A collection of 80 programmes from the Steinway Hall, London. The collection falls roughly into two parts, pre-1920 and post-1920. The collection chiefly consists of programmes, but includes a concert hall seating plan (undated, but post-1908).

Pre-1920 material:
The majority of programmes are from concerts, with a couple of items from “Drawing Room Entertainments” and mixed concerts of songs and “Recitation”. Purely musical concert programmes are from recitals and chamber music concerts, as well as a number of mixed genre concerts. There are a few programmes from various series of Thomas Dunhill chamber concerts, dating from 1913, 1915 and 1916. There are also a few programmes from all-British concerts, usually named the “All-British concerts, Isidore de Lara”. These date from 1916 to 1919.

Post-1920 material:
The majority of the material post-1920 relates to Dorothy Silk and her concert series, usually entitled “Dorothy Silk concerts of Old Music”. These were concerts incorporating vocal works and instrumental works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries or earlier. Bach, Schütz, Handel and Purcell made up the core of these concerts, with Bach in particular contributing a high proportion of the programmes. However, other composers featured in the programmes, including works by Dowland. Though Dorothy Silk sung at all of the concerts, she did not feature in all the items within the concert; other singers also appeared.

The programmes date from 1878 to 1924. There are ten programmes from concerts given pre-1900. The collection is most dense post-1920: there are just under half the number of programmes for the five years between 1920 and 1924 as for the over 40 years between 1878 and 1919.

Arrangement:
The programmes are arranged chronologically. Undated programmes are filed at the end of the dated sequence. This is followed by a concert-hall seating plan.

1878 - 1924

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Not Specific

• Dorothy Silk Concerts of Old Music -
• Silk, Dorothy -

• London [England]
• Steinway Hall, London (became Grotian Hall 1925)

• 19th century - late Victorian 1876-1899
• 20th century - early 1900-1930

• Seating Plans

College Hall 220-238 Goldhawk Road London W12 9PL

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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.