Society, Culture and Opera in Florence, 1814-1830

Society, Culture and Opera in Florence, 1814-1830 PDF Author: Aubrey S. Garlington
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351148869
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, an event that signalled an end to nearly fourteen years of French domination, Florence seemed to enter a new cultural 'golden age' and by 1824 was described as 'an Earthly Paradise' by the political and liberal writer, Pietro Giordano. Politically, economically and culturally, the city prospered in this new era. After 1814 it seemed as if the Enlightenment had found a new beginning in Florence. Aubrey Garlington, a scholar of long standing in the music of early nineteenth-century Florence, considers the roles played by John Fane, Lord Burghersh, an English aristocrat, diplomat and dilettante composer together with his wife, Priscilla, in the development of the richly homogeneous culture that blossomed in Florence at this time. Burghersh, known today for being instrumental in the founding of the English Royal Academy of Music, composed six operas that were performed privately on numerous occasions at the English Embassy, his best known work being "La Fedra". Lady Burghersh became known for her painting and dilettante theatrical performances. Garlington provides a thorough re-examination of the categories 'professional' and 'dilettante' which were so important in the concept of music at this time. The notions of boundaries between public and private activity are discussed, and the operas themselves are examined specifically. Through the contemplation of the Burghershs's sixteen year stay in Florence, the significance of dilettante orientations are demonstrated to have been essential components for the city's musical and social life. Garlington draws together an impressive compilation of documentation regarding the part music played in shaping society and culture. In this way, the book will appeal not only to opera historians, musicologists and critics working on the nineteenth century, but also to historians and scholars of cultural theory.

Society, Culture and Opera in Florence, 1814-1830

Society, Culture and Opera in Florence, 1814-1830 PDF Author: Aubrey S. Garlington
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351148869
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227

Get Book Here

Book Description
Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, an event that signalled an end to nearly fourteen years of French domination, Florence seemed to enter a new cultural 'golden age' and by 1824 was described as 'an Earthly Paradise' by the political and liberal writer, Pietro Giordano. Politically, economically and culturally, the city prospered in this new era. After 1814 it seemed as if the Enlightenment had found a new beginning in Florence. Aubrey Garlington, a scholar of long standing in the music of early nineteenth-century Florence, considers the roles played by John Fane, Lord Burghersh, an English aristocrat, diplomat and dilettante composer together with his wife, Priscilla, in the development of the richly homogeneous culture that blossomed in Florence at this time. Burghersh, known today for being instrumental in the founding of the English Royal Academy of Music, composed six operas that were performed privately on numerous occasions at the English Embassy, his best known work being "La Fedra". Lady Burghersh became known for her painting and dilettante theatrical performances. Garlington provides a thorough re-examination of the categories 'professional' and 'dilettante' which were so important in the concept of music at this time. The notions of boundaries between public and private activity are discussed, and the operas themselves are examined specifically. Through the contemplation of the Burghershs's sixteen year stay in Florence, the significance of dilettante orientations are demonstrated to have been essential components for the city's musical and social life. Garlington draws together an impressive compilation of documentation regarding the part music played in shaping society and culture. In this way, the book will appeal not only to opera historians, musicologists and critics working on the nineteenth century, but also to historians and scholars of cultural theory.

Opera Indigene: Re/presenting First Nations and Indigenous Cultures

Opera Indigene: Re/presenting First Nations and Indigenous Cultures PDF Author: Dr Dylan Robinson
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 1409494241
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The representation of non-Western cultures in opera has long been a focus of critical inquiry. Within this field, the diverse relationships between opera and First Nations and Indigenous cultures, however, have received far less attention. Opera Indigene takes this subject as its focus, addressing the changing historical depictions of Indigenous cultures in opera and the more contemporary practices of Indigenous and First Nations artists. The use of 're/presenting' in the title signals an important distinction between how representations of Indigenous identity have been constructed in operatic history and how Indigenous artists have more recently utilized opera as an interface to present and develop their cultural practices. This volume explores how operas on Indigenous subjects reflect the evolving relationships between Indigenous peoples, the colonizing forces of imperial power, and forms of internal colonization in developing nation-states. Drawing upon postcolonial theory, ethnomusicology, cultural geography and critical discourses on nationalism and multiculturalism, the collection brings together experts on opera and music in Canada, the Americas and Australia in a stimulating comparative study of operatic re/presentation.

The Warm South

The Warm South PDF Author: Robert Holland
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300235925
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349

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Book Description
An evocative exploration of the impact of the Mediterranean on British culture, ranging from the mid-eighteenth century to today Ever since the age of the Grand Tour in the eighteenth century, the Mediterranean has had a significant pull for Britons--including many painters and poets--who sought from it the inspiration, beauty, and fulfillment that evaded them at home. Referred to as "Magick Land" by one traveler, dreams about the Mediterranean, and responses to it, went on to shape the culture of a nation. Written by one of the world's leading historians of the Mediterranean, this book charts how a new sensibility arose from British engagement with the Mediterranean, ancient and modern. Ranging from Byron's poetry to Damien Hirst's installations, Robert Holland shows that while idealized visions and aspirations often met with disillusionment and frustration, the Mediterranean also offered a notably insular society the chance to enrich itself through an imagined world of color, carnival, and sensual self-discovery.

Civilizing the Public Sphere

Civilizing the Public Sphere PDF Author: Apostolis Papakostas
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137030429
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
Examining the interplay between distrust, trust and corruption, this book maps out the social mechanisms that make actors and organizations in the public sphere perform their activities in a civilized manner.

Shakespeare and Amateur Performance

Shakespeare and Amateur Performance PDF Author: Michael Dobson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139496816
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
From the Hamlet acted on a galleon off Africa to the countless outdoor productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream that now defy each English summer, Shakespeare and Amateur Performance explores the unsung achievements of those outside the theatrical profession who have been determined to do Shakespeare themselves. Based on extensive research in previously unexplored archives, this generously illustrated and lively work of theatre history enriches our understanding of how and why Shakespeare's plays have mattered to generations of rude mechanicals and aristocratic dilettantes alike: from the days of the Theatres Royal to those of the Little Theatre Movement, from the pioneering Winter's Tale performed in eighteenth-century Salisbury to the Merchant of Venice performed by Allied prisoners for their Nazi captors, and from the how-to book which transforms Mercutio into Yankee Doodle to the Napoleonic counterspy who used Richard III as a tool of surveillance.

London Voices, 1820–1840

London Voices, 1820–1840 PDF Author: Roger Parker
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022667021X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
London, 1820. The British capital is a metropolis that overwhelms dwellers and visitors alike with constant exposure to all kinds of sensory stimulation. Over the next two decades, the city’s tumult will reach new heights: as population expansion places different classes in dangerous proximity and ideas of political and social reform linger in the air, London begins to undergo enormous infrastructure change that will alter it forever. It is the London of this period that editors Roger Parker and Susan Rutherford pinpoint in this book, which chooses one broad musical category—voice—and engages with it through essays on music of the streets, theaters, opera houses, and concert halls; on the raising of voices in religious and sociopolitical contexts; and on the perception of voice in literary works and scientific experiments with acoustics. Emphasizing human subjects, this focus on voice allows the authors to explore the multifaceted issues that shaped London, from the anxiety surrounding the city’s importance in the musical world at large to the changing vocal imaginations that permeated the epoch. Capturing the breadth of sonic stimulations and cultures available—and sometimes unavoidable—to residents at the time, London Voices, 1820–1840 sheds new light on music in Britain and the richness of London culture during this period.

Music and Diplomacy from the Early Modern Era to the Present

Music and Diplomacy from the Early Modern Era to the Present PDF Author: R. Ahrendt
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137463279
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
How does music shape the exercise of diplomacy, the pursuit of power, and the conduct of international relations? Drawing together international scholars with backgrounds in musicology, ethnomusicology, political science, cultural history, and communication, this volume interweaves historical, theoretical, and practical perspectives.

E.T.A. Hoffmann's Musical Aesthetics

E.T.A. Hoffmann's Musical Aesthetics PDF Author: Abigail Chantler
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 9780754607069
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
Whilst E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) is most widely known as the author of fantastic tales, he was also prolific as a music critic, productive as a composer, and active as a conductor. This book examines Hoffmann's aesthetic thought within the broader context of the history of ideas of the late-18th and early-19th centuries, and explores the relationship between his musical aesthetics and compositional practice. The first three chapters consider his ideas about creativity and aesthetic appreciation in relation to the thought of other German romantic theorists, discussing the central tenets of his musical aesthetic - the idea of a 'religion of art', of the composer as a 'genius', and the listener as a 'passive genius'. In particular the relationship between the multifaceted thought of Hoffmann and Friedrich Schleiermacher is explored, providing some insight into the way in which diverse intellectual traditions converged in early-19th-century Germany.

Operatic Migrations

Operatic Migrations PDF Author: Roberta Montemorra Marvin
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 9780754650980
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 302

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Book Description
This volume takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying a wide range of subjects associated with the creation, performance and reception of 'opera' in varying social and historical contexts from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Each essay attends to migrations between genres, cultures, literary and musical works, modes of expression, media of presentation and aesthetics. Although the directions the contributions take are diverse, they converge in significant ways, particularly with the rebuttal of the notion of the singular nature of the operatic work. The volume strongly asserts that works are meaningfully transformed by the manifold circumstances of their creation and reception, and that these circumstances have an impact on the life of those works in their many transformations and on a given audience's experience of them. migration into operatic genre; works that move across geographical and social boundaries into different cultural contexts; movements between media and/or genre as well as alterations through interpretation and performance of the composer's creation; the translation of spoken theatre to lyric theatre; the theoretical issues contingent on the rendering of 'speech' into 'song'; and the resultant effects of aesthetic considerations as they bear on opera. Crossing over disciplinary boundaries between music, literary studies, history, cultural studies and art history, the volume enriches our knowledge and understanding of the various intersections associated with opera. The book will therefore appeal to those working in the field of music, literary and cultural studies, and to those with a particular interest in opera and musical theatre.

Treacherous Bonds and Laughing Fire

Treacherous Bonds and Laughing Fire PDF Author: Mark Berry
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 9780754653561
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
This book considers Wagner's treatment of various worlds: nature, politics, economics, and metaphysics, in order to explain just how radical that challenge is."--BOOK JACKET.