Lizzy Buckle: Practice Makes Perfect? How to Be a Musician in C18

Shortly before his arrival in London in 1704, composer and conductor Johann Sigismund Cousser recorded some important advice in his notebook. Under the heading ‘What a virtuoso should observe upon arriving in London’, Cousser wrote down thirty-three tips given to him by fellow German and musician Jakob Greber. While some instructions are clearly aimed specifically at visiting virtuosi like Cousser, Greber’s advice alludes to many of the key practical concerns experienced by a whole range of London’s musicians, whether celebrated Italian castrati or inexperienced English instrumentalists.With the help of Cousser’s notebook, this podcast seeks to challenge romantic stereotypes that, even today, portray musicians as lone geniuses, wedded to their art, and apparently unmotivated by money. Instead, eighteenth-century musicians are revealed to be hardworking, entrepreneurial, and well-practised in both commercial and musical pursuits.CONTRIBUTORLizzy Buckle is a PhD student at the Foundling Museum and Royal Holloway, University of London. Her research explores the musical networks involved in organising charity benefit concerts in eighteenth-century London. Her exhibition ‘Friends with benefits’, which runs from 22 October 2021 to April 2022 at the Foundling Museum, visualises the complex connections between musicians working in London in the 1770s.Additional voices by Claudia Chapman, Colin Coleman, Christian Leitmeir, Sam Hillman, and Tom Hillman.=====Presented by Julien Clin.The Technecast is funded by the Techne AHRC-DTP, and edited by Polly Hember and Julien Clin.CREDITSImage: James Vertue, Harpsichord fin du 18ème siècle (Copyright Gerald Coke Handel Foundation)Royalty free music generously shared by Steve Oxen. FesliyanStudios.com