Topic summary
Program notes
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Concert program.
Program notes or annotated concert programs are common where contemporary or classical music is being performed. These were introduced in Edinburgh and London in the 1840s, first for chamber music concerts, notably by John Ella and his Musical Union, under the name "Synoptical Analysis". They became common in symphony concerts in the 1850s. In 1862, the Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick considered this particularly necessary for the English middle class: "Feeling usually uncertain about things aesthetic, the English listener loves direct instruction." Program notes arrived later in continental Europe.