As the first United Empire Loyalist settlement in Upper Canada, Niagara-on-the-Lake has had a long and varied history which clearly reflects life in this country during its early years. Of its musical life the same may be said, as seen through an examination of the prevailing modes of music education, local performers and ensembles and the kinds of concerts they gave, travelling troupes and artists and influences received from the days of John   Graves Simcoe to the end of the nineteenth century.