Museum Exhibition: The RCM & WW1

Tuesday 30 September 2014

To mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, the RCM Museum of Music is delighted to announce the opening of a new temporary exhibition ‘The RCM and WW1’.

Running from 30 September 2014 to 27 March 2015, this special exhibition curated by RCM Deputy Librarian Peter Horton and Assistant Librarian Sarah Batchelor gives an insight into life at the RCM during the war years, and also features music written by RCM students and staff who saw active service.

Many RCM students enlisted: some, such as Butterworth, did not return; others, such as Gurney, never recovered from their experiences. Happily, many others did come back to forge musical careers. The exhibition also highlights other war work, from nursing to fundraising and charitable concerts held at home and abroad, and shows how life went on at the RCM during the war years.

The RCM will also be commemorating the centenary of World War One through two events this autumn: a talk focusing on Sir George Dyson - an RCM alumnus who served in WW1 and who was Director of the RCM during WW2 - and a poignant RCM Chamber Choir concert including Ravel’s Three beautiful birds of paradise, composed during the First World War.

The RCM Museum of Music is open from 11.30am to 4.30pm, Tuesday to Friday, and is free to visit. It preserves and displays an internationally renowned collection of more than 1,500 items including musical instruments, portraits, sculptures, photographs and engravings related to music, and offers a number of special exhibitions each year, as well as regular chamber concerts, talks and family events.

For more information please visit the RCM Museum of Music website.

image: a postcard sent from the front, on display at the exhibition