Silk and satin theatre programmes were frequently produced in the 18th and 19th centuries to commemorate special theatrical and musical events, the less expensive ones with integral fringing made from fraying cut edges, and the more expensive with separately applied silk or metallic fringes. This beautifully presented programme was produced for a Special Grand Concert in a series of promenade concerts at the Theatre Royal Covent Garden, mounted by its lessee Mr. William Freeman Thomas, towards the end of the concert season, 8th November 1883.

The evening included both light, operatic and classical music by the composers Giuseppe Verdi, Felix Mendelssohn, Camille Saint-Saëns, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Hector Berlioz, Sir George Macfarren, Charles Auguste De Beriot, Ciro Pinsuti, J. Cheshire, Paolo Tosti, Richard Wagner, Otto Nicolai, Franz Schubert, August Röckel, Arthur Sullivan, George Asch, Arthur Gwyllym Crowe and Daniel Auber.
Songs were sung by Rose Hersee, Sims Reeves, Madame Enriquez, and Charles Santley.

The orchestra and band of the Coldstream Guards played, and the principal conductor was Arthur Gwyllym Crowe (1825-1894) who was also a composer, especially of waltzes. His waltz In the Moonlight was the penultimate piece in the second part of the concert, with a cornet obbligato by Howard Reynolds. Other musicians named on the programme were the violinist Mr. Carrodus, the oboe player Mr. H. Smith, the flautist Mr. W.L. Barrett, the bassoonist Mr. Hutchins, the horn player Mr. Mann, the harpist Mr. Cheshire, and the cornet à pistons player Mr. Howard Reynolds.