ABSTRACT

Towards the end of 1792 and the beginning of 1793, when war with France loomed, local newspapers reported another spate of performances of 'God save the King' in a variety of contexts. By 1794, a year into the war with France, military bands were appearing almost as a matter of course in Newcastle concerts and probably elsewhere in the region too. Ironically, the flowering of musical activity seems to have been brought to an end by the pressures not of war but of peace. The Peace of Amiens, temporary though it was, was disastrous for musical life in Newcastle. Ironically, war had brought prosperity to Newcastle's musicians but peace reduced it, reversing Matthias Hawdon's hopes, expressed in his 1783 Ode, that in peace the 'Scattered Arts need not fear decay'. Hawdon probably put his finger accurately on what really concerned his audiences – the problems caused to trade by the war and the opportunities offered by peace.