The Ingenious Mr. Avison: Making Music and Money in Eighteenth Century Newcastle

Roz Southey; Margaret Maddison; David Hughes

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1857951298 ISBN 13: 9781857951295

Publisher: Tyne Bridge Publishing, 2009

Charles Avison (1709-1770) was a remarkable Tyneside musician who became England's most important 18th-century concerto composer. Now the first full-length biography tells the talented composer's story, and how, through enterprise and determination, he made Newcastle upon Tyne England's greatest provincial music center of the time. The Ingenious Mr. Avison explores a world of fashionable concerts, money-making, rivalry, wigs, waistcoats, dancing, love affairs, and family tragedy. This well-researched survey also includes details of Avison's published works, a discography, and extensive notes. It is essential reading for students of English music and an informative and entertaining window onto provincial musical life in the 18th century.