Musicians' progress toward the status and autonomy of a middle-class profession was hindered from the outset by financial hardships, absence of professional control over training or entrance to the profession, and social and cultural prejudices. Financial struggles were tempered slightly by benefit societies, which offered limited protection against destitution, but only some musicians could afford membership. Proposals by musicians to establish schools and licensing procedures met with little support or success; and the only school founded during these years, the Royal Academy of Music, was an aristocratic project from the start. The last-named obstacle – social and cultural prejudices – may have proved the most difficult. Persistent beliefs that musicians were linked with low social origins, immorality, femininity, and foreignness appear as recurring themes. In response, musicians launched a war of words in pamphlets, books, and the musical press, sometimes offering ideological critiques of patrons, managers, and even society at large, but with little effect.

Achieving professional status requires a unified effort and collective solutions to licensing, education, employment, earnings, and public perceptions. As described in the preceding chapters, however, patronage systems as well as foreign competition prevented musicians from gaining control over the market for music. Professional status was even more unlikely given cultural beliefs that persistently challenged music's social value and musicians' respectability. In response, musicians were divided, and the profession itself increasingly fragmented.