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The Audible Street in Manchester, 1850-1895
| Cities are framed by the auditory as they are by the visual while at the same time the official frame of the city was challenged by a whole range of sounds and sights. This paper explores the aural city in the late nineteenth century, which was a time of expansion and industrialisation for both capitals and second cities. Manchester falls in the latter category and can also be seen as emblematic as it was the first ‘shock city’ of the Industrial Revolution. The people who moved to cities such as Manchester brought with them a culture of their own, and music was a part of it. These different musical cultures integrated on the street and this influenced the movement of people. For some the songs and music making were a joyous event and provided a break from everyday working life. For others the sounds of the street were a nuisance as they penetrated their work- and home-life.
Focusing on the intersection of street sounds as music and noise this paper investigates where the music was being made as well as who was listening. The question of where allows me to investigate how sounds influenced the movement of people through the city street. The question of who allows me to examine the role of the production of sound on the political and cultural control of the street.
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