The Mrs Sunderland Music Festival

Contents:

• Origin of the Competition

• The Competitions

• Expansion of the Classes

Origin of the Competition

On 7th June 1888, Susan and Henry Sunderland celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary, and a special concert was arranged in their honour by the Mrs Sunderland Jubilee Celebration Committee.

With the money raised from the concert, a committee of local men decided to start a Vocal Solo Competition to be held in Huddersfield and named in her honour.

On 4th December 1888, members of the Mrs Sunderland Jubilee Celebration Committee met at the Sunderlands' home to discuss the details of the Mrs Sunderland Competition which was to be set up using the balance of the funds raised for the celebration.

This balance was augmented to £100 by further subscriptions. Using average earnings, this sum would be worth around £52,000 today.

Those present at the meeting included members of the Sunderland family – Susan and Henry Sunderland, Mr & Mrs Tom Sunderland and Charlie Sunderland – Richard Garner, and representatives of the Huddersfield Technical School. Details included:

• The money was to be used to offer an annual prize of 5 guineas
• together with a silver medal for the encouragement of vocal music
• The competition will be held around Easter every year
• The competitors will be limited soprano and contralto voices one year, and tenor and bass the other year
• Soprano and contralto voices will be heard for the first year, and the pieces which have to be sung are Hear ye, Israel from Mendelssohn's Elijah and Return, O God of Hosts from Handel's Samson
• Anyone may compete who
  • Is a native of the West Riding of Yorkshire
  • Is not older than 25 years of age on 1st January in the year of the Competition
  • Has not previously taken a prize for vocal music at the Royal Academy of Music, or other such place of advanced musical instruction
  • Has not won the Competition before

The Competition is to be held in Huddersfield.

The Governors of the School offered an annual prize of 3 guineas for instrumental music, pianoforte and violin in alternate years, starting with piano in 1889.

The Competitions

The Competition was held every year from 1889 to the present, except for 1940 during World War II

• The First Mrs Sunderland Competition [1889]

• The Mrs Sunderland Competition [1890]

• The Mrs Sunderland Competition [1891]

Mrs Caley – Martha Annie Sunderland – presented the prizes at the Competition [1908, 1909]

Expansion of the Classes

• A choral class was introduced in 1895
• A composition class was introduced in 1916
• An elocution class was introduced in 1921

The festival has taken place every year since, except in 1940.

The Mrs Sunderland now runs for 9 days, and classes now include vocal solo, adult and junior choirs, piano, brass, woodwind, recorder, strings and percussion, school orchestras and bands. A Speech and Drama section includes solo verse-speaking, prepared reading, solo and group dramatic classes and poetry-writing.

The festival is a registered charity run by Trustees

See Wilfred Pickles and The Luke Settle Shield

Page Ref: MMS3278

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