A collection of programmes from the Royal Opera House from 1793 to the present. The collection consists of 82 boxes of material (from 1793 to 2003) including programmes, newspaper reviews, libretti and Royal Opera House magazines. The collection also includes material for the theatres that preceded the Royal Opera House on the same site: there are programmes from the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden and the Royal Italian Opera House in the collection.

The earliest programme in the collection dates from 1793. This is a programme from a “Grand selection of music” concert. There are ten other items from the Theatre Royal Covent Garden in the collection, before the theatre became an established opera house in 1847. These items are concert bills from concert and oratorio performances dating from 1816 to 1832. There are ca. 55 other nineteenth-century items in the collection, chiefly from opera performances. Non-opera items include programmes from promenade concerts in the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s.

The twentieth century collections are chiefly from performances of opera and ballet. Ballet programmes are from various companies, but a significant amount is from the Sadler’s Wells Ballet and Royal Ballet. Opera performances including "Proms" performances, particularly from the 1970s. In addition, there are programmes from recitals: these are usually, though not exclusively, programmes from recitals by opera singers. There are also programmes from the English Bach festival.

The collection is naturally at its most dense in the second half of the twentieth century, but it is by no means complete. From the 30 years between 1958 and 1988 there are nearly 60 boxes of material, which equates to approximately two boxes of material per year. To compare, there are 7 boxes of material from 1793 until 1947, over 150 years. However, it should be noted that this period includes times when the venue’s function was not a theatre: for example, there is a gap in holdings from 1940 to 1945 when the theatre was used as a servicemen and servicewomen dance venue.

Arrangement:
The programmes are arranged chronologically. A further subdivision is in place for the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s: within the overall chronological sequence, ballet and opera programmes are separated for these years. A sequence of undated newspaper reviews are filed at the end of the collection.

1793 - 2003

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Not Specific

• English Bach Festival -
• Royal Ballet -
• Sadler's Wells Ballet -

• London [England]
• Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden
• Royal Opera House
• Theatre Royal, Covent Garden

• 18th century - late 1776-1799
• 19th century - early 1800-1836
• 19th century - early Victorian 1837-1850
• 19th century - late Victorian 1876-1899
• 19th century - mid Victorian 1851-1875
• 20th century - early 1900-1930
• 20th century - late 1971-1999
• 20th century - mid 1931-1970
• 21st century

• Press Cuttings
• Librettos
• Opera
• Ballet

Centre for Performance History Prince Consort Road London London SW7 2BS Bangladesh

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cph@rcm.ac.uk

020 7 589 4340

020 7 589 7740 

Mon-Fri by appointment

The Centre for Performance History was created in 2004 through the amalgamation of the Department of Portraits and the Museum of Instruments (see the separate entry for the Museum. The College has acquired portraits throughout its history since 1883 and the Centre posseses the most comprehensive collection of portraits of musicians in the UK, amounting to some 346 original portraits and 10,000 prints and photographs. In addition to the iconographical collections and their documentation, the department houses other categories of source material - most notably the largest collection of concert programmes in this country, comprising some 600,000 items dating from 1780 to the present day.