Introduction

Franco-British relations have been of intense interest for the British – and especially the English – for centuries, ranging from rigorous academic scrutiny to popular journalism and street conversations. This chapter investigates the presence and reception of French art music in Britain between 1830 and the outbreak of the Great War. It poses research questions aimed at extending scholarship on nineteenth-century British musical culture. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on cultural transfers from the seventeenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth, contextualising subsequent material. It examines French art music in Britain from 1830, when French ‘grand opera’ and opera comique took off in London, to 1862, immediately before the London premiere of Gounod’s Faust.