My information comes from a collection of programmes in my possession. Most of these were priced at 12p but two family concerts' programmes were priced at 5p.
The collection of over a dozen programmes shows some marked differences with today's issues. On the (white) front is the date and location, the performers and an image of a lion holding a lyre in front of a grid of arrows.
Saturday September 25th
James Loughran was conducting the Hallé (most of the season had this combination, so we'll assume this to be the case unless specified otherwise). This concert looked to have been a Viennese Night additional to the series with music by Heuberger (Opera Ball overture), Haydn (E flat Trumpet Concerto with John Dickinson as soloist), Beethoven's First Symphony and after the interval music by the Strauss Family and if memory serves me correctly the Radetzky March was played as an encore. On page 7 of the eight page programme was a mention of the concert preview slot on BBC Radio Sheffield.
October 2nd
Edward Downes opened the Saturday season the following week with a programme of Weber (Ruler of the Spirits overture), Wagner (Siegfried Idyll), Liszt (Piano Concerto no 1) and Dvorak (Symphony No 7). Ilana Vered was the scheduled soloist in the concerto, but owing to illness was unable to perform. My understanding is that Peter Donohoe was invited to perform the concerto in Manchester on the Thursday and in Sheffield on the Saturday. He received the phone call on the Wednesday! Also in the programme was the news that the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra had vacancies
for bassoon players.
8th October
Maurice Handford opened the Friday series with a concert including Berlioz (Corsair overture), Brahms(Violin Concerto played by Kyung Wha Chung) and Schoenberg (Pelléas and Melisande). Ticket prices (in six bands) ranged from 45p up to £1-80. Full details could be found about the season in the prospectus available in the foyer for 30p. Tickets were available in advance at Wilson Peck Ltd on Leopold Street. The programme for this concert (12 pages!) had one page devoted to the conductor, another for the soloist, five for the music - page 10 carried a photo of Swingle II (coming in October as well as information on the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus - chorusmaster Eric Chadwick, accompanist Bernard Y Baker. There were vacancies for sopranos, tenors and baritones. Rehearsals were held at 7pm on Tuesday evenings during the season in the Memorial Hall.
16th October
A popular Russian programme was scheduled. Music by Glinka (Russlan and Ludmila overture), Rachmaninov (Piano Concerto no 3) and Tchaikovsky (5th Symphony). Key names were Pinchas Steinberg and Anthony Goldstone.
October 22nd
Come the next Friday concert and we had our first visit by James Loughran. The first half was a concert performance of Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges with the vocals provided by Swingle II. Two members of this ensemble went on to achieve solo artist fame - Cathering Bott and John Potter. At this concert Swingle II were using the seats behind the orchestra and the ticket holders here had to move. In the second half was a performance of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra.
October 30th
In the last October concert the CBSO and Louis Fremaux were the visitors and we heard the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus for the first time in the series. The programme was Bach (Brandenburg Concerto no 3 and the Magnificat in D) followed by the Beethoven 7th Symphony. Prices were increased for this concert - top price was £2-00.
Beethoven's music was a feature of three consecutive concerts, on November 5th John Lill was the soloist in the Fourth piano concerto before a performance of the Bruckner 4th Symphony.
Friday 19th November was the date for the visit of a foreign orchestra - the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Janos Ferencsik. Beethoven's Egmont overture* opened the programme before we heard the same composer's pastoral Symphony. Deszo Ranki was the soloist after the interval in Ravel's G major concerto before we heard Liszt's Les Preludes. We were given an encore of the intermezzo from Kodaly's Hary Janos Suite.
* A risky choice considering that it was just twenty years after the 1956 Uprising and Egmont had been a freedom fighter!
At the end of November and in early December we had two visits from Arvid Yansons; for the first on November 27th we heard Weber's overture Der Freischutz, Prokofiev's suite from Romeo and Juliet and the Sibelius Second Symphony.
The week after (December 3rd) he returned to conduct the Schubert Symphony no 8 followed by the Shostakovich Symphony no 7 (Leningrad).
I assume that there were performances of the Messiah as well as a Christmas concert, but as I don't have any proof of these, I can't be sure
There was a Family Concert on Saturday 15th January, given by the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, leader David Adams, introduced and conducted by Christopher Robins. Works performed were Mendelssohn's Hebrides overture, Grieg Peer Gynt Suites 1 & 2, Richard Strauss's Burleske (John Bingham soloist), Borodin's 2nd Symphony and Sibelius Finlandia. Prices were reduced for this concert, ranging from 40p to £1-10 with half price for under 18s.
On the following Friday, 21st January, the Hallé returned with James Loughran to play Laudi by William Mathias, Beethoven Piano Concerto no 1 (Murray Perahia solist) Sibelius 4th Symphony and Strauss's Till Eulenspiegel.
The final concert of the month saw the RLPO coming to Sheffield in what was Andrew Davis's last concert with them as Principal Guest Conductor after three years. On the programme were Beethoven's Coriolan overture, Elgar's Violin Concerto (Kyung Wha Chung, soloist) and after the interval Schumann's Fourth Symphony rounded off the evening.
Advertised in the programme were the BBC Philharmonic Concert previews on Radio Sheffield and the Recorded Music Recitals given on Wednesdays in the Library Theatre from 12-30 to 2-15 pm - (February 2nd highlights of Gondoliers and Grieg's Piano Concerto). Also advertised was a short season of chamber music concerts entitled Music in the Mappin; three concerts with Mitsuko Uchida, George Malcolm and the Gabrieli String Quartet with Anthony Goldstone.
On Friday 4th February the Hallé returned under the baton of Efrem Kurtz . The works performed were Prokofiev's Symphony No 1, Beethoven's Second Symphony, Haydn's 88th Symphony (the last movement was encored which confused members of the Hallé coming on for the final piece) Roussel's Ballet Suite no 2 from Bacchus and Ariadne. The biography of the conductor mentioned the golden disc given to him after the sale of his 3 000 000th recording (sic).
The next concert in the Saturday Season on February 12th was Hans Vonk conducting the Hallé in Rossini's overture The Italian Girl in Algiers, Chopin's Second Piano Concerto (Juliana Markova soloist), Mendelssohn's 4th Symphony (Italian) and Stravinsky's Firebird Suite.
The following Friday (February 18th) saw more continental visitors, this time the Leipzig Gewandhaus Bach Orchestra. Gerhard Bosse was the Leader/Director and the soloists were Heinz Hoertzsch (flute) Peter Fischer (oboe) and Hannes Kastner on Harpsichord. The programme was all Bach and included the Sinfonia from the Cantata (Ich liebe den Hoechsten) , the A minor Violin Concerto, the Second Suite in b minor, the concerto for violin and oboe and the Brandenburg concerto no 5.
On Saturday 26th February the Hallé gave us Handel's concerto grosso op6 no 11, Beethoven's 4th Symphony and Brahms Piano Concerto no 1 with Joaquin Achucarro the soloist.
Into March and the first concert was on Friday the 4th; A Mozart and Mahler programme. Five numbers from Idomeneo, the overture, three arias by Ilia (sung by Sheila Armstrong and the March from the 3rd Act. In the Second Half Sheila Armstrong was the soloist in Mahler's 4th Symphony. A leaflet in the programme recalls that the following week was a Swedish Film Week at the Sheffield Film Theatre and Ingmar Bergman's Magic Flute was showing on the Sunday (70p admission).
A programme note advertised the lunchtime recital on records in the Library Theatre: Franck's Symphony and excerpts fron Shakespeare's Henry V.
On the Thursday 10th of March Mitsuko Uchida (a prizewinner in the Leeds Piano competition) was performing in the Mappin - the programme included Beethoven's Sonata in F op10 no 2, 3 Debussy preludes, Berg's sonata op1 and 4 ballades by Chopin. Tickets available 140p, 90p and 50p from Wilson Peck Ltd.
On the Saturday 12th March the CBSO returned with Louis Fremaux in a programme which included Wolf-Ferrari's overture Susanna's Secret, Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, Grieg's Piano Concerto (Eric Heidseck soloist) and Debussy's La Mer.
The London Mozart players came the week after on the Friday 18th March under the control of Paul Tortelier. Five works were on the programme, Rossini's overture The Barber of Seville, Ravel's Nocturne de Shylock, Haydn's Cello Concerto in C, Mozart's 39th Symphony and finally Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations. Ticket prices had been raised for this concert. Top price was 220p. (Tickets were priced in pence rather than pounds and pence).
The final March concert (Saturday 26th) saw the Hallé return under the baton of John Pritchard in a concert with the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and Alan Opie the baritone soloist in a performance of Sea Drift by Delius. Propr to this we heard Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture Romeo and Juliet, with Dvorak's 8th Symphony ending the concert.
I don't have any programmes for April earlier than the 15th, and the Programe for Sea Drift seems to have gone walkabout.
The Friday 15th April concert had Elgar's Cockaigne overture followed by Walton's Violin Concerto (Aaron Rosand soloist) before Schubert's Great C major symphony. The programme mentioned the CFP recordings by James Loughran and the Hallé (Rachmanonov Symphony no 2, Holst the Planets, Walton's Belshazzar's Feast and the Brahms symphonies)
On Saturday 23rd April two works by Smetana were on the programme; the Overture to 'The Bartered Bride' and 'Vltava'. Also performed were Dvorak's Slavonic Dances and Beethoven Symphony no 3 Eroica. This was the final concert in the season from James Loughran, although we had two more appearances from the Hallé.
On Friday 29th April the Hallé were again in action, this time under the baton of Walter Susskind, performing with the soloists Gyorgy Pauk and Paul Crossley. The programme was
Haydn Symphony No. 49 in F minor,
Berg Concerto for Piano, Violin and Wind and Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C minor.
Another Family Concert (extra to series) was advertised, again with the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra and Christopher Robins, on 30th April. Julian Byzantine was the soloist in Rodrigo's Guitar Concerto. Also performed were CoplandOutdoor Overture and the Dances from Rodeo, SibeliusKarelia Suite, Bliss March from 'Things to Come' and ElgarWand of Youth Suite.
The final Saturday concert was on Saturday May 7th. Leonard Slatkin was the conductor and Walter Klien was the soloist. The programme was Peter Mennin Moby Dick, Mozart Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat K595 and the concert was rounded off with the perennial favourite: Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4.
Also mentioned in the programme was the next concert in the Mappin where George Malcolm was playing J.S. Bach, Couperin, Scarlatti, Haydn and J.C.F. Bach.
This was the final concert in the Friday series.
There are a couple of aspects to the season which I should point out. It appeared that most of the Hallé concerts (especially with British conductors) began with a dreary rendering of the National Anthem - always in the same arrangement.
The Friday concerts began at 7-30pm and the Saturday series started at 7pm, fortunately this practice has now been changed.