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Charles Avison's Essay on Musical Expression, first published in 1752, is a major contribution to the debate on musical aesthetics which developed in the course of the 18th century. Considered by Charles Burney as the first essay devoted to 'musical criticism' proper, it established the primary importance of 'expression' and reconsidered the relative importance of harmony and melody. Immediately after its publication it was followed by William Hayes's Remarks (1753), to which Avison himself retorted in his Reply. Taken together these three texts offer a fascinating insight into the debate that raged in the 18th century between the promoters of the so-called 'ancient music' (such as Hayes) and the more 'modern' musicians. Beyond matters of taste, what was at stake in Avison's theoretical contribution was the assertion that the individual's response to music ultimately mattered more than the dry rules established by professional musicians. Avison also wrote several prefaces to the published editions of his own musical compositions. This volume reprints these prefaces and advertisements together with his Essay to provide an interesting view of eighteenth-century conceptions of composition and performance, and a complete survey of Avison's theory of music.
This book explores the works and influence of the eighteenth-century British composer Charles Avison. Although he spent most of his life in the northern town of Newcastle upon Tyne, Avison went on to have a marked impact on the musical life of Britain during the second half of the eighteenth century. His concertos become part of the national concert repertory, while his critical treatise, An Essay on Musical Expression, shaped debates about musical aesthetics. This book provides the first sustained examination of Avison’s musical works and compositional techniques, and it traces how his music not only drew on influences from European composers but also reworked them and in turn, influenced others. Considering Avison’s musical compositions, the circumstances around their composition and dissemination, and their place in music history, the author confronts preconceptions about the quality of Avison’s music, reveals new dimensions of his work as a composer, and demonstrates the enduring popularity and impact of his music. The author also draws on Avison’s writings to consider how closely he adheres to his own musical aesthetics. Reassessing Avison’s contribution to British music history, this study makes the case for understanding him as an important figure in the development and spread of musical styles across eighteenth-century England.
This book is concerned with a hundred years of musical drama in England. It charts the development of the genre from the theatre works of Henry Purcell (and his contemporaries) to the dramatic oratorios of George Frideric Handel (and his). En route it investigates the objections to all-sung drama in English that were articulated in the decades around 1700, various proposed solutions, the importation of Italian opera, and the creation of the dramatic oratorio - English drama, all-sung but not staged. Most of the constituent essays take an in-depth look at a particular aspect of the process, while others draw attention to dramatic qualities in non-dramatic works that also were performed in the theatre. The journey from Purcell to Handel illustrates the vigour and vitality of English theatrical and musical traditions, and Handel's dramatic oratorios and other settings of English words answer questions posed before he was born.
Combining new musicology trends, formal musical analysis, and literary feminist recovery work, Leslie Ritchie examines rare poetic, didactic, fictional, and musical texts written by women in late eighteenth-century Britain. She finds instances of and resistance to contemporary perceptions of music as a form of social control in works by Maria Barth?mon, Harriett Abrams, Mary Worgan, Susanna Rowson, Hannah Cowley, and Amelia Opie, among others. Relating women's musical compositions and writings about music to theories of music's function in the formation of female subjectivities during the latter half of the eighteenth century, Ritchie draws on the work of cultural theorists and cultural historians, as well as feminist scholars who have explored the connection between femininity and performance. Whether crafting works consonant with societal ideals of charitable, natural, and national order, or re-imagining their participation in these musical aids to social harmony, women contributed significantly to the formation of British cultural identity. Ritchie's interdisciplinary book will interest scholars working in a range of fields, including gender studies, musicology, eighteenth-century British literature, and cultural studies.
The study of the social context of music must consider the day-to-day experiences of its practitioners; their economic, social, professional and artistic goals; and the material and cultural conditions under which these goals were pursued. This book traces the daily working life and aspirations of British musicians during the sweeping social and economic transformation of Britain from 1750 to 1850. It features working musicians of all types and at all levels - organists, singers, instrumentalists, teachers, composers and entrepreneurs - and explores their educational background, their conditions of employment, their wages, the systems of patronage that supported them, and their individual perceptions. Deborah Rohr focuses not only on social and economic pressures but also on a range of negative cultural beliefs faced by the musicians. Also considered are the implications of such conditions for their social and professional status, and for their musical aspirations.