Conference Agenda

The production and consumption of culture during the long eighteenth century have been central to scholarly discourse, with figures such as McVeigh, Brewer, Hume, and Staves offering critical insights. However, the financial and operational aspects of subscription concerts in eighteenth-century Britain remain underexplored due to the limited availability of extant documentation on their associated costs. This paper addresses this gap by examining the Bach-Abel concerts, one of the most esteemed Georgian subscription concert series, through the lens of economic and cultural analysis.

Responding to Hume’s observation that “Culture is a commodity produced for gain (whether pecuniary or otherwise) and offered for sale to the public, with or without success”, this paper shifts focus from the repertoire performed (there is a lack of information regarding the specific works performed at the Bach-Abel concerts) to the financial and non-pecuniary dynamics of these concerts. Drawing upon the account books held at the Royal Bank of Scotland Archives in Edinburgh—spanning Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel’s concert management from 1773 to 1775—and Bach’s personal bank accounts from 1767 to 1780, this research reveals a rare and detailed view into the financial operations of one of late eighteenth-century London’s most prestigious musical ventures.

While prior scholarship has acknowledged these archival sources, their potential has been largely untapped. This paper offers a fresh interpretation, facilitating a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of Bach and Abel as cultural producers and their business practices. It addresses key questions: Who could access this cultural product? How did the earnings of ‘jobbing’ musicians compare to those of ‘star’ performers? Did Bach and Abel realize a profit, and to what extent? Was profit the sole motive, or were there broader social and professional goals at play? The analysis reveals not only the economic realities underpinning the subscription series but also unexpected insights into Bach and Abel’s social and professional networks. The account ledgers, while fragmentary, provide invaluable data for reconstructing the nuanced interplay between culture and commerce in eighteenth-century Britain, contributing to a deeper understanding of the business practices of cultural producers in this period.

The symphonie concertante, flourishing in the late eighteenth century, occupies a unique space between symphony and concerto. While its distinctive form has been acknowledged, little attention has been paid to the market dynamics that shaped its dissemination and decline. By situating Johann Christian Bach’s symphonies concertantes within the broader context of eighteenth-century concert culture and music publishing, this paper demonstrates how the genre served as a strategic platform in public concerts while struggling to achieve commercial viability.

Unlike Bach’s widely published solo keyboard concertos, which featured smaller, more accessible ensembles, the symphonies concertantes were specialized works designed for multiple virtuosos in large-scale public performances. This focus likely restricted their marketability and limited publication. Of Bach’s sixteen symphonies concertantes, only three—W.C32 (Paris, 1772), W.C33 (Paris, 1773; Amsterdam, 1774), and W.C34 (Paris, 1775; Offenbach am Main, 1776)—were published (Warburton, 1999). These editions appear to have functioned as commercial trials, facilitated by the Leduc Brothers (Maunder, 2014, p. 211), rather than responses to sustained market demand. The genre’s reliance on performance rather than publication ultimately contributed to its decline as a sustainable compositional model.

This study will focus on W.C33 and compare it with its earlier unpublished solo keyboard version, W.C75, to shed light on the interplay between musical, performance, and publication dynamics. W.C33 is the only published work with a known date and performance venue, having been staged twice by the Leduc Brothers at the Concert Spirituel (Pierre & Lesure, 2000). The comparative analysis of their orchestration reveals key differences between the symphonie concertante and the solo concerto. Notably, the unpublished arrangement is unique among solo keyboard concertos in featuring a larger orchestra with clarinets, underscoring the argument that orchestration significantly influenced a work’s dissemination.

By analyzing musical content, performance records, and publication data, this paper demonstrates how Bach utilized the symphonie concertante as a strategic alternative to solo concertos for public performances—providing a platform for multiple virtuosos and catering to audiences’ demands for technical brilliance and orchestral grandeur—while its design, tailored for professional, large-scale concerts, limited its broader market appeal and ultimately contributed to its decline.

The fact that women performed in Viennese concert life around the year 1800 is well documented and studied. Barbara Fröhlich (1797-1879) performed as a singer at numerous Abendunterhaltungen and the Concerts Spirituels series with great acclaim. Josepha Barbara Auernhammer (1758-1820) composed over 60 works and organized her own Akademie concerts to premiere them. Auernhammer’s daughter, Marianna Maria Czegka née Bessenig, (1786-1849) had a successful performing career as a singer, pianist, and teacher. One of Bessenig’s own students, Henriette Sontag (1806-1854), went on to be a soloist in the premiere of Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony and the Missa Solemnis. Less understood, however, is how women managed to achieve great musical success in a city where there was no dedicated concert hall, no standardized or required musical education, no centralized ticket sales or event management, not to mention the reduced options available to women at the time. For example, how was it possible that Cleopha Lechner (1756-1832) was able to own a coffee house that hosted weekly concerts in 1792, but women were not allowed to enter a coffee house as a guest in Vienna until 1856? The FWF/WEAVE project “Concert Life in Vienna 1780-1830” has uncovered many new individuals in concert life and allowed us to have a deeper glimpse into the varied experiences of these performers, poets, declaimers, hosts, and composers. Our database helps to connect individuals to one another (through concert programs, institutions, or patrons) and shed light on the networks occurring in Vienna before 1830. It especially helps in making sense of where women performed most often, what music they performed, and who women relied on. This presentation will focus on selected women with particularly interesting roles in concert life and present their networks (visualized in the application Gephi), alongside primary source material, including handwritten correspondence, concert reviews, and lithographs.