| Contents |
Introduction. Leipzig and Birmingham ; Structure of the book ; Primary and secondary sources -- Introducing the towns. Introduction ; Leipzig ; Birmingham ; The origins of the triennial festival and the Gewandhaus -- The rise of cultural diversity, 1750-1820. The rise of cultural diversity out of the enlightenment (Religion and religiosity ; The aesthetic basis of art in Britain and Germany) ; The public sphere: the press as case study (Introduction ; The music journal in Leipzig's cultural sphere ; Music criticism in Birmingham's cultural sphere) -- The late eighteenth century to 1847. Introduction ; The emergence of the bourgeois public concert ; The repertoires. Leipzig (The making of a canon ; Leipzig in 1848) ; Birmingham ; The role of the artist (Felix Mendelssohn in Leipzig ; Mendelssohn: the 'foster-child' of Birmingham) ; The town hall and the Gewandhaus (The importance of the concert hall ; Purpose, layout and design of the concert halls ; Behavioral norms) -- Post-Mendelssohn to fin-de-siècle. Introduction ; Mid-nineteenth-century philosophy and its impact on culture ; The repertoires. Leipzig (Carl Reinecke and the Gewandhaus, 1860-1895 ; The Franco-Prussian war and Reichsgrundung ; The second Gewandhaus) ; Birmingham (The reign of Michael Costa in Birmingham) -- Transformations and approaches to war: fin-de-siècle to 1914. Introduction ; Relativism and its impact on culture ; Fin-de-siècle and the bourgeois concert (The response of the Gewandhaus. Approaching 1914 ; The response of Birmingham's festival. The end of the festival ; Approaching 1914). |
| Abstract |
This unique study explores the making of bourgeois cultural identity by analysing and comparing the ethos and organisation of Leipzig's Gewandhaus and Birmingham's Triennial Festival from the late eighteenth century to the outbreak of the Great War. It breaks new ground by employing a multidisciplinary approach--social, political and cultural history, the history of ideas, philosophy, religion and music--to identify the social processes which contributed to the particular music culture that developed in these two representative cities. These include specific repertoire traditions, performance and reception practice, architectural layout and interior design of concert halls and attitudes towards the roles of conductors and composers. |
| General note | Originally presented as the author's thesis: Ph.D., University of Birmingham, 2005. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 198-205) and index. |
| LCCN | 2008011809 |
| ISBN | 0230545130 (alk. paper) |
| ISBN | 9780230545137 (alk. paper) |
