This week we hear from Library and Digital Assistant Kirsty Lodge, on an intriguing discovery that wasn’t a discovery, but which turned out to be another discovery entirely – leading to some inspired cross-departmental working… When departments collide! Sometimes the most interesting discoveries, come about because of chance, coincidence, or serendipity. When the Music department…
Tag: music
Leeds Gig Heritage
As paper ticket transactions become a thing of the past, the Leeds Local Studies library is creating a living record of Leeds gig history. Anyone with an old ticket stub or a memory of a past Leeds gig can contribute to the collection, and with no end date, this is a collection of tickets and…
Professional Orchestras in Leeds
This week guest author, Geoffrey Mogridge, tells us about the formation of professional orchestras in Leeds. In 1902 Herbert Fricker, Leeds City Organist, inaugurated a series of ‘Saturday Evening Free concerts’ in which several local organisations, choral and orchestral were invited to assist. 850 seats were reserved at prices of 1/-, 6d and 3d. In…
The Musical History of St Anne’s Cathedral
This week we hear from guest author, Geoffrey Mogridge, who tells us about the musical history of Leeds Cathedral. The Cathedral Church of St AnneSt Anne’s Church was situated on the west side of Cookridge Street facing Park Row until demolition for road widening in 1903. The ceremonial opening of old St Anne’s took place…
The Alternative Heritage of Leeds
This week we welcome guest blogger, Festival of Gothica, who tell us about a new project working jointly with Leeds Libraries. Leeds has a rich alternative heritage but was influential in birthing the goth subculture as we know it today. Other cities celebrate their musical history and shape their events and tourism around it, Liverpool…
“Abysmal Performance of Depravity Rock”: The Sex Pistols in Leeds, December 1976
by Antony Ramm, Local and Family History, Central Library Forty-years ago this week, the Sex Pistols finally began their 1976 UK tour. “Finally,” because – as the BBC has remembered this week – all but three of the projected dates on that tour were cancelled following the band’s notorious TV appearance on Bill Grundy’s Today show. Those…
Secrets of The Palm: An Insight into Early Radio Broadcasting in Leeds
This week’s post is by Tony Scaife, a Heritage Volunteer based at the Local and Family History Library. He’s been indexing volumes of The Palm, the magazine of the old Leeds Central High School, which inspired him to delve a little deeper into the city’s early radio days… In 1901, the groundbreaking Central High School (CHS)…
The Dutchman’s Leetle Dog: A Surprising Tale
by Gilly Margrave, Music and Performing Arts, Leeds Central Library When I was very small, small enough for grown-ups to be able to distract me by singing funny little songs, I remember my great aunt Ethel singing a song about a little dog which was lost. Aunt Ethel had been a teacher for all her…
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