University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory

Conservatory 5510 0001 Studies in Music and Gender

Spring 2021
Pyero Talone

Burney Collection database assignment

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1. "Advertisements and Notices." Public Advertiser, 9 Apr. 1756. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers
Collection, link.gale.com/apps/doc/Z2001071622/BBCN?u=univmomiller&sid=BBCN&xid=227cde84. Accessed 25 Apr.
2021.

This advertisement, published on Public Advertiser, 9 Apr. 1756, promotes a concert

organized by a certain Miss Davies. From the advertisement it is possible to understand that

not only she produced the entire evening herself (as “benefit concerts” usually go), but she

probably sang and also performed, along with her husband, harpsichord and/or German flute

(probably only the harpsichord, as, I believe, the flute was generally regarded as a masculine

instrument at the time). Since the concert counted with more musicians (the best performers

available, according to the advertisement), she was probably also responsible for hiring them.

Together with managing the ticket sales, we can also apprehend that Miss Davies probably

had considerable financial skills. While this advertisement does not draw much attention to

her sex, the alliance with her husband, as we know, was also a strategy to conquer the

commercial marketplace for professional performance.

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2 "Advertisements and Notices." Public Advertiser, 25 Mar. 1760. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers
Collection, link.gale.com/apps/doc/Z2001078477/BBCN?u=univmomiller&sid=BBCN&xid=305b0237. Accessed 20 Apr.
2021.

This advertisement, published on Public Advertiser, 25 Mar. 1760, promotes Miss Ford’s

second subscription concert. Producing subscription concerts helped women solidify their

reputations with audiences and probably required many management skills, though I cannot

tell from this advertisement that she was responsible for controlling the subscribers’ list. This

advertisement does not draw attention to her sex, but it relies on Miss Ford’s flexibility to

impress her subscribers, as she would not only sing, but also play a solo on the viola da

gamba and a concerto on the guitar. As was the case with Miss Davies, I would love to

investigate further on their professional lives and find whether they, as the many other

women present in the reading, were indeed responsible for managing the financial aspects of

their concerts and how they managed to keep themselves in shape with their musical training

concurrently.