The Royal Musical Association: Creating Scholars, Advancing Research (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2024): publication 10 December 2024

Investigating the history of a learned society, albeit a distinguished one like the Royal Musical Association (RMA), didn’t at first sound like the stuff of great adventure or deep revelation. But I can now say, on completing the task and writing the book, that this project has yielded both benefits, allaying any misgivings I might have had. As an old RMA hand myself, armed with genuine curiosity about sources and contexts for the development of music research in Britain since the 18th century, I was honoured to accept the RMA’s invitation to produce this study.

In 2014 two factors came together to spark the idea of a fresh and comprehensive look at the Association: the approaching landmark of our 150th anniversary in 2024, and the completed cataloguing by the British Library of the bulk of our archive – Council minutes, correspondence and financial documents. Never before studied as a whole or used to place the growth of UK musical research in a wider social, historical or international context, including the development of European musicology, these sources indeed proved crucial for discovering fresh information about how the Association functioned and its members achieved so much in a culture deeply devoted to musical performance but rather reluctant to embrace music research.

It’s a remarkable story about the building of a new academic discipline, but also about bridging social, gender and educational divides, diverse occupations and more than one type of musical or aural experience. Above all, after examining our past, it’s clear the RMA has not just survived for 150 years, but has helped to bring UK musicology and its outstanding findings to worldwide recognition and influence.

'An excellent book, thoroughly researched, well constructed and well written'

Julian Rushton, Emeritus Professor of Music, University of Leeds

'The writing on Dent is most eloquent'

Anonymous reviewer

'A fascinating read ... explaining so much in a manner that blends scholarly objectivity with warmth and sympathy, and demonstrates a very impressive command of materials and intellectual context ... a tremendous book!'

David C.H. Wright, The Royal College of Music

Listen to my recorded contribution for the RMA Time Capsule project, 'Celebrating 150 years of the RMA', here: https://www.rma.ac.uk/rma-time-capsule-2024/

For a brief description of the Royal Musical Association Papers in the British Library, see https://blogs.bl.uk/music/music/

To order the book, see https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781837652303/the-royal-musical-association/

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