The role of music in the Yorkshire Country House 1770-1850

• Main Author: Troughton, Jane Elizabeth
• Other Authors: Wainwright, Jonathan
• Published: University of York 2014
• Subjects: 780.9428
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.667696

This thesis is a contribution to the history of domestic musicality and sociability, focusing on the collections and musical practices of four Yorkshire Houses - Harewood House, Castle Howard, Temple Newsam and Nostell Priory - from around 1770 to 1850. The thesis interrogates the individual case studies of musical activity within the four houses using a framework of the following themes: the changing role of musical patronage and the status of the professional musician; music-making and elite men and women; private and public performance; the role and influence of visiting tutors and performers; the participants in music-making in the house; the genres and composers of music played; the importance of sociability in the country house and the social functions that music fulfilled; the locations within the house where music-making took place; and the relationship that musical instruments had with the design and decoration of interiors and furnishings. The findings of this thesis, showing contrasting approaches to music-making across the four case studies, are considered alongside other research, to show in what ways music-making in the country house had changed by the end of the eighteenth century, and what relationship music in the domestic, private aristocratic sphere had with contemporary musical trends in the public domain. Comparisons are made with evidence from other houses and aristocratic families to develop and enrich this discussion. By defining closely the musical activities of the four individual households, this thesis aims to show what is unique to the family and what is characteristic of the period and region; and to establish how typical certain practices and levels of musical interest were in comparison to other aristocratic households.