English String Concertos before 1800

Extract

During the early eighteenth century, and up to the 1760s, the mainstay of every English instrumental concert was the concerto. If one had dropped in on a private ‘musical evening’ at a Gentlemen's subscription concert, one would have been certain of hearing a number of concertos. But after this date, and especially towards the closing years of the century, they figured less often in concert programmes than they had done formerly. The changes brought about by the general acceptance in this country of the galant style were many, and perhaps the most enervating of them was the decline of the amateur music society in favour of the larger professional concert. When in the 1760s British composers joined the avant garde and imitated the lively style of John Christian Bach, they were effectively putting a stop to the amateur music-making which had flourished so vigorously during the previous half-century. Their new compositions were technically too demanding for most amateurs and, because they omitted to write easy ripieno parts for the less proficient of them, the result was not slow to follow. But although many players were distressed at not being able to tackle the new music, it appealed to a far wider audience than music in the ‘Ancient’ style had done—or had been able to, on account of its limited availability or accessibility to the general public. Music was ceasing to be the preserve of select groups in society. It continued to be heard in church and theatre, and now the public concert and the pleasure garden admitted persons of any social standing for the price of a ticket. By the last quarter of the eighteenth century music had become at least a topic of interest, if not importance, for the man in the street.