Category Archives: Live music history

The Birth of the Orchestra: History of an Institution, 1650-1815 – John Spitzer and Neal Zaslaw (2004)

This book traces the emergence of the orchestra from 16th-century string bands to the ‘classical’ orchestra of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and their contemporaries.  

Live music: A local case study (Portsmouth in the 1960s) – Dave Allen (2011)

A paper that outlines an on-going project – ‘Pompey Pop’ – that documents popular music in and around the city of Portsmouth, from the end of the war in 1945 to 1969.  

The History of Live Music in Britain, Volume 3: 1985-2009: From Live Aid to Live Nation – Simon Frith, Matt Brennan, Martin Cloonan and Emma Webster (forthcoming)

The third of three books detailing the history of live music in Britain since 1950.  

The History of Live Music in Britain, Volume 2: 1968-1984: From Hyde Park to the Hacienda – Simon Frith, Matt Brennan, Martin Cloonan and Emma Webster (forthcoming)

The second of three books detailing the history of live music in Britain since 1950.  

The History of Live Music in Britain, Volume 1: 1950-1967: From Dance Hall to the 100 Club – Simon Frith, Matt Brennan, Martin Cloonan and Emma Webster (2013)

The first of three books detailing the history of live music in Britain since 1950.  

Constructing a Rough Account of British Concert Promotion History – Matt Brennan (2010)

A rough account of British concert promotion since 1955.  

Provincial Concerts in England, 1865–1914: A Case-Study of Bradford – David Russell (1989)

A paper on the flowering of musical life in England in the nineteenth century, with a focus on concert promotion, and using Bradford as a case study.  

Concert Life in Haydn’s Vienna: Aspects of a Developing Musical and Social Institution – Mary Sue Morrow (1989)

A study of concert life in Vienna between 1760 and 1810.  

The Edinburgh International Festival 1947-1996 – Eileen Miller (1996)

Reference work that tells the story of the development of the Edinburgh International Festival, published to mark the 50th anniversary.  

The Modernisation of London Concert Life Around 1900 – Simon McVeigh and Cyril Ehrlich (2002)

An essay on the important changes in the business of music in London around the turn of the twentieth-century.