This satin programme was produced for a concert at Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, on Friday 4th November 1898 Despite the fact that Queen Victoria did not go to the theatre after the death of Prince Albert in 1861, she was always happy to attend private performances at her royal residences. This evening featured the baritone Alec Marsh and the soprano Alice Esty (1864-1935), both performers with the Carl Rosa Opera Company before they married in 1892; the Czechoslovakian pianist and composer Natalia Janotha (1856-1932), and the American pianist Herbert Van Vleet (b.1868). The so-called Esty-Marsh Concert Company had performed their 'Sixth Grand Concert' in Adelaide Town Hall in 1895, so we know that Alec and Alice Marsh had their own concert company by 1895. This evening at Balmoral may well have been a command performance while they performing nearby.
Queen Victoria wrote in her journal about the concert, which took place after dinner:
'Only the ladies to dinner. Afterwards Janotha played quite beautifully on the piano and Mr and Mrs Marsh sang. The Clanwilliams and their daughter Katie, Mme de Arcos, Mrs Vaughan and her daughter, Mr Sibbald and the gentleman of the Household joined us'.
The fourth item in the concert was the song' The Sunny Month of May' written by Queen Victoria's youngest child Princess Beatrice (1857-1944) who probably also attended the concert. She was her mother's secretary, and her companion after the death of her husband Prince Henry in 1896.