Page 198 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2023. Glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo ▪︎ Music societies in the long 19th century: Between amateur and professional culture. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 6
P. 198
glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo
The societies were private clubs whose main purpose was not organis-
ing and presenting public concerts but instead making music for the mem-
bers’ own, private edification. Their weekly gatherings were not called re-
hearsals but usually rather “meetings” and often included dinners after
the practice sessions. Meetings to which only members had access were
called “private”; the “Society for Antient Music” in Dublin alternated those
events with so-called “Visitors Nights”5. These were semi-public concerts
for which tickets were sold by the members – they decided whom to invite,
or who to sell them to. Tickets could not be purchased by members of the
public, except on a few occasions per year (perhaps between two and eight,
depending on the period and the society) when public concerts were or-
ganised to support charitable causes. This allowed for a high degree of so-
cial control as Paul Rodmell has pointed out: “Tickets were on public sale
only exceptionally, so societies were not only able to control the social make
up of their membership but also of their audiences.”6 At the beginning of the
nineteenth century access to most music societies was restricted to Protes-
tants; they were mainly populated by aristocrats and members of the up-
per middle class. New members had to be proposed by one or two exist-
ing ones and (after passing an audition with the artistic director, at least
with regard to performing members) confirmed by a vote of all members;
this way the social control of membership mentioned by Rodmell could be
reinforced. Over the course of the nineteenth century – particularly after
Catholic emancipation – some societies opened up to Catholics, while es-
pecially after 1850 new societies were founded that were mainly or entirely
Catholic from the beginning.
Most members of music societies were amateurs (usually called “gen-
tlemen” – women were excluded from the majority of societies), while there
were also some professional musicians called “players”. There were also per-
forming and non-performing members; the latters’ job was related to mat-
ters of organisation and logistics, as well as advertising those events that
were public. They were also welcome as additional subscription payers, of
course. In 1837, Dublin’s “Society of Antient Music” had 60 members of
whom 30 were non-performing – a significant percentage.7 In 1888 the “Or-
5 Patrick J. Stephenson, “The Antient Concert Rooms,” Dublin Historical Record 5, no.
1 (Sep.–Nov. 1942): 5, https://www.jstor.org/stable/30080044.
6 Paul Rodmell, “The Society of Antient Music, Dublin, 1834–64,” in Music in Nine
teenth-Century Ireland [Irish Musical Studies 9], eds. Michael Murphy and Jan
Smaczny (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007), 213.
7 Stephenson, “The Antient Concert Rooms,” 1.
196
The societies were private clubs whose main purpose was not organis-
ing and presenting public concerts but instead making music for the mem-
bers’ own, private edification. Their weekly gatherings were not called re-
hearsals but usually rather “meetings” and often included dinners after
the practice sessions. Meetings to which only members had access were
called “private”; the “Society for Antient Music” in Dublin alternated those
events with so-called “Visitors Nights”5. These were semi-public concerts
for which tickets were sold by the members – they decided whom to invite,
or who to sell them to. Tickets could not be purchased by members of the
public, except on a few occasions per year (perhaps between two and eight,
depending on the period and the society) when public concerts were or-
ganised to support charitable causes. This allowed for a high degree of so-
cial control as Paul Rodmell has pointed out: “Tickets were on public sale
only exceptionally, so societies were not only able to control the social make
up of their membership but also of their audiences.”6 At the beginning of the
nineteenth century access to most music societies was restricted to Protes-
tants; they were mainly populated by aristocrats and members of the up-
per middle class. New members had to be proposed by one or two exist-
ing ones and (after passing an audition with the artistic director, at least
with regard to performing members) confirmed by a vote of all members;
this way the social control of membership mentioned by Rodmell could be
reinforced. Over the course of the nineteenth century – particularly after
Catholic emancipation – some societies opened up to Catholics, while es-
pecially after 1850 new societies were founded that were mainly or entirely
Catholic from the beginning.
Most members of music societies were amateurs (usually called “gen-
tlemen” – women were excluded from the majority of societies), while there
were also some professional musicians called “players”. There were also per-
forming and non-performing members; the latters’ job was related to mat-
ters of organisation and logistics, as well as advertising those events that
were public. They were also welcome as additional subscription payers, of
course. In 1837, Dublin’s “Society of Antient Music” had 60 members of
whom 30 were non-performing – a significant percentage.7 In 1888 the “Or-
5 Patrick J. Stephenson, “The Antient Concert Rooms,” Dublin Historical Record 5, no.
1 (Sep.–Nov. 1942): 5, https://www.jstor.org/stable/30080044.
6 Paul Rodmell, “The Society of Antient Music, Dublin, 1834–64,” in Music in Nine
teenth-Century Ireland [Irish Musical Studies 9], eds. Michael Murphy and Jan
Smaczny (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007), 213.
7 Stephenson, “The Antient Concert Rooms,” 1.
196
