ABSTRACT
The history of festival programming throughout the long nineteenth century reveals a move away from concerts of miscellaneous items towards the more modern concept of performing one or two large-scale works in their entirety. Between 1830 and 1870 there were significant changes in the general nature of festival programmes. The vogue for commissioning which manifested itself from the 1830s onwards and which reached a climax at the beginning of the twentieth century obviously had a major impact on festival programmes sometimes, indeed, it was almost their entire raison dtre. The most important development as regards the commissioning of new works between 1870 and 1914 was the increased willingness on the part of festival organizers to encourage native talent. Although eminent Continental composers continued to be approached, it became a deliberate policy on the part of some festival committees leeds in particular to offer commissions to indigenous composers.
