The Antiquarian Creation of a Musical Past in Eighteenth-Century Britain
[Thesis]
Nelson, Devon R.
Melamed, Daniel R
Indiana University
2020
371
Ph.D.
Indiana University
2020
Interest in the past and its artifacts pervaded eighteenth-century British culture. Antiquaries from many fields formed societies that fostered discourse on a wide variety of topics. Society members were allowed access to rare artifacts and given forums to discuss their findings. Many of these antiquaries published histories of their subjects, reproductions of historical relics, and anthologies of old works. London supported a particularly vibrant intellectual environment in which antiquaries interacted with the wider intellectual and musical communities in forming their ideas about the musical past. The work of antiquaries is often left out of discussions of eighteenth-century musical life in London. Antiquaries' study, discussion, and dissemination of old music, however, was an integral part of London's varied musical world.