Concert and Theatre Programs Collection, 1860s-2007
Boxes : 1-10 : 11-20 : 21-30 : 31-40 : 41-50 : 51-67.
The Louise Hanson-Dyer Music Library owns a substantial collection of concert and theatre programs. Containing two bound volumes and sixty-six boxes of programs, the uniqueness of the collection lies in its Victorian focus with almost seventy per cent of the programs relating to musical life in Melbourne. A further twenty per cent relate to overseas concerts and the remaining programs (approximately eight per cent) to various interstate organisations.
The scope and depth of the collection is remarkable. Melbourne's musical history as represented in this collection can be traced from the establishment of the Melbourne Philharmonic Society in 1853 and the Fitzroy Musical Union's public concerts in 1860 through to the development of Melbourne's first orchestras, various exhibitions and musical festivals (such as the Christmas Festival of 1882 and the International Exhibition Concerts in 1888), the foundation of the Ormond Chair of Music, and later the Musica Viva Society, visits by renowned professional musicians such as Charles and Lady Hallé, Fritz Kreisler, Ignaz Friedman, and Artur Schnabel, the Viennese Boys' Choir, the Ballets Russes, and the Olympic Games Music Festival of 1956. Other items in the collection include a series of concert programs from Cuba, and various items from Europe and the United States of America.
The Louise Hanson-Dyer Music Library also owns a small collection of materials, including a number of concert programs, letters and administrative papers, associated with Sir Bernard Heinze and a volume of Programs of the Marshall-Hall orchestral concerts 1892-1910.
Programs can be accessed by researchers upon request from the Louise Hanson-Dyer Music Library staff and can be viewed in the Cultural Collections Reading room on the third floor of the Baillieu Library.
Other Program Collections of interest
In the United Kingdom :
- Concert Life in 19th-Century London
Database and Research Project..." a collaborative research project ..." Currently a work in progress, with an exciting look at the possibilities of these online offerings.
See - Concert Life in Nineteenth-century London Database, a demonstration of the database in association with the Wigmore Hall. - Concert Programmes 1790-1914, Centre for Performance History, Royal college of Music, London. "This site is designed primarily as a teaching resource for use by undergraduates and postgraduates working on aspects of performance history, reception history and the social and economic history of music... It currently consists of three main modules - From the Benefit Concert to the Recital, 1800-1914, From Promenade to the Ballad Concert to the Music Hall and The Symphony..." Explores "...the complex history of concert life and the formation of musical canon in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries..."
- The Concert Programmes Project Online Database (Phase 1) has been launched to "document the programme holdings of major libraries, archives and museums in selected regional centres throughout the UK and Ireland. The database currently offers descriptions of some 5,500 collections of music-related performance ephemera held by 53 institutions, including the British Library, the Royal College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, the national libraries of Scotland and Ireland, the Bodleian Library and Trinity College, Dublin." A search on "Melbourne" or "Australia" lists a number of useful collections.
| vol. no. | Contents |
|---|---|
| vol. 1: | Concert Programs and newspaper clippings relating to Leslie Curnow (1914-1933) |
| vol. 2: | Various Melbourne Concert Programs, newspapers clippings, prospectuses and annual reports (1872-1916) |
| Box no. | Contents |
| Box 1: | Overseas and Inter-state Materials (1881-1920) |
| Box 2: | Orchestral Music, Melbourne (1888-1929) |
| Box 3: | Melbourne Philharmonic Society (1879-1917) |
| Box 4: | Musical SocietiesMelbourne (1889-1920) |
| Box 5 : | Melbourne Public Concerts (1860-1907) |
| Box 6: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1905-1912) |
| Box 7: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1913-1921) |
| Box 8: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1919-1930) |
| Box 9: | Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs (1928-1929) |
| Box 10: | His Majesty's and Princess Theatres Opera Season Programs (1928) |
| Box 11: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (1925-1934) |
| Box 12: | University of Edinburgh, Reid Orchestral Concerts (1929-1936) |
| Box 13: | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (1926-1939) |
| Box 14: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1928-1936) |
| Box 15: | Melbourne Philharmonic Society (1918-1930) |
| Box 16: | Melbourne University Conservatorium and Conservatorium of Music (Albert Street) Concert Programs (1894-1924) |
| Box 17: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (1922-1955) |
| Box 18: | Melbourne University Conservatorium and Conservatorium of Music (Albert Street) Concert Programs (1925-1944) |
| Box 19: | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra & Victorian Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs (1940-1941) |
| Box 20: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1936-1942) |
| Box 21: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1943-1948) |
| Box 22: | Interstate Concert Programs (1933-1977) |
| Box 23: | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra & Victorian Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs (1942-1949) |
| Box 24: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (1953-1959) |
| Box 25: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1949-1951) |
| Box 26: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1952-1954) |
| Box 27: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (1909-1971) |
| Box 28: | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra & Victorian Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs (1950-1955) |
| Box 29: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (1924-1955) |
| Box 30: | Miscellaneous Items |
| Box 31: | Melbourne Philharmonic Society (1932-1948) |
| Box 32: | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra & Victorian Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs (1956-1959) |
| Box 33: | Melbourne University Conservatorium and Conservatorium of Music (Albert Street) Concert Programs (1945-1960) |
| Box 34: | Melbourne University Conservatorium and Conservatorium of Music (Albert Street) Concert Programs (1961-1964) |
| Box 35: | Melbourne University Conservatorium and Conservatorium of Music (Albert Street) Concert Programs (1961-1964) |
| Box 36: | Melbourne Philharmonic Society (1949-1990) |
| Box 37: | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra & Victorian Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs (1960-1963) |
| Box 38: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1955-1956) |
| Box 39: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1956-1957) |
| Box 40: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1958-1960) |
| Box 41: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1960-1966) |
| Box 42: | Interstate Concert ProgramsNew South Wales (1921-1988) |
| Box 43: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (1903-1990) |
| Box 44: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (1924-1982) |
| Box 45: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (c1933-1998) |
| Box 46: | Interstate Concert Programs (1974-1986) |
| Box 47: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1966-1969)< |
| Box 48: | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra & Victorian Symphony Orchestra Concert Programs (1964-1970) |
| Box 49: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1969-1973) |
| Box 50: | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (1971-1982) |
| Box 51: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (1965-1970) |
| Box 52: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (1965-1970) |
| Box 53: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1973-1982) |
| Box 54: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1982-1987) |
| Box 55: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (1964-1984) |
| Box 56: | Melbourne Public Concerts (1987-2001) |
| Box 57: | Melbourne Opera Program (1932-1935) |
| Box 58: | Melbourne Opera Program (1935-1939) |
| Box 59: | Melbourne Opera Programs: J.C. Williamson?s Gala Grand Opera Season Programs (1948-1949) |
| Box 60: | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (1987-1991) |
| Box 61: | Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (1987-1991) |
| Box 62: | Undated Melbourne Concert Programs (Loose leaf) |
| Box 63: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (England) |
| Box 64: | International Concert Programs and Booklets (Germany) |
| Box 65: | Undated Melbourne Concert Programs |
| Box 66: | Miscellaneous Concert and Theatre Programs (Oversized) |
| Box 67: | Undated Concert Programs |