The aim of this project is to provide new understanding for the formation processes within concert life and musical repertoires in Stockholm 1848 – 1914. The project presupposes the hypothesis that conceptions of canon are important for the structural transformations of the concert life and that there can be several parallel and changing canon formations. It will show how structures within the concert life and the musical repertoire are formed in relation to canon formation, contemporary aesthetical debate, and ideas of bildung at the same time as commercial powers became more influential. This study will also problematize conceptions of canon formation as well as the relation between centre and periphery in the European musical life of the 19th century. The base of this project is a comprehensive survey of concerts and musical repertoire in Stockholm 1848-1914, which includes systematic study of concert programs, advertisements, posters, reviews and other archive material. The data will be structured in a database to provide overall descriptive statistics, which together with qualitative analyses of contemporary sources will form the base of the project. The project deals with 3 dichotomies: absolute/program music; bildung/entertainment; nationalism/cosmopolitanism, which also will be the themes of 3 of the 4 publications emanating form the project, the 4th will be a summery of the survey. The project will also arrange a conference and initiate a research network.