ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the fruits of research into the piano's role in nineteenth-century British culture. It explores key issues concerning the instrument itself, the repertoire heard by audiences in Britain, the performers, both British and foreign, who played that repertoire and developments in concert structure that produced the piano recital. The chapter shows that the Roy Johnston draws on his unrivalled knowledge of the history of music in Belfast, and related source-material, to develop his account of piano manufacturing in that city. In the chapters that follow we encounter pianists who supplemented their income through teaching either privately or in conservatoires, as well as those who expanded their professional activities to include piano selling, music printing, composing and conducting. Seminal work on the history and development of the piano was already undertaken in nineteenth-century Britain, however.
