What it took to hear music over 100 years ago

[mrcreosote]

Before sound recording, music could only be performed.  (Musicians were also the reproduction mechanisms.  I recite classical music.  I don't consider myself a musician and certainly not an artist.  Piano player, pianist, yes, as in a million machine operator.)

Churches obviously.  But where to hear a Beethoven symphony?  I'll bt Operas were popular as are Musicals today (ugh...)

On the other hand, with a total lack of music in rural areas, folk music must have flourished.

The reality of that time is incomprehensible for me - even today, what did it take to attend a Horowitz or a Martha concert?  Perhaps the best argument for living in NYC.