Musical Culture In Britain

These resources focus on musical life in 18th and 19th century Britain, but several are relevant to other historical periods as well.

Books

Book series devoted to British music:

Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Ashgate/Routledge)

Music in Britain, 1600-2000 (Boydell & Brewer)

Particularly useful individual volumes include:

Cowgill, Rachel, and Peter Holman, eds. Music in the British Provinces, 1690-1914. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007.

Drummond, Pippa. The Provincial Music Festival in England, 1784-1914.  Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011.

McVeigh, Simon. Concert Life in London from Mozart to Haydn.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Wyn Jones, David, ed. Music in Eighteenth-Century Britain. London: Routledge, 2016.

 

Databases

Concert Programme Project

Calendar of London Concerts

Music Festival Database (particularly useful as a companion to Drummond, The Provincial Music Festival, as it is not only fully searchable but also provides information about London festivals as well as those in the provinces)

Country Dance and Song Society Online Library (oriented toward colonial American sources, but includes material on British dances and dance publications - including Robert Keller's compendium The Dancing Masterwith dances from 17th- and 18th-century England). 

Listening Experiences Database