Fascinating . . . The focus here is on the musical consumer, and the lengths to which publishers, printers and critics
as well as composers and performers
were prepared to go to entice, entertain and indeed educate their audiences. Much absorbing information and food for thought . . . as well as some intriguing parallels between topics perhaps ... Read morenot usually connected. The volume is . . . superbly well furnished with reproductions of both images and written and printed text.
NINETEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC REVIEW
Includes useful references to general reading for anyone new to the subject area, and the book answers many of the questions...Who bought music and how did those consumers know what music was available? Where was it sold and by whom? How did the consumption of music affect its composition? How was consumers' musical taste shaped and by whom?
FONTES ARTIS MUSICAE
Makes an appeal for focusing on the widening market for arts and leisure between 1730 and 1830. Increased access to music practices for a growing pool of customers dictated new directions in the creation, packaging and distribution of musical goods, well before the age of mass consumption. An exploration of these makeovers can yield fresh perspectives on those consumers' experiences traditionally associated with the later nineteenth century and beyond. [Green and Mayes's book] invites its reader to look beyond the content of printed artefacts and appreciate their paratexts. The book's thought-provoking stance is to look for the consumer in sources traditionally held to pertain to the producer.
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY MUSIC
[C]hallenges readers to take "commercial" music seriously and to rethink the ways we assign value to musical repertoire. The collection has helped to advance a new phase in musicological scholarship in which popularity and commercial success may be grounds for greater scholarly attention rather than less. This laudable enterprise is well served by the essays that make up the volume.
Amy Dunagin, Kennesaw State University
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