In 1792 ancient probably meant last year! There was an orchestra called the Academy of Ancient Music found in 1726:

"The founding of the Academy of Ancient Music in 1726 was a landmark in the tradition of Western classical music. The Academy was unique in its time for performance of works one hundred and fifty or more years old, music that in some cases — madrigals and motets of Luca di Marenzio, for example — had not been performed since their time. Nowhere else in Europe did anything comparable to such performances develop until the mid-nineteenth century."

More details can be found on http://www.aam.co.uk/

Going back to the original question here's a discussion:
http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/earlym-l/logfiles/earlym-l.log9206d
you'll need to scroll down a little.