ABSTRACT
By the early 1750s the latter had taken over John Simpson’s moderately successful music shop in the city of London and was looking to expand commercially as an instrument dealer, music seller and publisher. Felice Giardini was a recently arrived Italian composer and violin virtuoso in search of pastures new where he could consolidate the reputation he had established on the Continent. The Exchequer litigation provides insights into how Giardini disposed of the ownership of several other works mentioned in the privilege. London’s foremost concert room and the management of that venerable institution were about to experience the chill wind of competition. The gap in the market created by the temporary demise of the Opera was not properly exploited until late 1751, when Giardini and Cuthbert Ogle, a businessman with speculative instincts from the north-east of England, launched their subscription series at Dean Street.
