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The Great Transformation of Musical Taste: Concert Programming from Haydn to Brahms

The Great Transformation of Musical Taste: Concert Programming from Haydn to Brahms

by WilliamWeber (Author)

  • New

    Hardcover 2008

    $131.09

  • New

    Paperback 2009

    $44.45
Synopsis

Grounded in knowledge of thousands of programs, this book examines how musical life in London, Leipzig, Vienna, Boston, and other cities underwent a fundamental transformation in relationship with movements in European politics. William Weber traces how musical taste evolved in European concert programs from 1750 to 1870, as separate worlds arose around classical music and popular songs. In 1780 a typical program accommodated a variety of tastes through a patterned 'miscellany' of genres, held together by diplomatic musicians. This framework began weakening around 1800 as new kinds of music appeared, from string quartets to quadrilles to ballads, which could not easily coexist on the same programs. Utopian ideas and extravagant experiments influenced programming as ideological battles were fought over who should govern musical taste. More than a hundred illustrations or transcriptions of programs enable readers to follow Weber's analysis in detail.

$131.09

Quantity

20+ in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 356
 Edition: 1
 Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 28 May 2008
ISBN 10: 0521882605
ISBN 13: 9780521882606
Book Overview: A study of how musical taste evolved in European concert programs from 1750 to 1870.

Media Reviews
Review of the hardback: 'Wonderful book for 'classical' music lovers ... This book gets good reviews elsewhere and for good reason: it is fascinating and informative. A must-have.' E. Douglas Jensen, www.amazon.com
'If you have ever wondered why concert programs in the modern world are constructed as they are, Weber's fascinating book will help you understand ... Weber draws his data from a vast range of contemporary programs, painstakingly accumulated, many reproduced in facsimiles, others summarized.' Philip Gossett, Common Knowledge
'This fascinating window into the concert world that William Weber has provided will make The Great Transformation of Musical Taste essential reading for anyone interested in nineteenth-century music and concert life.' Journal of Musicological Research
In 'Great Transformation of Musical Taste,' William Weber traces the development of the musical canon we revere today -- music, for the most part, composed by creative geniuses long dead. Audiences today prefer old works to new. ...[Weber] does show that the dead did not always reign supreme over our conception of the great and good. And he leaves us to conclude that they need not do so now. --Wall Street Journal
Weber is to be commended for the clarity of his presentation.. --H-France Review
Author Bio
William Weber is Professor of History at California State University, Long Beach.