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Collection Description
Collection name
Birmingham Musical Festival (1817-1912)
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Description
A collection of 93 programmes from the Birmingham Musical Festival, 1817-1912. The collection contains volumes from the following years: 1817, 1849, 1852, 1891, 1894, 1900 (4 copies), 1903, 1909, 1912. The festival was alternatively entitled the “Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival”, a name which appears in the 1894 programmes. The festival usually took place in October – occasionally September – from Wednesday to Saturday (from Wednesday to Friday in the 1817 festival). The collection chiefly contains programmes from two separate concerts per day, thus the total number of programmes per festival is often eight. In addition, later volumes in the collection contain a leaflet summarising the concerts in the festival, and one volume (1817) contains a printed copy of the accounts from the festival at the end of the volume.
Some programmes are annotated, and some have signatures of performers: the volume from 1912 has signatures from, for instance, Edward Elgar. Programmes from 1891 onwards contain analytical programme notes and musical examples.
The festivals were held in aid of the General Hospital, Birmingham. The concerts took place at Town Hall, Birmingham or an unnamed venue. One programme is from St. Philip’s Church, Birmingham.
The festival contained two types of concert, approximately equal in number: large-scale performances of oratorios and miscellaneous concerts that usually alternated orchestral works with solo works and small-scale choral numbers. There are programmes from significant British and world premiers; there is a programme from the British premiere of Sibelius’ Fourth symphony, for instance.
Arrangement:
The programmes are arranged chronologically.
Date range
1817 - 1912
Associated People and Organisations
Hallé, Charles -
Birmingham Musical Festival -
Birmingham Triennial Festival -
Manns, August -
Richter, Hans -
Associated Places
Welshpool
Town Hall, Leeds
Town Hall, Birmingham
St. Philip's Church, Birmingham
Birmingham Coliseum (afterwards Gaiety)
Associated Times
19th century - early Victorian 1837-1850
19th century - mid Victorian 1851-1875
19th century - late Victorian 1876-1899
20th century - early 1900-1930
19th century - early 1800-1836
Associated Content
Musical Examples
Analytical Notes
Word books
First performances
Annotations
Signatures
Star Item(s)
Strength(s)
Further details
Viewing the Collection
Mon-Fri by appointment
Visiting information
Location details
Royal College Of Music, Library
London SW7 2BS Open Map
DOMUS
Website
http://www.rcm.ac.uk/library/
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NEW CONTACT DETAILS: 020 7591 4325; [email protected].; https://www.rcm.ac.uk/library
Star Objects
For details of other collections held at the same location: See the location record
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