Romanticism and Music Culture in Britain, 1770–1840: Virtue and Virtuosity: 82 (Cambridge Studies in Romanticism, Series Number 82)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 3/4/2010
EAN 9780521117333, ISBN10: 052111733X
Hardcover, 314 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Music was central to everyday life and expression in late Georgian Britain, and this interdisciplinary study looks at its impact on Romantic literature. Focusing on the public fascination with virtuoso performance, Gillen D'Arcy Wood documents a struggle between sober 'literary' virtue and luxurious, effeminate virtuosity that staged deep anxieties over class, cosmopolitanism, machine technology, and the professionalization of culture. A remarkable synthesis of cultural history and literary criticism, this book opens new perspectives on key Romantic authors - including Burney, Wordsworth, Austen and Byron - and their relationship to definitive debates in late Georgian culture.
Preface
Introduction. Virtuosophobia
1. Seward's Handelomania
2. The Burney baroque
3. Wordsworth castrato
4. Cockney Mozart
5. Austen's accomplishment
6. The Byron of the piano
Coda. The mechanical nightingale.