The library of the Royal Philharmonic Society

Abstract

• During the period from 1790 to the early 1830s, quite a number of organizations came into being in London to provide public musical entertainment of various kinds. The only one of them still active today is the Philharmonic Society, which was established in 1813 and received the title 'Royal' exactly one hundred years later. It owed much of its endurance and success to the fact that its founders were shrewd professional musicians wholly dedicated to giving regular seasons of orchestral concerts of the highest possible standard.