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Collection Description
Collection name Henry Wood Collection: Sheffield Musical Festival (1896-1933)
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Description A collection of nine volumes of programmes from the Sheffield Musical Festival and one loose programme, 1896 to 1933.

There are volumes of programmes from 1899, 1902, 1905, 1908, 1911 and 1933. There is also a loose programme from the Thursday morning concert in 1908, which duplicates one of the programmes in the bound volume for this year. There are three souvenir volumes: these cover 1899 (“presented by the festival association to the members of the voluntary chorus”); 1896 & 1899 (contains for example pictures, chorus lists and articles); 1896, 1899 & 1902 (contains for example pictures, chorus lists and articles).

The majority of festivals consisted of six concerts, two per day from Wednesday to Friday. Exceptions include the 1933 festival, which consisted of only two days of festival and with concerts per day. Another exception is the 1908 festival’s concerts: these were spread over five consecutive days. The festivals all took place in October. Though the venue for the festivals is unspecified, the concerts could have taken place at City Hall, Sheffield: there is a named sktech of this venue on the front cover of the 1933 programme.

The titles of performing groups were sometimes unspecified; in other cases, the orchestra was the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1933) or the Queen's Hall Orchestra (1908, 1911). The choruses involved with the festival were advertised for their size (“over 300 voices”) and voluntary nature. The conductors for the festivals varied, but included August Manns (1899); Henry Wood (1902; 1908, 1911, 1933); Weingartner (1905) – as well as composers conducting their own music, for instance Edward Elgar (1902).

The concerts were generally one of two types. One sort of concert contained one work per concert, either an oratorio of similar large-scale vocal work, such as Berlioz’s Faust. The second type of concert was a mixed concert: these contained a combination of smaller choral works (some scared, some secular), solo arias or scenes from operas and orchestral works. Occasionally concerts would feature solo instrumental music, usually performed by a “star” performer, such as Kreisler (1908). Repertoire included recently composed music, as well as older repertoire, and included a significant amount of recently composed British music.

Arrangement:
The programmes are arranged chronologically.
Date range 1896 - 1933
Associated People and Organisations Manns, August - Sheffield Musical Festival - London Philharmonic Orchestra - Elgar, Edward - Richter, Hans - Wood, Henry - Queen's Hall Orchestra 1895 - 1915 Weingartner, Felix -
Associated Places City Hall, Sheffield
Associated Times 19th century - late Victorian 1876-1899 20th century - early 1900-1930 20th century - mid 1931-1970
Associated Content Musical Examples Analytical Notes Photographs
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Term-Time Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 9.00–18.00 Saturdays: 9.00–12.00 (Junior Academy terms only) Vacation hours vary and are advertised in the Library Information section in the on-line Unicorn Catalogue.
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Location details

Royal Academy of Music, Library
Marylebone Road London NW1 5HT Open Map
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Website http://www.ram.ac.uk
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Collections Overview Books; printed music; sound recordings; choral sets; orchestral sets; manuscripts; early printed music & books; undergraduate & research
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For details of other collections held at the same location: See the location record

Additional Collection Information
Accrual Status Closed
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