"Noise and Fury Signifying Nothing": Music, Sound, and Class in Covent Garden

Abstract

Abstract: In the mid-eighteenth century, Covent Garden played host to a variety of different types and classes of people. It was the site of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, the Shakespeare's Head tavern, and numerous brothels. It also included the residences and shops of famed writers and artists. Yet despite its reputation as a meeting place for all ranks, the square had clear class divisions between those who lived in the fashionable houses on the northern side and the working people of the street market further south. This essay examines the different sonic territories within Covent Garden and how they were marked by gender and class. Starting with sites of musical performance, I propose that music can tell us much about the aural experiences of the time. An examination of maps and images of the market illustrates how sound helped to reproduce and reinforce elite attitudes toward lower-class people. Music also relegated women to certain roles within that environment and tells us much about attitudes toward female labor. Finally, the history of musical culture in Covent Garden Market demonstrates how permeable class boundaries could be even when there was an interest in resisting change and upholding a strict class hierarchy.