A collection of programmes from concerts given in town halls in London. The collection also contains programmes from concerts given at municipal halls other than town halls, for instance assembly halls, civic halls and municipal halls. The collection dates from 1876. Though there are few other programmes from the nineteenth century and a small number from the early twentieth century, the majority of the collection dates from 1920 to 1980. The collection covers a substantial amount of venues. However, there is a significant amount of programmes from Brent Town Hall (Wembley), Kensington Town Hall and St. Pancras Town Hall. There is also a smaller, but still significant, amount of programmes from Camden Town Hall (Euston Road), Ealing Town Hall and Old Town Hall (Fulham Broadway). For programmes from Chelsea Town Hall, see separate record for this collection.

The concerts covered by the programmes in the town hall collection represent a wide variety of concerts. The majority of programmes are from large-scale concerts, including orchestral concerts, opera and oratorio. For example, there are a number of programmes from rarely performed opera performances held at the Old Town Hall (Fulham Broadway). However, solo recitals and chamber music concerts are also represented in the collection, including recitals given by significant international performers. The large-scale concerts include a significant amount of performances given by non-professional groups, including local operatic societies and orchestras.

Arrangement:
Programmes are arranged by alphabetical order of the venue name in direct order – i.e. “Acton Town Hall” not “Town Hall, Acton” – and then chronologically.

1876 -

-

Not Specific

• London [England]
• Old Town Hall, Fulham Broadway
• Town Hall, Brent
• Town Hall, Camden
• Town Hall, Ealing
• Town Hall, Kensington
• Town Hall, St. Pancras

• 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

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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.