Music and Victorian Liberalism: Composing the Liberal Subject

Cambridge University Press, 6/6/2019
EAN 9781108480055, ISBN10: 1108480055

Hardcover, 266 pages, 25.1 x 21.1 x 1.8 cm
Language: English

The discourse of Victorian liberalism has long been explored by scholars of literature, with reference to politics, ethics and aesthetics. Yet little attention has been paid to music's role in the context of these debates, leaving a rich collection of historical and archival detail on the periphery of our understanding. From the impact of the National Sunday League to the reception of Wagner in London, this collection of essays aims to nuance current approaches to the aesthetic facets of liberalism, examining the interaction between music and liberal ideas in a variety of social contexts. The significance of music for modern conceptions of self-hood and community is uncovered, revealing a new dimension of Victorian liberalism.

1. Aesthetic liberalism Sarah Collins
Part I. Cultivation and/as Control
2. Musical discipline and Victorian liberal reform Erin Johnson-Williams
3. 'Brightening the lives of the people on Sunday'
the National Sunday League and liberal attitudes towards concert promotion in Victorian Britain Simon McVeigh
4. Music and mass education
cultivation or control? Rosemary Golding
Part II. Dissent, Individualism and Agency
5. A musical presence among liberal thinkers
Eliza Flower and her circle, 1832–1845 Kate Bowan
6. 'That more liberal mode of life'
Rosa Newmarch, aestheticism, and queer listening in Victorian and Edwardian Britain Phillip Ross Bullock
Part III. Character and Emotion
7. Style, character and revelation in Parry's Fourth Symphony Matthew Riley
8. The Parrys and Prometheus Unbound
actualizing liberalism Phyllis Weliver
9. Liberalism and Victorian musical sympathy Bennett Zon
10. Music and character in the Victorian reception of Wagner
conducting the Philharmonic ca. 1855 Katherine Fry
11. Afterword
liberalism in the round Peter Mandler.