The Musical Crowd in English Fiction, 1840-1910: Class, Culture and Nation (Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture)

This book provides insight into how musical performances contributed to emerging ideas about class and national identity. Offering a fresh reading of bestselling fictional works, drawing upon crowd theory, climate theory, ethnology, science, music reviews and books by musicians to demonstrate how these discourses were mutually constitutive. Phyllis Weaver Examines The Theme Of The 'musical Crowd' Alongside Victorian Social, Political, And Scientific Theories. While Usually Considered Discrete Fields Today, The Fictional Works Demonstrate That Discourses Of Group Management, Ethnology, Climate, Nation, Class, And Music Were Highly Interactive During A Span Of At Least Seventy Years. The Exchanges Between These Fields Are Not Readily Apparent In Looking At The Documents Produced By The Musical Profession Alone, So Fictional Works Offer Unique And Significant Insight Into How Various Discourses Were Imagined As Mutually Constitutive.--jacket. 1. Surveillance And Musical Passion In Villette -- 2. Germanic Music Ideals In Utopian Communities : Charles Auchester, Erewhon And Euphonia -- 3. Music, Climate Theory And The Working Classes In Sandra Belloni -- 4. Imagining 1848 Risorgimento Opera Production In Vittoria -- 5. Shaw's Fiction And The Emerging English Musical Renaissance -- 6. From Collective Action To Creative Individuality : Robert Elsmere, Dodo, Althea And Howards End. Phyllis Weliver. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 190-235) And Index.