The composer and the subscriber: a case study from the 18th century

Abstract

SCHOLARS and reviewers of 18th-century British music are very familiar with the lists of subscribers that often follow a dedication to an aristocrat or well-placed member of the gentry at the beginning of a musical publication. However, there have been relatively few studies of the relationship between composers, subscribers and publishers, and this is an issue that this article seeks to address.1 Hans Lenneberg, in his writings on the publication and dissemination of music in Europe, comments that ‘The custom [of subscription] like so many other musical business practices, seems to have begun in England; Purcell was the first to try it when he announced in the London Gazette of 28 May 1683 that his Sonnata's of lll Parts were available by subscription. When the works were issued, they usually came with a list of subscribers.’2 As David Hunter points out, ‘Subscription publishing was the only way for a composer, compiler, or even a publisher to finance the production of a book from receipts, rather than from other income, from a loan, or from the profits of previous publications’3 and it became a growing occurrence in British music from the late 17th century onwards.