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CHAPTER IV |
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CONCERTS AND CONCERT SINGERS OF
THE PERIOD
P
ROBABLY the first lucrative concerts ever given in London were those instituted by John Banister, a famous violinist, in 1672. On December 30 of that year the following advertisement appeared in the London Gazette :—
" These are to give notice that at Mr. John Banister's house, now called the Musick-school, over against the George Tavern in White Friars, this present Monday, will be musick performed by excellent masters, beginning precisely at four of the clock in the afternoon, and every afternoon for the future, precisely at the same hour."
These concerts seem to have continued till 1678, the year before his death, when they were perhaps abandoned owing to the formation of the first musical club of whose existence anything is known, namely, the one established in 1678 by Thomas Britton, a coal-dealer, of which Banister appears to have been a member. The meetings of this club used to be held in a long, low room over Britton's shop, which was reached
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