Introduction

Charles Avison was born in February 1709/10 in Newcastle upon Tyne, the sixth of nine children of a local wait and organist, Richard Avison. Avison would therefore certainly have been familiar with the musical scene in London, if only by repute, and his visits to London in Jenison's employ must have considerably extended his knowledge. If Jenison was as generous a master as Bowes, he might well have allowed Avison to attend concerts or other musical performances in London. The new commercial imperatives were taking hold in Newcastle as well as in London, however, together with a certain snobbish determination on the part of north-easterners to enhance the reputation and amenities of the town. Thus Avison combined a practical purpose, which tended towards the benefit of society, with a demonstration of his aesthetic principles. These principles were plainly a source of constant discussion between himself and some of his gentlemanly supporters in Newcastle.