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Music Hall, Sheffield

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Venue Type & Location

Music Hall

Overview

  • Address: Surrey Street, Sheffield. For a current map, Click Here.

  • Alternate Names: Surrey Street Music Hall

  • Audience Composition: According to Dagmar Kift, the entertainments at the Music Hall were “mainly addressed to a middle-class audience, although its doors were not closed to the working class” (20). Kift seems to imply that these groups generally frequented separate entertainments at the venue, however, with Sheffield’s labourers being especially likely to attend the temperance meetings and reduced-price concerts sometimes held there.

  • Performance Space Description: In his General Directory of 1845, William White describes the Music Hall as a “large stone building, in Surrey-street” [15, quoted in Kathleen Barker Collection]. Contemporary images of the exterior reveal it to be a symmetrical, two storey structure with doors at the far left and right of the façade and four arched windows spanning the central section. As yet, no information about the performance space itself has been found.

  • Typical Fare: The Music Hall seems to have been used for a variety of purposes during the mid-19th Century. On one hand, J. Edward Vickers claims that the building had a reputation for being "rather more highbrow" than other venues in the city, and that it was known for housing performances of classical music in particular (236-9). That said, The Sheffield Directory and Guide of 1828 also notes that “the Museum, the meetings of the Literary and Philosophical Society, the Subscription Library, and the members of one of the News rooms, are respectively accommodated under [the Music Hall’s] roof.” (lxii-lxiii). Similarly, Kift claims that - in addition to musical entertainments featuring a range of performers (from local choirs to major names like Jenny Lind & Franz Liszt) - the hall was also used for readings, temperance meetings and entertainments organized by the local Mechanics’ Institute (20).

    • Performance History

  • The Music Hall stood on a portion of Henry Tudor's former estate. According to Vickers, "Tudor died in 1814, whereupon his estate was bought by Rowland Hodgson, who sold part of it in 1822 to shareholders of the Music Hall" (216-7)

  • The Music Hall itself was erected shortly after this purchase. An entry in The Sheffield Directory and Guide suggests that the venue was built in 1823, through the “cooperation of a number of gentlemen” (lxii). It then remained - in Vickers' words - "the chief concert and exhibition hall in the city" until 1910.

  • Following its career as a performance venue, the building housed a public library for a time. It was torn down entirely in 1934.

    Please see the 'Bibliographic Sources' link at right for a complete listing of materials (both primary and secondary) from which the above information was compiled.

    Beth Marquis
    Additional research by Paul Babiak

    • Troupes at Music Hall, Sheffield

    Film Affiliated people Film Type # of event(s)
    "Ethiopian Serenaders" (impostors) Minstrel Definite "Ethiopian Serenaders" (impostors)
    Catlin & Museum/Lecture Troupe Exhibition Definite Catlin & Museum/Lecture Troupe
    Ethiopian Brothers Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Brothers
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Valintine, J.W. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Briggs, T.F. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Pell, Gilbert W. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Ludlow, M.C. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Juba, Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Irwin, J.H. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49) Everton, J.H. Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Female American Serenaders Hodson, G.A. Minstrel Definite Female American Serenaders
    Female American Serenaders Jumba, Minstrel Definite Female American Serenaders
    Female American Serenaders Miami, Minstrel Definite Female American Serenaders
    Female American Serenaders Cora, Minstrel Definite Female American Serenaders
    Female American Serenaders Yarico, Minstrel Definite Female American Serenaders
    Female American Serenaders Womba, Minstrel Definite Female American Serenaders
    Female American Serenaders Woski, Minstrel Definite Female American Serenaders
    Female American Serenaders Rosa, Minstrel Definite Female American Serenaders
    Kafir and Zuloo Chiefs Zoolu Chief, Exhibition Definite Kafir and Zuloo Chiefs
    Kafir and Zuloo Chiefs Tyler, J.S. Exhibition Definite Kafir and Zuloo Chiefs
    Kafir and Zuloo Chiefs Zoolu Chief's Child, Exhibition Definite Kafir and Zuloo Chiefs
    Kafir and Zuloo Chiefs Kaffir Warrior, Exhibition Definite Kafir and Zuloo Chiefs
    Kafir and Zuloo Chiefs Zoolu Chief's Wife, Exhibition Definite Kafir and Zuloo Chiefs
    Lantum Serenaders Adwin, Minstrel Definite Lantum Serenaders
    Lantum Serenaders Stainer, Minstrel Definite Lantum Serenaders
    Lantum Serenaders Marley, Minstrel Definite Lantum Serenaders
    Lantum Serenaders Dryce, Minstrel Definite Lantum Serenaders
    Lantum Serenaders Laurain, Minstrel Definite Lantum Serenaders
    Penrose and three Negro Minstrels Penrose, Minstrel Definite Penrose and three Negro Minstrels
    Phillips, Henry Phillips, Henry Vocal Entertainment Definite Phillips, Henry
    Russell, Henry Russell, Henry Vocal Entertainment Definite Russell, Henry
    Unknown Minstrel Troupe (Sheffield, 45) Minstrel Definite Unknown Minstrel Troupe (Sheffield, 45)

    Events at Music Hall, Sheffield

    Event Date Venue Location Film
    Lecture - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Catlin & Museum/Lecture Troupe
    Exhibition - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Kafir and Zuloo Chiefs
    Variety - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Penrose and three Negro Minstrels
    Minstrel Show - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding "Ethiopian Serenaders" (impostors)
    Minstrel Show - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Ethiopian Serenaders (1848-49)
    Exhibition - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Catlin & Museum/Lecture Troupe
    Exhibition - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Catlin & Museum/Lecture Troupe
    Exhibition - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Catlin & Museum/Lecture Troupe
    Exhibition - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Catlin & Museum/Lecture Troupe
    Vocal Entertainment - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Russell, Henry
    Vocal Entertainment - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Russell, Henry
    Vocal Entertainment - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Phillips, Henry
    Vocal Entertainment - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Phillips, Henry
    Variety - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Unknown Minstrel Troupe (Sheffield, 45)
    Variety - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Ethiopian Brothers
    Variety - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Lantum Serenaders
    Minstrel Show - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Female American Serenaders
    Vocal Entertainment - Sheffield, Yorkshire: West Riding Russell, Henry

    Bibliographic Sources

    View a list of abbreviations.

    • Era (London) July 1, 1849: 1:2.
    • (A search for ‘Music Hall, Surrey Street’ will turn up several interesting images, with corresponding descriptive captions.)
    • Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996
    • Sheffield: John Blackwell, 1828
    • East Ardsley, Wakefield: EP Publishing Limited, 1978