At ten O Clock the Instrumental Concert ended, when we retired to the Supper rooms. Sabattier was the Manager of this department, and generally stood behind the Person who was at the Piano Forte. The Evenings entertainment began at seven O Clock, with a Concert, chiefly of instrumental Music it was not very uncommon to have some Vocal Music interspersed with the Instrumental. In this passage, Stevens is speaking of the year 1777: Īnother reference is found in the long-unpublished Recollections of Richard John Samuel Stevens (1757–1837). The Anacreontic Song was also sung by him, in the last verse of which we stood hand in hand all around the table, this concert being in fact the origin of the Society held afterwards for many years at the Crown and Anchor. invited me to accompany him on the Saturday following to a concert at the London Coffee House called the Anacreontic Meeting, which I of course readily accepted of & played with Mr Smith the leader after wh'ch we sat down a pretty many of us to supper after which catches & glees were performed, in which a Mr Webster, a young man with a very fine bass voice much distinguish'd himself. The original role of the Song Īn early reference to the Anacreontic Song is found in the long-unpublished journals of gentleman-composer John Marsh (1752–1828). It is not clear exactly when this incident occurred, but in October 1792 it was reported that "The Anacreontic Society meets no more it has long been struggling with symptoms of internal decay". Because "some of the comic songs exactly calculated for the entertainment of ladies, the singers were restrained which displeasing many of the members, they resigned one after another and a general meeting being called, the society was dissolved". The Society came to an end after the Duchess of Devonshire attended one of its meetings. Each meeting began at half past seven with a lengthy concert, featuring "the best performers in London", who were made honorary members of the Society. Its members, who consisted mainly of wealthy men of high social rank, would meet on Wednesday evenings to combine musical appreciation with eating and drinking. In existence from approximately 1766 to 1792, the Society was dedicated to the ancient Greek poet Anacreon, who was renowned for his drinking songs and odes to love. The Anacreontic Society was a gentlemen's club of the kind that was popular in London in the late eighteenth century.