Table of Contents

Introduction
The Context: Conductors in the British Marketplace [1870-1914]
Conducting the Philharmonic Societies of Liverpool and London [1867-1880s]: Julius Benedict and William Cusins
Conducting the Royal Choral Society and the Leeds Festival [1880s-1890s]: Joseph Barnby and Arthur Sullivan
Conducting the Philharmonic Society of London [1888-1900s]: Frederic Cowen and Alexander Mackenzie
Conducting in Bournemouth, London and Birmingham [1890s-1914]: Dan Godfrey Jr and Landon Ronald
Conclusion
Select Bibliography

Reviews

Fiona Palmer provides a revealing perspective on the period in which British conductors gradually began to achieve comparable status with their Continental colleagues...a valuable contribution to our understanding of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century musical life in Britain.
*ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW*

A masterly survey of the 40-year evolution of the role of conductor from that of a 'time-beating' part-timer (often with his head in the score) to that of a specialist, able to conduct from memory and to 'interpret' the music for the benefit of the audience... one suspects that Palmer's years as a performer have contributed to the success of this warmly recommended book.
*NINETEENTH CENTURY MUSIC REVIEW*

A thoughtful and well-written book. A mix of social and economic history, it is a stellar example of what a study of conductors and conducting can achieve, when the various mix of emphasis is in the right hands. It is a distinctive addition to scholarship on British musical culture.
*MUSIC & LETTERS*