Music in wartime
During the Second World War, the pianist Myra Hess put on concerts at the National Gallery to raise morale. Find out how the Gallery opened as a music venue
The Myra Hess concerts
How the concerts started
Music for London
Discover how the concerts became popular with wartime Londoners
Playing through the bombing
Concerts in the Blitz
Bombs fall and the musicians play on. How Myra Hess and the Gallery coped during the Blitz
Meet the musicians
London's favourite wartime music: Bach or Stravinsky?
Concerts or art?
The campaign to keep the concerts after the end of the war
Who was Myra Hess?
What kind of a person was the famous pianist Myra Hess?
Behind the scenes
Feeding hungry concert goers and battling noisy church bells
Myra Hess today
Your chance to hear music from the Myra Hess era
Supported by Ernest Hecht
This online resource, dedicated to the work of Dame Myra Hess, was developed with the support of the Ernest Hecht Charitable Foundation. The Foundation was set up by Ernest Hecht OBE, one of England's major independent book publishers, with the aim of helping the disadvantaged and promoting the advancement of the arts and education.