An Entertainment Altogether New

An Entertainment Altogether New: join Dr. Karen McAulay in a celebration of Edinburgh's First Musical.

2015 is the bicentenary of the first Edinburgh Musical Festival held between 30th October and 5th November 1815.

Delving into the records, Dr Karen McAulay will share with you what the first Edinburgh audiences listened to; how they reacted, and what went on behind the scenes!

Perhaps there is no country in the world, said a commentator in 1815 Edinburgh, 'where the prejudice in favour of national music is carried to so great a height as in Scotland.'

Not that there was anything wrong with the good old Scottish songs, of course, but there was so much other music that people were missing out on, foreign and modern music in particular!

English audiences were responding well to a series of music festivals, and the time was ripe to emulate these successes in Scotland.

This young commentator not only acted as co-secretary to the Edinburgh worthies organising the first Edinburgh Musical Festival, but also wrote an extensive report on its success, before later going on to compile Scotland's most successful Scottish song-book!