The death of J.C. Bach on 1 January 1782 coincided with a number of changes in London's concert life. The principal subscription series, the Bach-Abel concerts, had been losing support for a number of years; and though Abel continued with the concerts in 1782, there was scope for a new initiative. Such an initiative was provided by Lord Abingdon with an ambitious reorganization of the concerts in 1783, to be succeeded in 1785 by the musicians’ own undertaking, styled the Professional Concert.

Between 1800 and 1845 some 30 periodicals devoted to music were launched in Britain, nearly all of them attributing their appearance to a current ‘general’, ‘wide’, ‘perfect’ or ‘increasing’ cultivation of the subject. But the real flurry of activity seems to have been in publishing rather than music. The average lifespan of a single musical journal in this period was only about two years and four months; most lasted a year or less and died from financial distress. From this record, one might question not only the state of genuine musical cultivation in early nineteenth-century England but also the rationale of editors, printers, publishers and proprietors who continued to produce for a marginal, certainly elusive, musical audience.