Considering that there was an active concert life in New York at least as early as 1754, it might be presumed that musical societies of some sort existed there at that date, but we have no evidence on the subject. The first mention we find of a musical society in New York is contained in the advertisement of a concert in 1773 at which some of the instrumental parts were played by gentlemen of the Harmonic Society. Possibly the Harmonic Society had already been in existence for some years, but up to 1773 it escaped mention in the newspapers. How long it lasted we cannot say. In 1786 we find in the New York 'Daily Advertiser' an announcement that 'the Society for promoting vocal music meet at six o'clock this evening at Mr. Halett's School Room in Little Queen Street, agreeable to adjournment.' No further mention of the society appears and there is no clew to its name or to the length of its existence. Obviously it was not identical with the Harmonic, for the gentlemen of that society seem to have been devoted chiefly to instrumental music. There was in New York a St. Cecilia Society, founded apparently in 1791, 'with a view to cultivate the science of music and good taste in its education' (?). Instrumental music was its main consideration and it held weekly concerts, the nature of which we have been unable to discover. We know only that 'the principal professors of music' were 'members and performers at these concerts.' The society lasted until 1799, when it was amalgamated with the Harmonical Society, which had been founded in 1796 'for the purpose of cultivating the knowledge of vocal and instrumental music.' The result of the amalgamation was the Philharmonic Society which held its first annual concert at the Tontine Hotel on Broadway in December, 1800, 'with a variety of vocal and instrumental music by the most celebrated performers in the city.' It is impossible to say how long the Philharmonic lasted, but probably it survived until well into the nineteenth century.