The programmes included the names of all the leading English composers of the day, who as a rule conducted their own works, among them Cipriani Potter, G. A. Macfarren, W. H. Holmes, W. L. Phillips, Sterndale Bennett, J. Hullah, J. H. Griesbach, T. German Reed, W. M. Rooke, H. Westrop, Joseph Barnett, H. C. Litolff, C. Lucas, T. M. Mudie, James Calkin, and John Goss.
[1] The music included orchestral and chamber compositions, varied by vocal solos and part-music, to which nearly all the above-named composers contributed original works, and the members in turn directed the performances.
Even after it was decided to introduce music by foreign composers, in the hope of creating more general interest in the concerts, it failed to restore the Society to prosperity; after another period of far from successful management, a special appeal for support was made at the close of 1854.
[1] This effort was ridiculed in The Musical World of 16 December 1854, on the ground that the Society had no true claim to its title, as many composers and artists of note held aloof from it.
The umpires on these occasions included Joseph Joachim, Bernhard Molique, Carlo Alfredo Piatti, Cipriani Potter, G. A. Macfarren, A. Mellon, T. M. Mudie and H. Leslie; the prize works were publicly performed by Agnes Zimmermann, Joseph Joachim, A. Mellon, H. Webb, J. T. Carrodus, W. Watson, J. T. Willy, W. T. Aylward, and Carlo Piatti.