A collection of programmes from concerts given in London palaces, excluding the “People’s palace” and “Buckingham palace”. [See separate collection record for these venues]. Concert venues represented include the following palaces: Albert palace, Alexandra palace, Chelsea palace, Eltham palace, Hampton court, Kensington palace, Lambeth palace and St. James’ palace. Most programmes are for recitals involving small numbers of players. However, the programmes for Alexandra palace include large orchestral concerts, choral works and organ concerts. The programmes from Albert palace (programmes from the late nineteenth-century) include a wide variety of entertainments, of which musical entertainments are just one feature. Programmes from Hampton court include a small number of “Serenade concerts”, as well as performances of masques, jigs and early opera by the London opera club. St. James’ palace is chiefly represented by charity concerts, often involving both royal patronage and celebratory classical performers.

Arrangement:
Programmes are arranged first by alphabetical order of the venue name, then chronologically.

1885 -

-

Not Specific

• London opera club -
• Serenade Concert Series -

• Albert Palace, Battersea Park
• Alexandra Palace
• Chelsea Palace
• Eltham Palace
• Hampton Court Palace
• Kensington Palace
• Lambeth Palace
• London [England]
• St. James's Palace

• 19th century - late Victorian 1876-1899
• 20th century - early 1900-1930
• 20th century - late 1971-1999
• 20th century - mid 1931-1970

College Hall 220-238 Goldhawk Road London W12 9PL

Open Map

portraits@rcm.ac.uk

020 7591 4340

020 7589 7740 

Mon-Fri by appointment

The Portraits and Performance History Collection and its associated reading room is housed in a recently adapted space within the RCM's College Hall, its hall of residence for students. There is step-free access for visitors.

The Centre for Performance History (CPH) is a research centre and is also responsible for the stewardship of two well-established RCM research collections, the Museum of Instruments and the Portraits and Performance History Collection (PPHC). The latter houses a diverse collection relating to the history of performance including the RCM’s internationally famous collection of images, comprising 340 original portraits and sculptures and 25,000 prints and photographs, forming the most comprehensive archive of likenesses of musicians in the UK. The collection of 600,000 concert programmes from 1720 to the present day is of major importance for research into the history of music, society and culture.