Paris, 1782

Paris was no different. Here we see a programme from the main concert series, the Concert Spirituel, from 1782, where a symphony opens the concert and another one closes it. Here, too, we find a careful alternation of vocal and instrumental works, with fully three concertos, more than in Leipzig:

Another potential problem is identifying the composer of the concertos. In London newspaper reports, our only common source for programmes, name no composer separate from the performer, and it is assumed that the performer was also the composer. But in Paris the main source for programmes, the Mercure de France, did cite performers doing someone else’s concerto. In Leipzig the programmes which do still exist — as is not the case for the other two cities — just give the name of one musician up to around 1815. After that time the performer and composer are stated separately, or as the same person, but the subscriber who got the programmes sometimes wrote in to object that the programme got the two names mixed up! All of which makes one wonder if it mattered all that much if a piece was by the performer or not — just playing it gave that person a kind of ownership over the music.