Violin Culture in Britain, 1870–1930: Music-making, Society, and the Popularity of Stringed Instruments...

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Christina Bashford (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

Violin Culture in Britain, 1870–1930

Music-making, Society, and the Popularity of Stringed Instruments

Christina Bashford (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

$163.95

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Cambridge University Press
30 June 2025

Interweaving a social history of string playing with a collective biography of its participants, this book identifies and maps the rapid nationwide development of activities around the violin family in Britain from the 1870s to about 1930. Highlighting the spread of string playing among thousands of people previously excluded from taking up a stringed instrument, it shows how an infrastructure for violin culture coalesced through an expanding violin trade, influential educational initiatives, growing concert life, new string repertoire, and the nascent entertainment and catering industries. Christina Bashford draws a freshly broad picture of string playing and its popularity, emphasizing grassroots activities, amateurs' pursuits, and everyday work in the profession's underbelly—an approach that allows many long-ignored lives to be recognized and untold stories heard. The book also explores the allure of stringed instruments, especially the violin, in Britain, analyzing and contextualizing how the instruments and their players, makers, and collectors were depicted and understood.

By: Christina Bashford (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
ISBN: 9781108842877
ISBN 10: 1108842879
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 30 June 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Introduction; 1. Growth of a culture; Part I. People and Practicalities: 2. Starting out: equipment and instruction; 3. Moving along: learning and attainment; 4. Advanced training; 5. Worlds of work; 6. Playing together (1): 'Chamber' music; 7. Playing together (2): Amateur orchestras; Part II. The Conceptual Presence of Strings: 8. The Idea of the violin: associations and allure; 9. Sounding the nation(s); Conclusion.

Christina Bashford is Professor of Musicology at the School of Music, University of Illinois. She has published extensively on string quartets and chamber music concerts in Britain and is author of The Pursuit of High Culture: John Ella and Chamber Music in Victorian London (2007).

Reviews for Violin Culture in Britain, 1870–1930: Music-making, Society, and the Popularity of Stringed Instruments

'Bashford's book reshapes the scholarly landscape on ensemble performance traditions in the United Kingdom, revealing complex social, cultural, educational, artistic, and intellectual networks that have long been overlooked and undervalued.' Eric Saylor, Professor of Music History, Drake University