How and why do listeners come over time to 'feel the nation' through particular musical works?
This book develops a comparative analysis of the relationship between western art music, nations and nationalism. It explores the influence of emergent nations and nationalism on the development of classical music in Europe and North America and examines the distinctive themes, sounds and resonances to be found in the repertory of each of the nations. Its scope is broad, extending well beyond the period 1848-1914 when national music flourished most conspicuously. The interplay of music and nation encompasses the oratorios of Handel, the open-air music of the French Revolution and the orchestral works of Beethoven and Mendelssohn and extends into the mid-twentieth century in the music of Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Copland. The book addresses the representation of the national community, the incorporation of ethnic vernacular idioms into art music, the national homeland in music, musical adaptations of national myths and legends, the music of national commemoration and the canonisation of national music. Bringing together insights from nationalism studies, musicology and cultural history, it will be essential reading not only for musicologists but for cultural historians and historians of nationalism as well.
MATTHEW RILEY is Reader in Music at the University of Birmingham.
The late ANTHONY D. SMITH was Professor Emeritus of Nationalism andEthnicity at the London School of Economics.
Industry Reviews
Given the current direction of travel of global politics, this wide-ranging and fascinating survey has a particular timely quality to it. A collaboration between a music historian and a historian of political nationalism, it carefully teases apart the different strands that make up the expression of national sentiment in music. * SUNDAY TIMES *
A lucid and worthwhile overview of important themes in the study of nations and nationalisms, affirming both the continued relevance of these issues for interpreting and appreciating Western classical music, and the growing significance of music for cultural and social history. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *
Can find a home with both music historians and 'regular' historians and sociologists...should provide for fruitful discussion and future enquiry that will hopefully bring the fields of musicology and national studies into closer contact and communication. * FONTES ARTIS MUSICAE *
Presents a detailed survey of the relationship between music and nationalism over a period of two and half centuries... explor[ing] a subject that is perhaps more relevant now than at any time in the past century. * MUSIC AND LETTERS *
This excellent book is a collaboration between music historian Matthew Riley and the late Professor Anthony D Smith, who lectured in nationalism and ethnicity...this intriguing study is as good as we expect from Boydell Press. * CLASSICAL MUSIC *
