Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Music played a central role in the self-conception of middle-class Germans between the March Revolution of 1848 and the First World War. Although German music was widely held to be 'universal' and thus apolitical, it participated - like the other arts - in the historicist project of shaping the nation's future by calling on the national heritage. Compositions based on - often heavily mythologised - historical events and heroes, such as the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest or the medieval Emperor Barbarossa, invited individual as well as collective identification and brought alive a past that compared favourably with contemporary conditions. 'History in Mighty Sounds' maps out a varied picture of these 'invented traditions' and the manifold ideas of 'Germanness' to which they gave rise, exemplified through works by familiar composers like Max Bruch or Carl Reinecke as well as their nowadays little-known contemporaries. The whole gamut of musical genres, ranging from pre- and post-Wagnerian opera to popular choruses to symphonic poems, contributes to a novel view of the many ways in which national identities were constructed, shaped and celebrated in and through music. How did artists adapt historical or literary sources to their purpose, how did they negotiate the precarious balance of aesthetic autonomy and political relevance, and how did notions of gender, landscape and religion influence artistic choices? All musical works are placed within their broader historical and biographical contexts, with frequent nods to other arts and popular culture. 'History in Mighty Sounds' will be indispensable reading for anyone interested in nineteenth-century German music, history and nationalism. Barbara Eichner is Senior Lecturer in Musicology at Oxford Brookes University.

Patriotic music --- Nationalism in music --- Patriotic songs --- Songs, Patriotic --- Music --- National music --- Nationalism and music --- History and criticism --- E-books --- Opera --- Nationalism in music. --- Opéra --- Nationalisme dans la musique --- Composers. --- Historical Events. --- National Identity. --- Nineteenth-Century German Music. --- History and criticism.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Most histories of nineteenth-century music portray 'the people' merely as an audience, a passive spectator to the music performed around it. Yet, in this reappraisal of choral singing and public culture, Minor shows how a burgeoning German bourgeoisie sang of its own collective aspirations, mediated through the voice of celebrity composers. As both performer and idealized community, the chorus embodied the possibilities and limitations of a participatory, national identity. Starting with the many public festivals at which the chorus was a featured participant, Minor's account of the music written for these occasions breaks new ground not only by taking seriously these often-neglected works, but also by showing how the contested ideals of German nationhood suffused the music itself. In situating both music and festive culture within the milieu of German bourgeois liberals, this study uncovers new connections between music and politics during a century that sought to redefine both spheres.

Choral music --- Nationalism in music. --- Music --- Music festivals --- Musique chorale --- Nationalisme dans la musique --- Musique --- Festivals de musique --- Political aspects --- History --- Aspect politique --- Histoire --- Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix, --- Liszt, Franz, --- Brahms, Johannes, --- Wagner, Richard, --- Art music --- Art music, Western --- Classical music --- Musical compositions --- Musical works --- Serious music --- Western art music --- Western music (Western countries) --- Social aspects --- Musical festivals --- Performing arts festivals --- Nationalism and music --- National music --- Choruses --- Choruses, Sacred --- Choruses, Secular --- Music, Choral --- Sacred choral music --- Secular choral music --- Church music --- Vocal music --- History and criticism