ABSTRACT
The first known public concerts took place in London in 1672 as the bankruptcy of Charles II's court and the impoverishment of church music caused by the Commonwealth led musicians to look for alternative sources of income. In the early years of the century, concerts are only recorded in Newcastle – not until the early 1730s are concerts publicized in Durham and Sunderland, although again the advertisements suggest that they were not new or unfamiliar. Few details survive of any of these events; performers are not named and repertoire is merely hinted at. Charles Avison never advertised more than time, place and price of his concerts, and only a few hints about the music performed can be gleaned from newspaper reviews and private diaries. Avison, himself in his letter to the Courant in 1758, described his audience as 'people of the genteeler sort'.
