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Music ofthe Raj
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Music of the Raj
A Social and Economic History of Music in
Late Eighteenth-Century Anglo-Indian Society
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To Thérèse
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Acknowledgements
During the ten years that I have worked on this book, I have benefited greatly from
the advice and assistance ofcolleagues and friends, who have suggested many new
lines ofthought and who have drawn my attention to sources that I would otherwise
have missed. I should like to thank Gerry Farrell, Richard Widdess, Martin Stokes,
Simon McVeigh, Jan Smaczny, and Donald Burrows. An especial debt ofgratitude
is owed to my long-time colleague Cyril Ehrlich, who was influential in my transi-
tion from the field oflate medieval organology to that ofthe social history ofmusic
in the eighteenth century. A symposium entitled ‘The History of North Indian
Music: th–th Centuries’, held at the Rotterdam Conservatorium on –
December under the efficient organization ofJoep Bor and Jane Harvey, pro-
vided a chance to hear presentations and thought-provoking discussions from a
wide range ofscholars working on the history ofIndian music.
The major collections of Anglo-Indian letters discussed in this study are in the
National Library ofWales and the British Library. I acknowledge with gratitude the
assistance of staff there. Above all the India Office Library at Blackfriars was my
haunt during vacations for many years, and the efficiency ofits reader services was
much appreciated. Major Williams of the National Trust arranged for me to visit
Powis Castle to look at a collection ofmusic belonging to the Clive family. Other
assistance was provided by the Gloucestershire Record Office, the Somerset Record
Office, the Newspaper Library at Colindale, the Victoria and Albert Museum. From
the inception of this project, Bruce Phillips at Oxford University Press was most
supportive and encouraging, and generous financial support has been provided by
the Queen’s University ofBelfast.
I. W.
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Preface
‘Ofall kinds ofmusical activity the least documented is, understandably, domestic
music-making. At its extent and its social spread in England during the eighteenth
century we can only guess.’ Thus Stanley Sadie in Music in Britain: The Eighteenth Cen-
tury.1Notwithstanding the lack of first-hand accounts by amateur musicians, it is
accepted that the growth ofrecreational music-making among the middle classes,
now an economically powerful group, influenced profoundly the development of
musical culture in eighteenth-century England. Newly affluent and with leisure
time to devote to their hobby, musical amateurs influenced almost every aspect of
professional and commercial musical activity: they provided the audiences for
the emerging traditions of the public concert; their need for tuition increased the
opportunities for music teachers, stimulating a great influx of Italian and German
musicians; their appetite for new keyboard instruments led to the emergence of
London as the leading centre for the technical development and the commercial
retail ofpianofortes; and their demand for new repertoire stimulated a phenomenal
increase in the publication ofeasy domestic music. The growing vitality ofmusical
life in London is easy to document, but the effects in the shires were as obvious:
musical clubs and societies flourished; circulating music libraries were set up; ‘coun-
try’ music retailers established businesses, acting as agents for the major London
firms; systems oftransport for the carriage ofinstruments were put in place; and an
informal annual calendar of special events, effectively music festivals, came into
being.
All ofthis activity has left a wealth ofevidence, mainly ‘public’ or ‘semi-public’ in
character, in the form ofnewspaper advertisements, publishers’ catalogues, minute
books ofsocieties, and subscription lists. Material ofthis kind is certainly ofgreat
value in tracing the development of middle-class musical tastes. Analysis of the
repertoire of provincial music societies, for example, illustrates an undiminished
enthusiasm for Corelli throughout the century, and the successive phases in the
reception ofHaydn’s music can be followed through in newspaper advertisements
of the programmes of leading concert organizations. The musical preferences of
more specific groups are also amenable to study. In a recent account of the rise of
‘ancient’ music, lists ofpatrons ofone ofthe main societies devoted to its promotion
have been shown to reflect the influence ofclass and political allegiance on support
1 H. Diack Johnstone and R. Fiske, eds., Music in Britain: The Eighteenth Century(Oxford: Blackwell, ),
.
Description:Music of the Raj provides a colourful portrait of daily musical life in the late eighteenth century. Based on unpublished Anglo-Indian correspondence, Woodfield illustrates in fascinating detail the musical activities of a group of English employees of the East India Company, in Calcutta and London,
