Leanne Langley, Ph.D. 1983

Advisor: James Haar

Dissertation Title: The English Musical Journal in the Early Nineteenth Century

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Dissertation Abstract:

Based on a thorough examination of over sixty music and nonmusic periodicals published in England or Scotland between 1665 and 1845, this study discusses the English musical journal as a distinctive genre of specialized literature in the early nineteenth century. Part 1 treats the origins, development, function, reception, and impact of English musical journals; Part 2 examines in greater depth the two most outstanding and influential journals of the period, the Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review (1818-1830) and the Harmonicon (1823-1833). Bibliographic details as well as a summary of the content and outlook of each of the sixty-four periodicals examined appear at the end of the dissertation in the form of a descriptive catalogue.

Briefly stated, my conclusions are historical, literary, and, to some extent, sociological. A view of musicalstyle and English taste clearly emerges, but neither music nor aesthetics has been a primary focus of the study. I have shown that the nineteenth-century English music periodical was part of a journalizing tradition much wider than simply the serial publication of music. By addressing the commercial issues of production and readership, I have also been able to gauge the influence of single publishers, editors, and contributors with more accuracy than has heretofore, been possible. Much anonymous musical criticism is identified, and the careers of several eminent periodical writers of the early nineteenth century are considered in depth.

The richness of English periodical writing on music in this period is nowhere more striking than in Richard Mackenzie Bacon’s Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review and William Ayrton’s Harmonicon. Largely produced by single writers in the same decade, these two journals present an ideal comparison between provincial and London musical life, amateur and professional interests, Handelian and Mozartian tastes, essay and encyclopedic format, philosophical and technical language. Both were highly successful publications, recognized in England and abroad, before they collapsed around 1830. For the images and insights they offer to modern scholars of nineteenth-century music, the Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review and the Harmonicon deserve fresh attention.

Dr. Langley relocated to England after graduation, where she eventually became a Fellow of the Institute of Musical Research at Goldsmiths, University of London, the Vice President of the Royal Musical Association, and the Honorary Librarian of the Royal Philharmonic Society. Her research has focused on concert culture in England from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries.