Simon D. I. Fleming and Martin Perkins (eds.) Music by Subscription: Composers and their Networks in the British Music-Publishing Trade, 1676–1820. Oxford, Routledge, 2022. Link
This book breaks new ground in the social and cultural history of eighteenth-century music in Britain through the study of a hitherto neglected resource, the lists of subscribers that were attached `to a wide variety of publications, including musical works. These lists shed considerable light on the nature of those who subscribed to music, including their social status, place of employment, residence, and musical interests. Through broad analysis of subscription data, the contributors reveal insights into social and economic changes during the period, and the types of music favoured by groups like music clubs, the aristocracy, the clergy, and by men and women. With chapters on female composers and listeners, music and the slave economy, musical patronage, the print trade, and nationality, this book provides innovative perspectives that enhance our understanding of music’s social spheres, the emergence of music publishing, and the potential of digital musicology research.
See also:
Addison, Amélie. “William Shield’s A Collection of Favourite Songs (c.1775).” Chap. 12 in Music in North-East England 1500–1800, edited by Stephanie Carter, Kirsten Gibson and Roz Southey, 241–60. Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2020.
Fleming, Simon D. I. “Avison and his Subscribers: Musical Networking in Eighteenth-Century Britain.” Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 49, no. 1 (2018), 21–49.
Fleming, Simon D. I. “Publishing Music by Subscription in India: 1789 to 1811.” The Musical Times 163 no. 1958 (2022): 89–100.
Fleming, Simon D. I. “Subscribers to William Bird’s The Oriental Miscellany (1789): an insight into late eighteenth-century Anglo-Indian Society.” The Consort 78 (2022): 40-70.
Fleming, Simon D. I. “The Gender of Subscribers to Eighteenth-Century Music Publications.” Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle 50, no. 1 (2019), 94–152.
Fleming, Simon D. I. “The Lady’s Choice: Women and the Purchase of Music Through Subscription.” Women and Music in the Age of Austen, edited by Miriam Hart & Linda Zionkowski. Lewisburg, Bucknell University Press, 2023.
Fleming, Simon D. I. “The Patterns of Music Subscription in English, Welsh and Irish Cathedrals during the Georgian Era.” Early Music 48, no. 2 (2020), 205–23.
Hunter, David and Rose M. Mason, “Supporting Handel Through Subscription to Publications: The Lists of Rodelinda and Faramondo Compared.” Notes 56, no. 1 (1999), 27–93.
Kassler, Michael. “The Bachists of 1810: Subscribers to the Wesley/Horn Edition of the ‘48’.” In The English Bach Awakening, edited by Michael Kassler, 315–40. London, Routledge, 2016.
Meling, Lise Karin. “Fra nasjonalt kultursymbol til hjemmehygge og rekreasjon: Maria Hester Park og hennes Glees i den engelske abonnementskulturen på 1700-tallet.” Musikk & Historie 5 (2022), 14–28.
Robinson, Francis and Peter Wallis, Book Subscription Lists: a Revised Guide. Newcastle, Harold Hill and Son Ltd, 1975.
Seares, Margaret. “The Composer and the Subscriber: A Case Study from the 18th Century.” Early Music 39, no. 1 (2011), 65–78.
Smith, William C. and Charles Humphries. A Bibliography of the Musical Works Published by the Firm of John Walsh during the years 1721–1766. London, Bibliographical Society, 1968.
Talbot, Michael. “What Lists of Subscribers Can Tell Us: The Cases of Giacob Basevi Cervetto’s Opp. 1 and 2.” De Musica Disserenda 10 (2014), 121–39.
Wallis, Peter and Ruth Wallis: Book Subscription Lists: Extended Supplement to the Revised Guide. Newcastle, PHIBB, 1996.
Walsh, Valerie. A Commentary on the Subscription List to “A Selection of the Most Favourite Scots-Songs…Adapted for the Harpsichord, with an Accompaniment for the Violin. By Eminent Master etc. Vol. 1.” Printed for William Napier: London [1790]. MLIS diss., [University College, Dublin], c1985.