Paris-Manchester 1918: Conservatoires in time of war
The RNCM and Paris Conservatoire have collaborated on a dual-language online exhibition commemorating the end of the Great War.
Through research undertaken in both cities, Paris-Manchester 1918: Conservatoires in time of war offers the opportunity to learn about the lives of the musicians behind the concert programmes, creating a lasting memorial in celebration of those who fought or made music during the extraordinary years of the First World War.

Anonymous, ca. 1916: Fernand Halphen Conducting a Military Band during the 1914-1918 War, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Music Department, Est. Halphen 003 [on line].
The exhibition also includes items relating to Adolph Brodsky, Principal of the Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM), who was interned in Austria at the start of the war, and shows correspondence between Hope Squire and her husband, piano tutor Frank Merrick, who was imprisoned as a Contentious Objector at Wormwood Scrubs. Alongside this are concert programmes from the RMCM, the Hallé and from the edge of the battlefield, and from Paris, extracts from the Gazette, which the famous musical sisters Nadia and Lili Boulanger established to correspond with musicians serving at the Front.

Anonymous (1916) Maurice Ravel as a Soldier, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Music Department, Est. Ravel M. 012 bis [on line].
8 March 2018