The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain is a charity in the United Kingdom that supports musicians. It is the oldest music-related charity in Great Britain, founded in 1738 as the Fund for Decay'd Musicians by a declaration of trust signed by 228 musicians, including Edward Purcell (eldest son of Henry Purcell), Thomas Arne, William Boyce, Richard Carter, [1] Johann Christoph Pepusch, Hilda Wilson, [2] Dr. John Worgan, [3] and George Frideric Handel. It still operates a bank account at Drummonds Bank (now part of Royal Bank of Scotland) which was opened by its first secretary, Michael Christian Festing, in November 1738.
The fund received patronage from George III, and it was incorporated by royal charter in 1790. Funds were raised by holding charity concerts, musical dinners, and music festival. Liszt gave his first concert in England for the benefit of the society in 1824, aged 12. It also held performances by Mendelssohn, Moscheles, and Dvořák. Meyerbeer, Liszt, and Clara Schumann all became members. A Society of Female Musicians was formed in 1840, but merged with the royal society in 1866.
In the days before the welfare state, membership of the royal society guaranteed a degree of financial security to professional musicians. A second royal charter was granted in 1987, confirming its aims to support to all professional musicians (not just members) and their dependents who are in need through illness, disease or old age.
Henry Purcell was an English composer.
Johann Christoph Pepusch, also known as John Christopher Pepusch and Dr Pepusch, was a German-born composer who spent most of his working life in England. He was born in Berlin, son of a vicar, and was married to Margherita de l'Epine who also performed in some of his theatrical productions.
Master of the King's Music is a post in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. The holder of the post originally served the monarch of England, directing the court orchestra and composing or commissioning music as required.
William Boyce was an English composer and organist. Like Beethoven later on, he became deaf but continued to compose. He knew Handel, Arne, Gluck, Bach, Abel, and a very young Mozart all of whom respected his work.
The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of Wellington.
Jonathan Battishill was an English composer, keyboard player, and concert tenor. He began his career as a composer writing theatre music but later devoted himself to working as an organist and composer for the Church of England. He is considered one of the outstanding 18th century English composers of church music and is best remembered today for his seven-part anthem Call to Remembrance, which has long survived in the repertoires of cathedral choirs.
Classical music of the United Kingdom is taken in this article to mean classical music in the sense elsewhere defined, of formally composed and written music of chamber, concert and church type as distinct from popular, traditional, or folk music. The term in this sense emerged in the early 19th century, not long after the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland came into existence in 1801. Composed music in these islands can be traced in musical notation back to the 13th century, with earlier origins. It has never existed in isolation from European music, but has often developed in distinctively insular ways within an international framework. Inheriting the European classical forms of the 18th century, patronage and the academy and university establishment of musical performance and training in the United Kingdom during the 19th century saw a great expansion. Similar developments occurred in the other expanding states of Europe and their empires. Within this international growth the traditions of composition and performance centred in the United Kingdom, including the various cultural strands drawn from its different provinces, have continued to evolve in distinctive ways through the work of many famous composers.
Promenade concerts were musical performances in the 18th and 19th century pleasure gardens of London, where the audience would stroll about while listening to the music. The term derives from the French se promener, "to walk".
Astra Desmond was a British contralto of the early and middle twentieth century.
James Hamilton, 7th Earl of AbercornPC (Ire) (1686–1744), styled Lord Paisley from 1701 to 1734, was a Scottish and Irish nobleman and peer. An amateur scientist and musician, he published a book on magnetism in 1729 and a treatise on musical harmony in 1730, which was subsequently emended and re-issued by his teacher, Dr. Pepusch.
Frederic William Austin was an English baritone singer, a musical teacher and composer in the period 1905–30. He is best remembered for his restoration and production of The Beggar's Opera by John Gay and Johann Christoph Pepusch, its sequel, Polly, in 1920–23, and for his popularization of the melody of the carol The Twelve Days of Christmas. Austin was the older brother of the composer Ernest Austin (1874–1947).
Anthony Young was an English organist and composer. He was part of a well-known English family of musicians that included several professional singers and organists during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Michael Christian Festing was an English violinist and composer. His reputation lies mostly on his work as a violin virtuoso.
Baroque music of the British Isles bridged the gap between the early music of the Medieval and Renaissance periods and the development of fully fledged and formalised orchestral classical music in the second half of the eighteenth century. It was characterised by more elaborate musical ornamentation, changes in musical notation, new instrumental playing techniques and the rise of new genres such as opera. Although the term Baroque is conventionally used for European music from about 1600, its full effects were not felt in Britain until after 1660, delayed by native trends and developments in music, religious and cultural differences from many European countries and the disruption to court music caused by the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and Interregnum. Under the restored Stuart monarchy the court became once again a centre of musical patronage, but royal interest in music tended to be less significant as the seventeenth century progressed, to be revived again under the House of Hanover. The Baroque era in British music can be seen as one of an interaction of national and international trends, sometimes absorbing continental fashions and practices and sometimes attempting, as in the creation of ballad opera, to produce an indigenous tradition. However, arguably the most significant British composer of the era, George Frideric Handel, was a naturalised German, who helped integrate British and continental music and define the future of music in the United Kingdom.
Giulia Frasi was born c. 1730 and died in 1772 or after May 1774. She was an Italian soprano who was primarily active in London. She sang in every one of Handel's English oratorios, including various world premières for which the composer wrote roles specifically for her.
Margherita de L'Épine was an Italian soprano of the Baroque era. She was among the most popular and successful of London's female singers in the years just before and after Italian opera became introduced to the city. Today, she is best remembered for her performances in the operas of George Frideric Handel, and her longstanding association with the composer Johann Pepusch, whom it seems she married around 1718.
John Worgan (1724–1790) was an organist and composer of Welsh descent. He is best known for playing the organ at Vauxhall Gardens, the London public pleasure garden in the mid 18th century.
Julian Perkins is a British conductor and keyboard player. Shortlisted for the Gramophone Award in 2021, he is Artistic Director of the Portland Baroque Orchestra in the USA. He lives in London, England and is also Founder Director of the early music ensemble Sounds Baroque and Artistic Director of Cambridge Handel Opera Company.
Richard Carter was an English violinist and composer.
The names of Arne, Beard, Boyce, Henry Carey, Corfe, Bernard Gates, Dr. Greene, Galliard, Handel, Hayes, Jackson of Exeter, Leveridge, Pepusch, Stanley (the blind organist), Smith (Handel's amanuensis), Dr. Worgan, Weidemann, Vincent, and others, appear among the founders.