# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Concert

From volume 1 of the work.
​CONCERT. The word was originally 'consort'—as in Ecclus. xxxii. 5, or in Milton's lines, 'At a Solemn Musick'—and meant the union or symphony of various instruments playing in concert to one tune. A 'consort of viols' in the 15th and 16th centuries was a quartet or sestet, or other number of stringed instruments performing in concert—concerted music. From this to the accepted modern meaning of the term, a musical performance of a varied and miscellaneous programme—for an oratorio can hardly be accurately called a concert—the transition is easy. In German the word 'Concert' has two meanings—a concert and a concerto.
The first concerts in London at which there was a regular audience admitted by payment seem to have been those of John Banister, between 1672 and 78. They were held at his house in Whitefriars, Fleet Street, daily at four in the afternoon, and the admission was one shilling. After Banister's death, concerts were given by Thos. Britton, 'the small-coal man,' at his house in Clerkenwell, on Thursdays, subscription 10s. per annum, and continued till his death in 1714.
By the latter part of last century the concerts of London had greatly multiplied, and were given periodically during the season by the 'Academy of Antient Music' (founded 1710), the 'Castle Society' (1724), the 'Concert of Antient Music' (1776), 'The Professional Concerts' (1783), besides occasional concerts of individual artists, amongst which those of Salomon and Haydn were preeminent from 1791 to 95. In 1813 the Philharmonic Society was founded, to give eight concerts a year, and has been followed in our own time by many other enterprises, of which the Musical Society, the New Philharmonic Society, the Crystal Palace Saturday Concerts, and the British Orchestral Society, for orchestral music; the 'Musical Union,' the 'Monday and Saturday Popular Concerts,' and Charles Halle's Recitals, for chamber music; the Sacred Harmonic Society, Leslie's, Barnby's, and the Bach Choir for vocal music, have been most prominent in the metropolis. Mr. Hullah's four historical concerts (1847) must not be forgotten.
At the present date, in addition to the established periodical concerts just named, there were given in the metropolis between March 1 and June 30, 1877, no less than 386 concerts and recitals of individual artists, including the 'Wagner Festival,' Mr. Rubinstein's Recitals, etc., etc.
In Manchester there are the Gentlemen's Concerts and Mr. Charles Halle's Concerts. In Liverpool, the Philharmonic. In Edinburgh, the Reid Concert and the Choral Union; in Glasgow the Choral Union.
In New York the Philharmonic is on the model of our own; Mr. Thomas's orchestra gives periodical concerts of deserved reputation. In Boston the Handel and Haydn Society for Oratorios, and the Harvard Institute for chamber music, are the chief musical bodies.
In Vienna, the concerts of the Tonkünstler-Societät appear to have been the earliest institution for periodical performances. They were founded at the same date with Banister's Concerts in London, 1772. The history of Concerts in Vienna has been thoroughly examined in Hanslick's 'Concert-wesen in Wien' (Vienna 1869).
The first of the famous Gewandhaus Concerts of Leipsic, which through Mendelssohn's exertions reached so high a rank in the music of Europe, was held on Nov. 25, 1781.
In France, the 'Concerts Spirituels' began as far back as 1725, and the concerts of the Conservatoire (Societé des Concerts) in 1828; the Concerts Populaires (Pasdeloup), 1861, etc.
In Amsterdam, the 'Felix Meritis' Concerts (1780 [App. p.596 "1777"]) are celebrated all over the continent.
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