Eighteenth-century society valued the ability to sing and play a musical instrument as fundamental to a proper education. This was especially true for females, for whom musical proficiency was an essential social grace. For women of upper-class households, the free time afforded by being able to delegate daily routine tasks to a small army of servants was typically filled with such leisurely activities as needlework, reading, cards, painting, and music. Hunting was the favorite pastime of men, but cultivated gentlemen were also expected to possess at least a modicum of musical proficiency and taste. For ladies, keyboard instruments or harp were considered most suitable, while men were more likely to favor violin or German (transverse) flute. These instruments were played in domestic settings for the enjoyment of family and friends. Performing music publicly was left to professional musicians. Such attitudes were fostered primarily among the nobility, but affluent members of the middle class intent on emulating the class above them were equally committed to the cultivation of music as an emblem of social status. This situation produced a corps of amateur musicians who required music, which, while appealing, did not overtax their level of accomplishment. In turn, this demand supplied composers and publishers with a dependable source of income. Competent composers could address the needs of this market with relative ease. The domestic repertory reached its intended audiences primarily through printed sheet music.