Madame Dulcken's Morning Concert, 31 May 1841

Younger performers tended to have longer and more diverse kinds of programmes for their benefits. Here is one given by Louise Dulcken, (1811—50), younger sister of the great Leipzig violinist Ferdinand David, who took a high position in musical life and taught Queen Victoria:

Programme 3 Madame Dulken's Morning Concert, Her Majesty's Theatre, 31 May 1841

Programme from the Centre for Performance History, Royal College of Music

This is a very big show. First of all, Mme. Dulcken brought in some of the most prominent singers and players of the time, most strikingly her brother, Mme. Fanny Persiani, and Mme. Pauline Viardot Garcia. Secondly, there are twenty-three pieces on the programme, only six of them instrumental, typical of the highly aggressive role that such musicians tended to play in the time. The focus is upon Italian opera, now even more the focus of élite concert programmes than fifty years before. Note that vocal numbers open each half, a fairly big change from convention. Quite a variety of composers are represented here, and we can presume that many members of the public were aware of their music, chiefly from hearing the same singers do the same numbers in private concerts. Mme. Dulcken appeared in three pieces: the Thalberg fantasia and Liszt Hexameron in the first half, and the excerpt from Rossini's Moses in Egypt in the second.

Note the two pieces by Cimarosa, whose works appeared almost as often as those of his contemporary Mozart. Note also the time: a 'morning concert' could happen at any time before evening.