsson Charles Gounod Joseph Joachim Helen Lemmins-Sherrington Arabella Goddard Charles Santley William George Cusins Theresa Tietiens Fanny Linzbauer (the donor of the bust of Beethoven) 1872 Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa 1873 Hans von Bülow 1876 Louisa Bodda-Pyne Anton Rubinstein 1877 Johannes Brahms 1880 Stanley Lucas 1895 Adelina Patti 1897 Emma Albani Ignacy Jan Paderewski 1900 Edward Lloyd 1901 Eugène Ysaÿe 1902 Jan Kubelik 1903 Clara Butt 1904 Fritz Kreisler 1909 Louise Kirkby Lunn 1910 Emil von Sauer 1912 Pablo Casals Harold Bauer Luisa Tetrazzini 1914 Muriel Foster 1916 Vladimir de Pachmann 1921 Henry Wood 1922 Alexander Mackenzie 1932 Alfred Cortot 1925 Frederick Delius Edward Elgar 1928 Thomas Beecham 1930 Ralph Vaughan Williams Gustav Holst 1931 Arnold Bax 1932 Sergei Rachmaninov 1934 Edward German Hamilton Harty 1935 Jean Sibelius 1936 Richard Strauss 1937 Felix Weingartner Arturo Toscanini 1942 Myra Hess

1944 Sergei Prokofiev Adrian Boult 1947 William Walton 1950 John Barbirolli 1953 Kathleen Ferrier 1954 Igor Stravinsky 1957 Bruno Walter 1959 Malcolm Sargent 1961 Arthur Rubinstein 1962 Yehudi Menuhin 1963 Arthur Bliss Pierre Monteux 1964 Lionel Tertis Benjamin Britten 1966 Dmitri Shostakovich 1967 Zoltán Kodály 1970 Mstislav Rostropovich 1974 Vladimir Horowitz 1975 Olivier Messiaen 1976 Michael Tippett 1980 Clifford Curzon 1984 Herbert von Karajan 1986 Andrés Segovia Witold Lutosławski 1987 Leonard Bernstein 1988 Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau 1989 Georg Solti 1990 Claudio Arrau Janet Baker Bernard Haitink Sviatoslav Richter 1991 Isaac Stern 1992 Alfred Brendel 1994 Colin Davis 1995 Elliott Carter Rafael Kubelík 1997 Pierre Boulez 1999 Simon Rattle Plácido Domingo 2002 Joan Sutherland 2003 Claudio Abbado 2004 György Ligeti 2005 Charles Mackerras

Through awarding honorary membership the society recognises "services to music". Like the Gold Medal, honorary membership is awarded rarely; first awarded in 1826, by 2006 only 117 honorary members had been created.

1826 Carl Maria von Weber 1829 Daniel-François-Esprit Auber Jean François Lesueur Felix Mendelssohn Giacomo Meyerbeer George Onslow 1830 Johann Nepomuk Hummel 1836 Sigismond Thalberg 1839 Gioacchino Rossini 1859 Hector Berlioz Niels Wilhelm Gade Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy Moritz Hauptmann Ferdinand Hiller Franz Liszt Heinrich Marschner Ignaz Moscheles Julius Rietz Johannes Verhulst 1860 Richard Wagner 1861 Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa 1869 Lucy Anderson 1869 Otto Goldschmidt Charles Gounod Stephen Heller Theresa Tietiens 1870 Joseph Joachim 1882 Johannes Brahms Joachim Raff Alberto Randegger Giuseppe Verdi 1884 Antonín Dvořák Sophie Menter Wassily Sapellnikoff Pablo de Sarasate 1885 Giovanni Bottesini Hans von Bülow 1886 Franz Rummel 1887 Moritz Moszkowski Camille Saint-Saëns Clara Schumann 1888 Johan Svendsen 1889 Edvard Grieg Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Charles-Marie Widor 1891 František Ondříček Eugène Ysaÿe 1893 Ignacy Jan Paderewski 1894 Max Bruch 1897 Emil von Sauer Alexander Glazunov 1899 Moriz Rosenthal 1902 Sergei Rachmaninoff Jules Massenet 1906 Raoul Pugno Hans Richter Richard Strauss 1908 Jan Kubelík 1912 Vasily Ilyich Safonov 1913 Willem Mengelberg Arthur Nikisch 1921 Alfred Cortot Maurice Ravel Igor Stravinsky Arturo Toscanini

1922 Harold Bauer 1927 Leopold Stokowski 1929 Jean Sibelius 1930 Pablo Casals 1948 Keith Douglas John Mewburn Levien 1951 Frederic Austin Ernest Irving 1953 Marion Scott Albert Schweitzer 1959 Arthur Rubinstein 1956 Paul Hindemith Gregor Piatigorsky 1959 Benno Moiseiwitsch 1960 George Baker 1970 Aaron Copland 1971 William Glock 1984 Eric Fenby 1985 Lennox Berkeley Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Yehudi Menuhin Gerald Moore Solomon 1986 Lorin Maazel 1987 Janet Baker Peter Maxwell Davies Léon Goossens 1988 Claudio Arrau Julian Bream Bernard Haitink 1989 John Denison Vernon Handley 1990 Charles Groves Rafael Kubelík 1991 Thomas Armstrong Harrison Birtwistle Pierre Boulez Elliott Carter Joan Cross György Ligeti Paul Sacher Katharine, The Duchess of Kent 1994 Felix Aprahamian Charles Mackerras 1996 Howard Ferguson 1997 John Gardner 1998 George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood George Christie 1999 David Willcocks Richard Steinitz Philip Jones Anthony Payne 2001 Evelyn Barbirolli 2002 Oliver Knussen 2004 Richard McNicol 2006 Michael Kennedy

• The Royal Philharmonic Society
• British Library: Beethoven and the Royal Philharmonic Society