A Week of Musical Discovery: MOMH’s First Youth Education Project

Written by Mark Bromley on 14th March 2025. Posted in Announcement.

We were delighted to welcome GCSE pupils from La Sainte School in Camden to our offices in Haddenham for an inspiring week of exploration, research, and performance. This inaugural youth education project provided students with a unique opportunity to engage directly with musical history, uncover fascinating stories, and develop their own presentations on significant figures and objects from our collection.

Throughout the week, these young historians and musicians demonstrated a remarkable enthusiasm for discovery, delving into rare artefacts, sorting through archival material, and expanding their understanding of musical heritage. Their journey culminated in a special showcase at Haddenham Library, where they presented their research to an appreciative audience and performed a short concert to mark the occasion.

A Journey Through the Archives

The week began with an introduction to MOMH’s vast collection of musical history, with students immersing themselves in the John Woolf Park Lane Group and the Harrison Sisters collections. They were given the opportunity to handle and sort historical materials, gaining hands-on experience in archiving and preservation. This practical engagement brought history to life, allowing them to understand the importance of curating and safeguarding musical heritage for future generations.

Researching the Digitorium & The Foundations of an Orchestra

A part of the week was dedicated to researching the Digitorium, a unique finger-strengthening device for pianists. The pupils explored its origins, its role in technical development for musicians, and how similar devices have influenced pianistic training over the years. To deepen their understanding, they had the invaluable opportunity to consult with pianist Stephen Marquiss, who provided firsthand insights into the pros and cons of using the Digitorium. His perspective offered a practical dimension to their research, allowing them to consider both the benefits and potential limitations of such tools in a pianist’s practice routine. Their studies not only deepened their appreciation for musicianship but also connected them to the innovative thinking behind instrumental technique.

Adding another dimension to their learning, the students had the privilege of listening to Simon Over from Southbank Sinfonia, who shared fascinating insights into the founding of an orchestra. His talk offered a behind-the-scenes look at how ensembles are formed, the challenges and rewards of orchestral collaboration, and the vital role of conductors and musicians in bringing music to life. It was an eye-opening session that gave the pupils a greater understanding of the professional music world.

A Grand Finale at Haddenham Library

After a week of research and discovery, the pupils showcased their knowledge in a special presentation event at Haddenham Library. Four students—Lynn, Angelina, Vina, and Vicky—each delivered an engaging and insightful talk, focusing on a key figure or object from MOMH’s collection.

🎤 Jenny Lind – The ‘Swedish Nightingale’
This talk explored the life and legacy of Jenny Lind, one of the most celebrated sopranos of the 19th century. They shared captivating stories of Lind’s extraordinary career, from her early success in Sweden to her international fame, particularly in Britain and the United States. They highlighted how Lind’s voice and philanthropic efforts left a lasting impact on the world of opera and beyond.

Jenny Lind

🎼 The Digitorium – A Pianist’s Secret Weapon
Her the group took a deep dive into the Digitorium, explaining how this ingenious finger-strengthening device has been used by pianists to refine their technique. They provided an analysis of how such tools have helped musicians develop dexterity, control, and endurance but also the downsides of using such a device.

The Digitorium

📜 Mary Remnant – A Guardian of Musical History
Here they paid tribute to Mary Remnant, a renowned music historian and researcher. They explored Remnant’s dedication to preserving and documenting historical musical instruments and manuscripts, showcasing how her work has enriched our understanding of early music traditions. ape the way we interpret and appreciate musical heritage today.

Mary Remnant

🎻 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – A Composer Ahead of His Time
This presentation focused on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a pioneering composer of African descent whose music blended European classical traditions with influences from Black culture. They explored his most famous work, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, and his contributions to the recognition of Black musicians and composers The talk highlighted Coleridge-Taylor’s groundbreaking achievements and the challenges he faced in his career.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

A Celebration of Talent

As a fitting conclusion to their week of learning and discovery, the students treated the audience to a short concert, demonstrating not only their academic research skills but also their musical talent. Their performances were met with warm applause, a testament to their dedication and hard work throughout the week.

Concert Piece 1

Concert Piece 2

The project has been an overwhelming success, and we are immensely proud of Lynn, Angelina, Vina, and Vicky, whose commitment and enthusiasm made this initiative so special. A huge thank you to the pupils, their teachers, and everyone involved in making this week such a rewarding experience.

Looking Ahead

This is just the beginning of MOMH’s youth education initiatives. We are excited to continue working with schools and young musicians to inspire the next generation through hands-on engagement with musical history.

A year to remember

Written by Mark Bromley on 19th December 2024. Posted in Announcement.

The Museum of Music History (MOMH) began 2024 in an already strong position, with all its archives and objects securely stored and ready to be processed. We end 2024 having hired two new members of staff, recruited five new volunteers, and with a new temporary processing office in Haddenham to move this work forward. 2024 has been a fantastic year for MOMH: in September we celebrated our progress with a ‘relaunch’ event and we look forward to a range of events and exhibitions in 2025.

Storage and cataloguing
At the start of 2024 we had successfully removed the collection bequeathed to MOMH by our Founder, Oliver Davies, from his former home. Over the next two years it is our plan to process all our collections, that is, catalogue, conserve and properly store them in our museum-grade facility in Oxfordshire provided by Restore UK. This will have the additional benefits of reducing storage costs, and making access easier as everything will be in one place.

This work is already well underway, and as a member of the National Conservation Service, we have access to expert advice on conservation and preservation of documents. This has been invaluable as many of the documents in our collection have already been in storage for a long time, many in less than ideal conditions. By the end of our processing project all our holdings will be stored in archive quality materials in the climate-controlled Restore UK facility at Upper Heyford.

New office base and volunteer recruitment

In August we took a significant step forward with our plan to catalogue and store all our collections by taking on the lease of an office space in Haddenham, Oxfordshire. This provides us with a base where we can bring in boxes from our various storage facilities, process the documents (catalogue them, check them for conservation needs), and from which boxes can be transferred onwards to the storage facility at Upper Heyford.

This also provides us with a professional space where volunteers can safely work, to host meetings with other museum professionals (we met with representatives of Britten-Pears Arts in November), and where researchers can access archives easily (we have already hosted two research visits since taking the office, both coincidentally by researchers from Columbia University, New York).

MOMH ‘relaunch’ event

In September, alongside the book launch of Kate Kennedy’s Cello: A Journey from Silence to Sound at the Wigmore Hall, MOMH hosted a reception to celebrate our progress and to set the stage for the future. At this event we held a pop-up exhibition of the Beatrice Harrison exhibition, featuring photographs, documents and clothing from periods of her life. We also launched our new Friends Scheme, which is intended to provide a forum for those interested in keeping up with MOMH’s progress through behind-the-scenes content, at the same time as raising regular funds for the Museum.

Projects

In addition to this fundamental work to preserve these music collections for the future, at the start of 2024 we committed to three new projects:

‘Virtually Haydn – the past, present and future of ensemble’ (exhibition in collaboration with the Augmented Reality Music Ensemble project at the University of Birmingham)
‘The woman who turned stained glass into music’ (an exhibition of the Mary Remnant Collection)
‘It’s a musical life’ (the development of a Musicians’ Oral History archive)

All of these projects are in progress, and we look forward to seeing them come to fruition at the start of 2025 – as follows:

Virtually Haydn – the past, present and future of ensemble

The aims of this project were to develop our collaborations with other musical organisations, to be part of twenty-first century musical research, and to engage with the public, giving them the opportunity to experience music in new ways. As part of this project, on 29 September, at our MOMH relaunch reception, we were delighted to showcase the research being conducted by ARME, the Augmented Reality Music Ensemble, an EPSRC-funded research project based at the University of Birmingham. We invited participants to sit in the second violin chair of a virtual string quartet and tap along to a Haydn quartet, receiving instant read-outs of how well they were following or leading the other members of the quartet. This partnership will continue into 2025, and in February we will host a public symposium, working jointly with ARME and also the University of Oxford, to explore the science and history of string quartet hierarchy.

The woman who turned stained glass into music

Dr Mary Remnant was evacuated to a harpsichord maker at the age of 4, and was so inspired by the history and developments of instruments as a result that she travelled to at least eight countries including Afghanistan to research their instrument culture. Her books bringing together her knowledge of Western and world instruments are seminal, and pioneering not only because she was a woman academic, but because her work helped define the field of organology.

Mary bequeathed her collection, which includes her archive, photographs and 150 instruments, to MOMH, of which she was an active supporter from its foundation . The collection is currently in storage, and we are working with the custodian to ensure this archive is accessible and properly conserved. In 2024 our new General Manager Kate Kennedy was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to present a programme on the Mary Remnant Collection, to be broadcast in 2025. The documentary will tell Mary’s story, and explore her collection in the company of an instrument maker, attempting to play some of her most significant instruments, such as the reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo lyre and the harp created from an image in the Westminster Psalter.

One of the most pioneering elements of Mary Remnant’s work was her inclusion of children in her lecture tours around the country. We are developing workshops for children in conjunction with the Chiltern Music Services, and with the diverse population of children attending Enfield Music Services to work with them to make their own instruments, inspired by the Mary Remnant collection. We are applying for funding from Arts Council England for our work in Enfield.

It’s a musical life

In collaboration with Wolfson College, University of Oxford, we have begun conducting interviews with older professional musicians to talk about their working lives. Our aim is for MOMH to hold an oral history archive about the music profession, which will be made accessible to the general public via our website. Interviews conducted so far include: pianist Dame Imogen Cooper, pianist/composer Sir Stephen Hough, composer Errollyn Wallen, composer Nicola Lefanu, and opera baritone Sir Thoman Allen.

Our next step with this project is to create a set of oral history interviews relating to twentieth-century British composition. Interviews will be conducted with composers Thomas Ades, Huw Watkins, Ryan Wigglesworth, Helen Grime, Cheryl Frances Hoad and Colin Matthews; the focus of the interviews will be the British landscape, and how it influenced major composers of the twentieth century such as Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton, Ethel Smyth, Elizabeth Maconchy, Herbert Howells, and Benjamin Britten.

As part of this project we are collaborating with Britten-Pears Arts to share oral history resources and recordings to enhance both collections and to avoid duplication.

Future plans

We are developing collaborations with musical organisations including ensembles, foundations and venues to offer MOMH as a home for their archives. This would mean professional storage and conservation of their archives in return for an endowment or annual fee. Benefits of this sort of arrangement would be to make these archives available to the research community, to other musicians, and preserve them for the future.

Our new website goes from strength to strength and we have used our News page, social media channels and mailing list to keep followers up to date and provide insight into our collections. Our programme of online exhibitions continues on a monthly basis, and we have received a number of enquiries from researchers, journalists and the general public about our collections and other musical topics. If we cannot ourselves answer these questions we can signpost people to where the information can be found. We intend to improve our offering in this area by developing a list of contacts for various musical subjects (experts on Beethoven or the Chinese erhu, for example), so that MOMH grows to be recognised as the first port of call for information relating to music history.

We have also been receiving regular enquiries about the use of scans of images in our archive for publication, and have developed a system of charging for these where we own the copyright. Our charges are based on the British Library’s charges, meaning they are affordable to the majority of researchers while also helping to raise funds for the Museum. We intend to create a new page on our website for these enquiries to streamline this process further.

Britten Pears Visits MOMH to Explore Collection

Written by Mark Bromley on 25th November 2024. Posted in Announcement.

The Museum of Music History (MOMH) was honoured to welcome Nick Clark and Christopher Hilton from the Britten Pears Archive to its offices in Haddenham for a special visit focused on the Beatrice Harrison collection. This gathering brought together key figures from both organisations for an engaging day of discussion, collaboration, and exploration of one of MOMH’s treasured collections.

The visit provided an opportunity for MOMH to showcase the ongoing cataloguing efforts surrounding the Beatrice Harrison collection, a task currently being undertaken by dedicated volunteers under curatorial supervision. The collection, which offers a fascinating insight into the life and work of the pioneering cellist, includes photographs, letters, concert programs, and recordings, reflecting Harrison’s significant contributions to the world of classical music.

Discussions during the day covered a range of topics, including the challenges and rewards of cataloguing such extensive and varied collections. The Britten Pears team shared their expertise in archival management, drawing parallels with their own work preserving the legacy of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. Volunteering also emerged as a key theme, with MOMH highlighting the crucial role played by its team of volunteers in maintaining and enhancing the museum’s collections.

Nick Clark and Christopher Hilton expressed their admiration for the dedication and professionalism of MOMH’s team, commending the museum’s efforts to engage local communities and music enthusiasts in the preservation of musical history.

The visit also provided an opportunity for the MOMH team to reflect on the broader history of the museum and its evolution over the years. Chairman Mark Bromley emphasized MOMH’s mission to make music history accessible to all, a goal that aligns closely with the educational and outreach initiatives of the Britten Pears Archive.

Trustee Nick Roberts and volunteer Dr. Paul Stubbings contributed valuable perspectives on the importance of engaging performers in the preservation of musical heritage, noting how the Beatrice Harrison collection offers a bridge between historical scholarship and the living practice of music.

Dr. Kate Kennedy underscored the significance of partnerships like this one in broadening MOMH’s impact, noting that such collaborations create opportunities for knowledge exchange and inspire innovative approaches to museum practice.

As part of the visit, Nick Clark and Christopher Hilton had the chance to view selected items from the Beatrice Harrison collection, which sparked lively discussions about Harrison’s life, her pioneering use of radio broadcasts, and her artistic legacy.

The day concluded with a shared commitment to ongoing dialogue and collaboration between MOMH and the Britten Pears Archive. Both organizations look forward to exploring future opportunities to work together in preserving and promoting Britain’s rich musical heritage.

This visit marks a milestone in MOMH’s ongoing efforts to connect with fellow institutions and celebrate the stories behind its collections, ensuring they inspire future generations of music lovers.

2023 has been a busy year for MOMH

Written by Mark Bromley on 13th December 2023. Posted in Announcement.

In addition to expanding the collection of MOMH through the acquisition of the English Chamber Orchestra archive, we moved the collection of Oliver Davies from his home into our archive (including finding homes for several instruments), transferred material from a number of central London storage facilities to our new archive at the National Conservation Service’s facility in Upper Heyford and launched our new website.

Transfer of Collections from Petherton Road

The boxing and transfer of the collection in Petherton Road, London (home of the late Oliver Davies) to various storage locations across London and the South East was a monumental task for our Data Archivist and his small team of volunteers. In May 2023 the last boxes (five tonnes in total) were despatched to storage and the task of cataloguing finally commenced.

In addition to us housing the collection of manuscripts and books, temporary homes were found around the country for the wonderful collection of pianos and other instruments.

Delivery of our New Website

Our new website went live in July. The new user interface is designed to work on multiple devices and platforms and to be engaging for both professional researcher and interested observer.
All exhibitions from the last thirteen years are now searchable and users are able to explore galleries of selected images, some of which were curated by our founder Oliver Davies himself as far back as 2008/9. In time we plan to add hi-resolution versions of our images to exhibitions for users to view in fine detail.

To keep users fully abreast of MOMH’s activities as they continue to develop, the new website has a News section and a What’s On section.

This was a very successful project and long overdue.

Upgrade and Optimisation of Storage Facilities

MOMH’s collection was kept in a number of storage facilities across London and South East which required consolidation to improve preservation, optimise access and reduce cost.

In August MOMH became a member of the National Conservation Service at Upper Heyford, an organisation used by many museums and archives in the UK for archival storage. Apart from the secure climate controlled storage services they offer, services include document preservation and digitisation, membership is a prerequisite for access to the services of Restore UK at Upper Heyford.

Whilst our three storage units in Hayes proved an invaluable stop-gap facility, and were crucial to our ‘rescue’ of the English Chamber Orchestra archive (a further four tonnes of material) in the first quarter of the year and the final removal of the contents of Petherton Road, we have entered into a contract with Restore UK which will enable the transfer of material held in Hayes and Cadogan Tate,to NCS Upper Heyford which ultimately will reduce storage costs.

The transfer is taking place in stages, allowing NCS to undertake ‘due diligence’ on the condition of material, and allowing MOMH to sort and re-box prior to bar-coding and transfer to long-term storage in the climate-controlled bunkers. The largest unit at Hayes was relinquished at the end of October and the second largest unit will be relinquished by the end of the year.

One unit will be retained temporarily to hold the portion of the English Chamber Orchestra archive that is in poor condition, whilst it is assessed for preservation.

Collaboration with Other Music Archives

We have established a framework, based around our collaboration with the English Chamber Orchestra, to offer MOMH as a home for the archives of other music organisations, offering professional storage and curation in return for an endowment/annual fee. We hope this model could be a way to turbo-boost the quality and quantity of our collecting potential.

Increase in Enquiries from the Public

Since the launch of our social media channels and new website there has been an encouraging increase in the number of enquiries from academics and writers seeking information or access to items in our collections.

As expected, information has frequently been sought by the Musicians’ Union and former members of the English Chamber Orchestra with regard to players’ participation in the orchestra’s recordings, and our important collection of material relating to the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor has been much in demand.

We are collaborating with the English Chamber Orchestra to explore the orchestra’s significant and highly productive relationship with the composer Benjamin Britten in the 1960s and 1970s, and a number of exceptional photographs have already been discovered in the archive.

Napoleon

Last Autumn MOMH was approached by Apple for the right to film and record its Erard piano (originally bought by Napoleon I as a wedding present for his second wife Marie in 1810) for the soundtrack of Ridley Scotts’s movie Napoleon.

Following reaching agreement on rights etc, composer Martin Phipps and Apple spent time with MOMH’s Chair, Mark Bromley and Honorary Curator, Adrian Bradbury, at the Cobbe Collection, Hatchlands Park, to record and film the piano. Adrian was also interviewed about the instrument for an Apple feature which will be released in due course.

Martin Phipps and Ridley Scott were delighted with the result. If you would like to hear the piano as recorded by Apple, please click on the audio links in our Napoleon’s piano exhibition.

Britten with the ECO at Kings Lynn in 1970

English Chamber Orchestra archive acquired by MOMH

Written by Nick Roberts on 1st August 2023. Posted in Announcement.

We are delighted to announce that we have acquired the archive of the world-renowned English Chamber Orchestra. The ECO was founded more than 60 years ago, rapidly gaining worldwide recognition for its recordings and concert tours. It is still the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world, with a discography containing 860 recordings of over 1,500 works by more than 400 composers. From its earliest days it worked closely with major musical figures such as Benjamin Britten, Daniel Barenboim, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jacqueline Du Pré and Pinchas Zukerman, and it is not much of an exaggeration to say that most of the UK’s leading instrumentalists played with the orchestra at some point in their careers. The ECO enjoyed the patronage of Charles, the former Prince of Wales, since 1977 and continues to thrive, with a busy schedule of concerts in the UK and abroad.

We recently completed the transfer of over four tons of archival material from the orchestra’s office to temporary storage, and have already started to preserve, digitise and catalogue some of the earliest documents. The archive contains detailed management records ranging from significant correspondence with conductors, soloists, promoters, the BBC and funding organisations, to players’ schedules, payslips and cheque book stubs, and we believe that there is a continuous thread of documentation from the earliest days of the orchestra in 1959 until close to the present day. The breadth of the material in the archive provides an invaluable insight into the day-to-day operation of a world-class orchestra, sustained over more than half a century, that is perhaps unique in its scale and scope. We are looking forward enormously to working with the orchestra to bring its remarkable history to a wider public, and have already assisted with several enquiries from authors and academics.