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The Music of the First World War Across Borders: engaging diverse communities in new narratives, collections and forms of commemoration

1. Summary of the impact

A research programme (2014-18) marking the centenary of WWI involved collaboration with a wide range of partners from the Imperial War Museum North and Paris Conservatoire to the Hallé and other community organisations. The programme led to new ways of thinking about music, musicians and women during the conflict, uncovered forgotten stories that influenced creative practitioners and reached new, diverse and under-engaged audiences. It led to the creation of new, permanent and accessible archives and collections, established a new memorial event in Manchester, was a finalist in the Manchester culture awards and was awarded the prestigious Centennial Label by the French Government.

2. Underpinning research

The RNCM led a programme of interrelated archival, curatorial and creative projects relating to World War I in France and in Britain, within the framework of RNCM’s interdisciplinary Centre for Music and Conflict. With a focus on exploring the roles that music plays in reflecting, representing and commemorating conflict, the research programme began in July 2014 with a collaboration with the Imperial War Museum North to commemorate the start of the war entitled After the Silence. [3.1] The performance-installation project included the performance of repertoire from a wide range of European composers, and creative responses to the archival materials and Daniel Libeskind’s IWM North site; 300 RNCM students performed 85 works, including 25 world premieres, attracting a full house of 724 attendees over three evenings. It received funding from the Arts Council and won the prestigious THE Excellence and Innovation in the Arts Award (2015) for its original approach to curating live music as a vehicle for commemoration, reaching beyond the concert hall to museum spaces and audiences and stimulating new artistic responses.

Building on this success, RNCM secured AHRC funding from the Everyday Lives in War WWI Engagement Centre in 2016 to co-create research on the WWI archives of the Royal Manchester College of Music, the Hallé Concerts Society and Manchester Central Library. Making Music in Manchester involved Kelly (PI) and Thomason (PDRA) and RNCM Archivist Heather Roberts, community partners and volunteers. The archival research [3.4] led by the RNCM, created new knowledge about professional, amateur and student music making in Manchester during the conflict, focusing on issues of gender, musician contentious objectors and the performance of allied and enemy repertoire that complemented research on other cities, notably Paris [3.2, 3.3]. The project commissioned creative responses to the archives, which were performed at Manchester Central Library (May 2017) and numerous performances of rediscovered music.

In 2018 the RNCM embarked on an international collaboration with the Paris Conservatoire as part of its year devoted to French Connections. The project, Paris-Manchester 1918 was rooted in archival research on Paris and Manchester during WWI [3.2-3.4], on which the concert programmes (in Manchester, Paris, London and Lancaster) were based. It showed different responses to Wagner and performed recovered music by women composers. The project contributed newly discovered archival materials on wartime musical life for the Paris-Manchester Exhibition, placing the musical experience of allied cities side-by-side. The research directly informed two conferences: Musical Institutions in Paris and Manchester during the First World War (L’Opéra-Comique and Paris Conservatoire) and Claude Debussy in 2018: A Centenary Celebration (RNCM and University of Glasgow), as well as other research events in Britain (Durham, Kent, London) and France (Metz).

3. References to the research

[3.1] Castelletti, ‘After the Silence’, Performance Installation, IWM North and RNCM, 3-5 July 2014.

[3.2] Kelly, ‘Musical Innovation and Collaboration during the First World War: Jane Bathori at the Vieux-Colombier’, ed. Anne Piéjus and Alexandra Laederich, Créer, jouer, transmettre la musique de la Troisième République à nos jours, Paris: Centre de documentation Claude Debussy, 2019.

[3.3] Kelly, Reflecting the Public Appetite in Text and Music: Debussy’s Act of Wartime Propaganda in Over Here, Over There: Transatlantic Conversations on the Music of World War I, Edited by William Brooks, Christina Bashford, and Gayle Magee, Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2019.

[3.4] Thomason, ‘Zer is no Modern French Music’, and Kelly, Training the Nation’s Musicians during World War I’, in Musical Institutions in Paris and Manchester during the First World War: Paris-Manchester 1918 Conservatoires in time of war, https://www.rncm.ac.uk/paris-manchester-1918/events/musical-institutions-in-paris-and-manchester-during-the-first-world-war/, AHRC-funded project, ‘Making Music in Manchester’, Everyday Lives in War WW1 AHRC Engagement Centre, University of Hertfordshire;

4. Details of the impact

The Centre for Music and Conflict’s impact strategy for this research programme was to facilitate co-produced research with community participants leading to new artistic outputs, new permanent archival assets and contributing to processes of commemoration.

Creation of new artistic works

Research from Making Music in Manchester on the role of women and conscientious objectors in Manchester influenced creative practitioners to co-create new artefacts. Caroline Clegg was inspired by the research to create work with Feelgood Theatre Productions in collaboration with Manchester City Council. She confirmed that ‘my work was stimulated by the project’s research on women musicians and conscientious objectors; it had an impact on my choice of composers and I decided to highlight women's voices in the First World War’. [5.8] She commissioned 9 female composers to create These Days, the Manchester Peace Song Cycle to commemorate the impact of the Somme on Manchester. The work, composed by predominantly RNCM staff, students and alumni, was performed by RNCM musicians alongside local choirs, schools and members of the community in November 2018. It was given to the city free from copyright, so that it can be used by any school or community group. [5.8] Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, Kathleen Robinson, described it as ‘a unique piece of work to share a special part of the history of the City with so many children and then to leave it as a legacy to the City.’ [5.8]

The Paris-Manchester project gave rise to creative outputs commemorating Debussy with an arrangement by David Horne (RNCM) and new compositions by Gorb and Carpenter (RNCM), Drew Hammond (Glasgow) and French and American composers. The new works received public performances in March 2018 at the RNCM, Lancaster and University of Glasgow with musicians of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and RNCM. [5.9]

Inspiring new creative collaboration on a regional, national and international basis

The IWM collaboration built on RNCM’s experience of working with museum curators to transform spaces through performance. [5.2] Making Music in Manchester involved two community partners: the Hallé and Manchester Central Library (Manchester City Council). AHRC and NLHF funding enabled them to bring their three archives together. For the Hallé collaborator, it was ‘a valuable opportunity …to examine an important era in our history in more detail than we would normally have time for’ in order to share it with the community. [5.3] The Paris-Manchester project had notable impacts on our international partner (Paris Conservatoire), bringing about new understandings of different national patriotic repertoires; the Head of the Department of Musicology and Analysis was particularly struck by different attitudes towards German music in the allied cities, the discovery of recovered music and the roles of women in war. [5.4] The Director of International Relations and External Affairs noted how the inter-departmental collaboration between institutions contributed to its success: ‘staff worked together from their respective cities, sharing challenges and working cultures’, [5.5] while the Head of Production spoke of the enriching experience working across cultures and institutions to realise the ambitious commemorative project consisting of varied public events in different venues and countries. [5.5]

Acquiring new skills for community participants

Making Music in Manchester co-produced research with community partners and volunteers. One partner and two volunteers presented their findings at conferences and produced publications, which was new for some of them. One volunteer commented ‘the project gave me one piece of paid work, a publication, published conference proceedings, and plenty of ideas for future research’. [5.3] RNCM was awarded a NLHF grant to work with partners and Instigate Arts to reach new audiences: Revealing and Reinterpreting WWI Archive. It facilitated six creative response workshops with a variety of marginalised groups who do not frequent the RNCM: Inspire Centre in Levenshulme, Hideaway, Back on Track, TLC St. Luke’s and Lifeshare. [5.4] The evaluation report noted that ‘digitised images were used by the facilitators to creatively engage with the stories and local history of Manchester's WW1 music and music making, including songwriting, flash fiction and poetry… It facilitated positive change in people's lives.’ The report includes feedback from the ‘Back On Track’ workshop of ‘how participants felt after the workshop compared to before: “I am feeling confident in myself”, “fulfilled” and “lots of food for thought”. When asked if they would do anything differently because of the workshop, many participants expressed a desire to keep up their creativity such as writing poetry and flash fiction.’ [5.4] The evaluation also outlined benefits to the volunteers: ‘one volunteer went on to volunteer for other projects including the NHS 70 years anniversary project, and another was given paid archival work in an established repository in Manchester and was accepted onto a post-graduate qualification course for archiving practices, as a direct result of the work they achieved on the project’. [5.4]

Curatorial and audience learning

The collaboration with the Imperial War Museum influenced IWM professionals, helping them to curate and exhibit their collections and space in new ways. IWM Curator, Camilla Thomas commented that ‘the experience of working with RNCM provided an exemplar for working with a creative and learning-centred partner to find new ways to engage public audiences with our historical themes.’ [5.2] It attracted maximum audiences (724 over three nights) to engage with the exhibits in more active ways than is possible in the traditional exhibition or concert. [5.1] The IWM/RNCM Evaluation report noted that people appeared ‘stunned by the breadth of the programme, the experience and the very spectacle of the museum being transformed into diverse, simultaneous performance spaces’. [5.1] An attendee commented that ‘Something like this adds variety to how you interact with history – offers an alternative way of accessing the message’. [5.1] Hallé’s archivist commented that the Making Music in Manchester collaboration had led to a greater understanding of their own collection:

‘Particularly successful was the tracing of connections between the RMCM and the Hallé… We were able to share the results of these stories across our audiences: 1. A series of articles in our magazine Hallé, circulated to members, supporters and sponsors three times a year. 2. Talks over the whole period of the World War One centenary (2014-18): U3A groups, New Bank Arts, Sale Monthly Matinees, Club Thursday, Hallé Members and Patrons. 3. Frank Tipping [RMCM student/Hallé violinist who died at the Front] was the subject of our commemorative tile in the Somme commemoration event at Heaton Park. His story was also told as part of that year’s Hallé for Youth concerts [8,000 children].’ [5.3]

Creating new permanent archival assets and collections

A key legacy of the programme was the creation of new archival materials and other permanent accessible resources. The (NLHF) funding enabled the Manchester partners to digitise the sources from the three archives. [5.4] Working with 4 volunteers the project team digitised over 850 images from the project Making Music in Manchester, which are hosted on open-access sites, such as the Manchester Digital Music Archive (MDMA), The Archives+ Website Exhibition and World War 1 Community Platform [5.3]. Alison Surtees, co-founder of the MDMA, commented that ‘to have hundreds of artefacts from the First World War era on our platform for all to see is vital. It opens up the eyes of our members and users to what else Greater Manchester holds as part of its proud musical legacy.’ [5.4] The project’s legacy is being strengthened further by an Innovate and Collaborate Network Grant from the National Archives for further digitisation of the collections. A major focus of the Paris-Manchester project was the creation of a permanent bi-lingual Paris-Manchester 1918 on-line exhibition that brought together the archival research in innovative ways, with radio and video content, including a reimagined radio broadcast from 1918. It has received 3421 hits and 2043 people have watched the live stream of the opening concert on YouTube. [5.6] The project’s concerts in Manchester, London (Cadogan Hall) and Paris (former Paris Conservatoire) and vocal recitals at the Opéra-Comique and RNCM reached multiple audiences. 163,000 people listened to the Cadogan Hall concert on BBC Radio 3’s In Concert. 193,000 listened to an episode of In Tune to hear conductor Markus Stenz discuss the project.

Contributions to regional, national and international commemoration

A legacy of Caroline Clegg’s creative work conceived in response to this research project is an annual Remembrance Day event at Heaton Park. An audience of 50 attendees in 2016 became 500 in 2019. [5.8] Thus, new understandings of Manchester’s past have been shared with an increasing audience, contributing to civic processes of commemoration, as Heaton Park’s Programming and Engagement Team Lead testified. [5.8] After the Silence formed part of the IWM’s Reactions14 programme to mark the start of UK’s 1914-18 commemorations. In France, the Paris-Manchester project was performed in historic spaces, notably the Conservatoire national supérieur d’art dramatique, the Opéra-Comique and the Musée de la Légion d’honneur et des ordres de chevalierie to highlight the commemorative dimension and in recognition of the project’s national status. The project was a finalist in the Manchester Culture Awards (2018). Most significantly, it received international recognition in being awarded the prestigious Centenary Label from the French Government for its outstanding contribution to official World War I events in France. [5.10] The Paris partners asserted that ‘the First World War commemorative project, Paris-Manchester 1918, attained a rare national and international impact… The labelling committee of the Centenary Mission of the First World War in France, chaired by the historian Antoine Prost, conferred the Centenary label… The CNSM [Paris Conservatoire] was thus proud to see this project included in the official national programme of events for the 1918-2018 Centenary in France’; it was the only Anglo-French project to receive this recognition. [5.5]

5. Sources to corroborate the impact

[5.1] IWM file After the Silence folder: THE Award: https://www.live\-manchester.co.uk/rncm\-wins\-excellence\-and\-innovation\-award/ review of After the Silence: https://www.rhinegold.co.uk/rncm\-at\-imperial\-war\-museum\-after\-the\-silence/; IWM and RNCM Evaluation Report; Artistic Report for Arts Council England, Centre for Music and Conflict website

[5.2] Letter from Camilla Thomas, curator, IWM North

[5.3] Testimonial from Making Music in Manchester project partner, Eleanor Roberts (Hallé Concerts Society) and volunteer, Stephen Ethridge

[5.4] Folder with NLHF evaluation report and MDMA testimony; PDF of webpages

[5.5] Testimonial from Paris Conservatoire partners, including from the Head of the Department of Musicology and Analysis

[5.6] Folder with PDF of Paris-Manchester Exhibition

[5.7] Spreadsheet of media statistics with sources

[5.8] Testimonial from Caroline Clegg, Director of Feelgood Theatre Productions and Manchester City Council, including the Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, Kathleen Robinson

[5.9] Folder containing Debussy Centenary programme, conference report, concert programmes.

[5.10] Image of Official Centenary Label award from the French Government

Additional contextual information

Grant funding

Grant number Value of grant
27057189 £10,000
AH/L008351/1 £21,000
FW-16-07930 £10,000
National Archives (no ref) £13,000