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Connecting Manchester's Music Archives

Connecting Manchester's Music Archives is an initiative that streamlines access to Greater Manchester's musical heritage. It is funded by The National Archives and led by the Hallé Archives, RNCM Archives, the Henry Watson Music Library with support from the Manchester Digital Music Archive. It is a digital hub where Greater Manchester's music archives can share information about their collections. The hub is a place where connected archives are highlighted, with the aim of making it easier for anyone to explore Manchester's music stories.

Its primary focus is sharing the histories of musicians who have either studied or performed in Greater Manchester, and the evidence they have left behind of their work and experiences in Greater Manchester’s archives.

This is the digital space where archival repositories and projects containing Manchester’s music heritage can connect up, share stories and promote their collections. If you have any items in your archive or are using archives in a heritage project on Manchester’s music, please contact the CMMA team (cmma_archivenetwork@gmail.com) to see how we can work together.

Our Archives

The three main repositories of Manchester’s music heritage in the city are the Henry Watson Music Library’s special collections, the archives of the Hallé Concerts Society and that of the Royal Northern College of Music. To learn more about each of these archives and how to get in touch with them, explore them here.

Archive Homepages

RNCM

The RNCM Archives play host to a variety of fascinating collections of records, music manuscripts and personal papers. The Archives covers the organisations, people and events of not only the RNCM (1972-present) but also its predecessors, the Northern School of Music (1920-1972) and the Royal Manchester College of Music (1893-1972) which came before.

Hallé Archives

The Hallé’s archive is a wonderful resource for aspects of our musical history. There are concert programmes covering our performances in Manchester and beyond from 1858, photographs, correspondence, sound recordings and press-cuttings to name a few.

Henry Watson Music Archive

Various music archives relating to Manchester or collected by Manchester residents. The material spans from the 14th century to the 20th.

Exhibitions

A selection of musicians and musical connections between archives, demonstrating how the archives in the city work together to tell a wider story. Please get in contact with the CMMA team (cmma_archivenetwork@gmail.com) if you have any exhibitions about Manchester’s musicians in the city’s or other’s archives that you’d like to share.

Featured musicians

Isobel Baillie post 1920

Dame Isobel Baillie (1895-1983) was a renowned soprano whose career took flight while she was based in Manchester. 
She is often associated in work with conductor Sir Hamilton Harty. She married Henry Leonard Wrigley, in 1917 and had 2 children. Debuting with the Hallé in 1919, she later taught at the Royal College of Music (1955-7, 1961-4), Cornell University (1960-1) and the Manchester School of Music (from 1970). She gave a few lessons to Kathleen Ferrier, and often sang with her.

Arthur Catterall post-1920

Arthur Catterall (1883-1943) was born in Preston and early on was noted for his skill as a violinist. Somewhat of a child prodigy, he was being granted lessons under Adolph Brodsky at the Royal Manchester College of Music when still a young child. He became leader of the Halle Orchestra 1913-1925, then BBC orchestra (from 1929) & also own string quartet. In the 1920s he was also invited back to the RMCM to teach the violin.

Eric Fogg post-1920

Charles William Eric Fogg (1903-1939), was a Manchester-based organist, composer and conductor.

Carl Fuchs – 1920-1940

Carl Fuchs (1865-1951) was born in Germany and moved to Manchester to teach and perform in Manchester in the late 20th century. Lead cellist at the Hallé, teacher of the cello at the Royal Manchester College of Music, and part of the famous Brodsky Quartet.

Edward Isaacs post-1920

Edward Isaacs (1881-1953) was a Manchester-born pianist and composer. He was originally a pupil at the Manchester Grammar School, later at the Royal Manchester College of Music and the recipient of the Halle Memorial Scholarship from 1900-03. He was blind for almost last 30 years of life.

Kathleen Moorhouse post-1920

Kathleen Moorhouse was a cellist (1900 to around the 1960s). In her mid-teens she studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music on scholarship, and performed with various ensembles throughout her career.

Isobel Baillie 1957-1973

Dame Isobel Baillie (1895-1983) was a renowned soprano whose career took flight while she was based in Manchester.
She is often associated in work with conductor Sir Hamilton Harty. She married Henry Leonard Wrigley, in 1917 and had 2 children. Debuting with the Hallé in 1919, she later taught at the Royal College of Music (1955-7, 1961-4), Cornell University (1960-1) and the Manchester School of Music (from 1970). She gave a few lessons to Kathleen Ferrier, and often sang with her.

Barbirolli / Rothwell 1957-1973

Lady Evelyn Barbirolli, also known as Evelyn Rothwell (1911-2008) was a professional oboist who performed in Manchester during her husband's tenure as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra (Sir John Barbirolli).

Thomas Pitfield 1957-1973

Thomas Pitfield (1903-1999) was a Bolton-born composer, cellist, pianist, artist, sculptor, inventor and activist. He was a student and later teacher at the Royal Manchester College of Music.

Alan Rawsthorne 1957-1973

Alan Rawsthorne (1905-1971) was a Lancashire-born composer. He was a student at the Royal Manchester College of Music.

Ellen Arthan 1876-1950

Ellen Arthan (1876-1950), pianist and piano teacher

Charles Kelly 1884-1942

Charles Kelly (1884-1942), pianist

Lucy Pierce ?1886-?1970

Lucy Pierce (?1886-?1970s), pianist and teacher

Harold Jones ?1885-mid 20th C

Harold Jones (?1885-mid 20th C), violinist

Seth Lancaster ?1891-mid-20th C

Seth Lancaster (?1891-mid-20th C), cellist

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Our archive currently contains 4018 Bands / Artists, 782 DJs, 1521 Places, 406 People and 32594 artefacts contributed by 4537 members.
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