56 PART 1 | FROM COLONIZATION THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR
were familiar with such secular assemblies; they had only to transplant and adapt to
the New World customs already familiar to them from the Old.
Concerts in the 1700s were not necessarily high-toned, formal events, and
many were held in modest, often plain rooms with no stage and with temporary
arrangements of chairs that might quickly be pushed aside for dancing when the
concert was over. The fi rst known public concert in the American colonies took
place in Boston in 1729, in a room that a local dancing master used for assem-
blies. Not until 1754 did the city gain a real concert hall: a room in a building
that was refurbished as “an elegant private concert-room.” But even a room like
this made Boston unusual. In most of eighteenth-century America, concert halls
were concert halls only as long as the performance lasted.
Benefi t concerts, which could be organized quickly, were well suited to the
conditions of musical life. Although the term today refers to a concert that raises
funds for charity, in the eighteenth century it referred to concerts intended to
turn a profi t for the performers. The format allowed local organists, travel-
ing professionals, or newly arrived singers in a theater troupe to star in nearly
impromptu shows of their own making. The musician who arranged a benefi t
took the fi nancial risk, paying the expenses and reaping the profi ts, if any. Ben-
efi t concerts were one-time happenings, which distinguished them from most
subscription concerts, another eighteenth-century approach. The subscription
format, like the subscription publications discussed in chapter 1, allowed orga-
nizers to hedge their bets: to issue a public proposal, often for a concert series,
and then wait to see whether the response justifi ed going ahead with the plan.
Other types of concerts included the charity benefi t given to raise money for
a worthy cause, such as aiding residents of the local poorhouse. Concerts were
also given by musical societies: organizations formed to promote the art. The
St. Cecilia Society of Charleston, South Carolina, for example, brought together
amateur and professional musicians on a regular basis. Membership dues acted
in effect as a subscription that supported musical performances, some of them
open to the public.
The success of public concerts depended on whether their organizers could
attract a sizable audience. From the very beginnings of American concert life,
audience recruitment called for publicity, and one way to advertise was through
handbills, which could be passed from person to person and posted as well.
Unlike newspaper announcements, which survive in great numbers, however,
few eighteenth-century handbills have been preserved.
The earliest concert ads seldom go beyond the bare facts: Mr. X, for his own
benefi t, will present a concert at Y hall on date Z; tickets cost U shillings and may
be purchased from Mr. V on W Street. After midcentury, however, promoters
seem to have lost confi dence that a straight factual report would attract an audi-
ence. A plea for customers might be framed as a personal invitation, as when
a musician in Charleston announced in 1760 that he had “no Doubt, but that it
will be in his Power to give the greatest Satisfaction to those Ladies and Gentle-
men who shall honor him with their presence.” Some announcements implied
that public demand, not the organizer’s pursuit of the Almighty Shilling, was
the reason for a concert. A Philadelphia musician in 1757 headed his ad with the
phrase “By particular desire”; and a concert there in 1770 was said to be given
“at the request of several Gentlemen and Ladies.” One ad cautioned: “This will
positively be the only time of his performing, unless by the particular desire of
a genteel company.”benefi t and
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