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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  The John Lancaster Collections of Australian Trade Exhibitions
• Sale Date:
  18 Oct 2016 ~ 1pm
• Lot #:
  283
• Lot Description:
  CERTIFICATE, "In recognition of valuable services rendered
  as a Member of The Centennial Choir during the currency of the Centennial International Exhibition, Melbourne 1888", beautiful certificate with scenes of Exhibition Building, organ & choir, window mounted, overall 47x57cm.
• Notes:
  The 1888-89 Centennial Exhibition was accompanied by an amazing musical festival, under the direction of an English conductor, Frederick Cowen, who was paid an astonishing 5000 pounds for six months work. He formed an orchestra and a choir of over seven hundred voices, that gave over 260 concerts - ten concerts a week. The western transept of the Great Hall was converted to a concert hall with a false ceiling and moveable partitioning. Before the Exhibition, orchestral work had been almost unknown in Melbourne, and the musical programme was thus exciting and eye-opening. Cowen gradually introduced modern pieces to the Melbourne audience, and succeeded in expanding the city's musical taste. A poll towards the end of the series of concerts listed the most popular works: Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, Wagner's overtures for Tannhauser and Rienzi, Handel's 'Largo', and Liszt's 'Hungarian Rhapsody Number 1'. Each member of the choir had his or her own copies of the scores, and certificates like this were presented to choir members at the end of the season. Very few have survived.
• Estimate:
  A$400 - 500
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Collectables

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.