- File Size: 6917 KB
- Print Length: 363 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press (January 13, 1995)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B003AU4FP8
Beginning with the simple question, "Why did audiences grow silent?" Listening in Paris
gives a spectator's-eye view of opera and concert life from the Old
Regime to the Romantic era, describing the transformation in musical
experience from social event to profound aesthetic encounter. James H.
Johnson recreates the experience of audiences during these rich decades
with brio and wit. Woven into the narrative is an analysis of the
political, musical, and aesthetic factors that produced more engaged
listening. Johnson shows the gradual pacification of audiences from loud
and unruly listeners to the attentive public we know today.
Drawing from a wide range of sources—novels, memoirs, police files, personal correspondence, newspaper reviews, architectural plans, and the like—Johnson brings the performances to life: the hubbub of eighteenth-century opera, the exuberance of Revolutionary audiences, Napoleon's musical authoritarianism, the bourgeoisie's polite consideration. He singles out the music of Gluck, Haydn, Rossini, and Beethoven as especially important in forging new ways of hearing. This book's theoretical edge will appeal to cultural and intellectual historians in many fields and periods.
Drawing from a wide range of sources—novels, memoirs, police files, personal correspondence, newspaper reviews, architectural plans, and the like—Johnson brings the performances to life: the hubbub of eighteenth-century opera, the exuberance of Revolutionary audiences, Napoleon's musical authoritarianism, the bourgeoisie's polite consideration. He singles out the music of Gluck, Haydn, Rossini, and Beethoven as especially important in forging new ways of hearing. This book's theoretical edge will appeal to cultural and intellectual historians in many fields and periods.
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