Our
methodology is based on a technique called ‘slice history’,
which was developed by a group of Australian social historians and involves
the deepest possible investigation of one-year slices of history, a generation
apart [Ref].
For this project our ‘slice’ years are 1815, 1835, 1855,
1875, and 1895, which were deliberately chosen to ‘stand for’
their respective decades. Different issues emerged in our selection and
treatment of the sources for each of these years, however, principally
because of the explosion in print culture. So while at the beginning of
the century it was possible to index the principal surviving newspapers,
by the end of the period, we had to be far more selective and abandon
ideas of comprehensive coverage.
Sources consulted were as follows:
1815
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Morning Chronicle; Times; Morning Herald;
Morning Post; Sun; programmes of the Concerts
of Ancient Music
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1835
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Times; Sunday Times; Morning Post;
Morning Chronicle; Court Journal; Atlas;
Spectator; programmes of the Concerts of Ancient Music;
Musical Magazine; Athenaeum; Morning Herald
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1855
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Musical Directory; Musical World; Morning
Chronicle; Daily News
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1875
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Musical World; Musical Directory; Daily
Telegraph
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1895
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Musical Directory; Daily Telegraph; Athenaeum
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Definitions of what constituted a concert, and indeed what constituted
London, at each point in the century are somewhat blurred. Some
examples will serve to demonstrate this. Our working definition of
a concert has been:
any event featuring a musical performance by one or more performers,
and taking place before an audience, but excluding complete dramatic
performances involving scenery, costume, acting and stage machinery
– operas, ballets, and so on.
We also have made a policy only to include performances that were a
matter of public record. For more on issues of definition and for a detailed
account of the database’s conceptual design click here [link to
book article as pdf]. In Phase I we erred on the side of inclusiveness
on the grounds that it was easier to capture and discard an event than
to attempt to recapture it at a later stage.
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