The Poetry of Various Glees, Songs &c. as Performed at the Harmonists - Fryer, George (London Philantropic Reform, 1798)
The Harmonists Society was London's first formally organized glee club. “By the end of the eighteenth century, the fashionable nature of the glee ‘created a desire among amateurs to emulate more professionally constituted clubs. In London this led to the formation of the Harmonists Society. According to his own account, the principal mover behind the new club was R. J. S. Stevens [composer, and later Gresham Professor of Music], who at the start of 1794 was approached by “a few Musical Amateurs” who expressed to him a desire to have an occasional meeting at which they would “dine together and have vocal music afterwards..." (Robins, Catch and Glee Culture, p. 83, as quoted by Simon Beattie).
Ex libris Frederick J. Edtmann (plate)
Bound in brown leather, embossed in gauffered pattern and golden frames on front and back cover
Keywords: 18th Century (1701-1800); Poetry; Song; Glee; London (United Kingdom)