ABSTRACT
Several attacks were made on Charles Avison in anonymous pamphlets published in 1765, which criticised him as a ‘low-bred’ musician with pretensions to gentility. How was gentility defined; what was the status of the gentleman in Newcastle’s dynamic society; and how was role and impact of gentility beginning to change? Avison’s gentlemanly attributes include his financial position and his broad interest in culture and taste outside music; despite his humble origins, he was regularly accepted into the company of gentlemen, partly as a recognition of his professional skills and partly owing to the more personal skills of sociability, politeness and cultivation.
