Race and Identity: Appraisals in France of Meyerbeer on his 1891 Centenary

2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-42
Author(s):  
Kerry Murphy
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Racial Identity ◽  
Third Republic ◽  
July Monarchy ◽  
Short Discussion ◽  
The Third ◽  
Paris Opera ◽  
Dreyfus Affair ◽  
French Composers ◽  
The Impact

This article examines the ways in which critics and music historians in the Third Republic wrote about Meyerbeer's national and racial identity focusing particularly on the period around the time of the centenary of his birth, the period just before the explosion of the Dreyfus affair. The centenary of Meyerbeer's birth was celebrated in November 1891, by a performance to a packed audience at the Paris Opéra. Critics marked the centenary by writing substantial articles about Meyerbeer.Although many of Meyerbeer's contemporary critics conferred honorary French citizenship on him, by 1891 a significant number saw him as lacking any national identity. This should be seen in the context of a period in which French composers were intensely debating the issue of their own national identity, and clearly since the Franco-Prussian war, they were no longer so complacent about welcoming a German as a Frenchman. Yet the perceptions of Meyerbeer's lack of national identity were also often motivated by negative associations of Meyerbeer as Jew.Derogatory stereotypes of the Jewish composer are present in Meyerbeer criticism from the July Monarchy onwards, but in the early days of the Third Republic they change slightly in focus and also, as might be expected, become more overtly stated. This article presents a brief overview of this change in focus and concentrates on a number of discrete topics: eclecticism, nationhood, originality and artistic capitulation. The examination of this last topic leads to a short discussion of the impact of Wagner on the musical world at this time, and the effect that this had on Meyerbeer reception. The centenary celebrations occurred only two months after the success ofLohengrinat the Opéra (16 September 1891) and the proximity of the two events caused many critics to ponder whether the celebrations marked the end of Meyerbeer's reign at the Opéra and the beginning of the reign of Wagner. The centenary event forced critics to take a position on Meyerbeer's current standing in the operatic world.

The Ambivalent Ralliement of La Croix

1980 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-106
Author(s):  
Oscar Arnal
Keyword(s):  
Editorial Policy ◽  
Third Republic ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Third ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Dreyfus Affair ◽  
The Impact

Beyond a doubt, the newspaper La Croix and its publisher, the Maison de la Bonne Presse, have played a central role in French Catholic journalism for over thirty years. Indeed, it was the leading Catholic press voice of the Third Republic from the Dreyfus Affair to the fall of France. No newspaper of Catholic inspiration could seriously contest its circulation dominance, with the possible exception of the Breton Christian Democratic L'Ouest-Eclair. However, the impact of this latter daily was limited to western France, and by the time it outdistanced La Croix's circulation, it had largely abandoned its Catholic or Christian character. La Croix, on the other hand, was known and read throughout France and remained forthrightly Catholic throughout the life of the Third Republic. Its editorial policy was openly papal, and it sought consciously to be the organ of the French Catholic masses.

Femme Fatale as Scapegoat: the Modernity of Aimée Desclée

1990 ◽  
Vol 6 (24) ◽  
pp. 365-378
Author(s):  
John Stokes
Keyword(s):  
Third Republic ◽  
Early Death ◽  
Femme Fatale ◽  
Paris Commune ◽  
Female Desire ◽  
New Realism ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

A scandalously successful life as an actress and a tragically early death seemed to cast Aimée Desclée in a stereotypical romantic mould, as did a succession of emotionally-fraught roles, notably in the plays of the younger Dumas. But contemporaries praised the new realism she brought to the passionately wayward women she portrayed. In what did this ‘realism’ consist, and in whose eyes did the virtual equation of female desire with neurosis constitute ‘reality’? John Stokes, who teaches in the Department of English in the University of Warwick, here follows an outline of her career and its context with detailed examinations of the creation, nature, and reception of her most famous roles – finally exploring the effects of the events surrounding the creation of the Third Republic and the impact of the Paris Commune of 1870 on the way in which male playwrights and audiences perceived the women she played in her later years. John Stokes recently contributed the section on Bernhardt to Bernhardt. Terry. Duse: the Actress in her Time, with Michael Booth and Susan Bassnett (Cambridge, 1988).

EMILE BOUTROUX, REDEFINING SCIENCE AND FAITH IN THE THIRD REPUBLIC

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOEL REVILL
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Third Republic ◽  
French Philosophy ◽  
The Third ◽  
Dreyfus Affair ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Science And Faith

Historians have convincingly shown the extent to which Protestantism played a role in the founding of the Third Republic, undermining the once canonical claim that republicanism and religion were implacably hostile opponents in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Catholics, however, continue to be viewed as nearly universally antirepublican. Analyzing the writings of philosopher Emile Boutroux and his students, this article shows how the specifically Catholic concern with the relationship between free will and scientific concepts of determinism both influenced the direction of French philosophy of science into the twentieth century and provided a framework for defending the Republic at the height of the Dreyfus affair.

THE ‘MILCH-COW STATE’ REVISITED: REPUBLICAN POLITICS IN THE AVEYRON

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 743-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARTIN SIMPSON
Keyword(s):  
Third Republic ◽  
Alternative Conception ◽  
The Third ◽  
Local Services ◽  
Material Benefits ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

This article examines the ‘republicanization’ of the Aveyron under the Third Republic, exploring issues of the practice and meaning of politics in this rural département. I look at the impact of the Republic's efforts to secularize education and ask on what grounds a département that emphatically rejected the secular/anti-clerical programme of the Republic could nonetheless eventually vote republican. This opens up questions of peasant understandings of politics. In particular I refer to the work of P. M. Jones who has written on this area, attributing republican success to the material benefits offered by the ‘milch-cow state’ and forceful administrative intervention. I argue that whilst the action of the Republic was significant, the success of the republicans rested on more than their ability to deliver local services. Republican politics in the Aveyron succeeded in redefining republicanism, arriving at an alternative conception of the Republic that was acceptable to the strongly Catholic and politicized electorate. We need to move away from any ideas of a single opportunist republicanism to realize that there were multiple conceptions of the Republic and a range of local republicanisms forged in relation to the circumstances of the individual French peripheries.

Cooperation, Not Conflict: Curés and Primary School Inspectors in July Monarchy France, 1833–1848

1995 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 594-609
Author(s):  
Robert L. Koepke
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Third Republic ◽  
July Monarchy ◽  
Know How ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of

The struggle between village priest and schoolteacher in France over education, the struggle for the minds of the young, has a long history. Although it reached its peak in the Third Republic, it developed throughout the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, evidence is heavily anecdotal, so we do not actually know how extensive or intensive it was, and thus how significant for the history of France.

scholarly journals Architecture et pédagogie en France: 1970, une révolution avortée

2020 ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie Chatelet
Keyword(s):  
Open Space ◽  
Third Republic ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Third ◽  
School Model ◽  
The Impact ◽  
De Gaulle

According to historian Antoine Prost, education in France is marked by two periods of profound reform. The first (1880-1902) occurred during the Third Republic and the second (1960-1985) was set in motion under de Gaulle. From an architectural point of view, the former gave rise to the Jules Ferry school, while the latter sought to introduce the English open-space school model into France. Taking the example of the École Saint-Merri, built in Paris between 1971 and 1973, this article examines the impact of this second reform from an architectural point of view.

scholarly journals Prezydenckie orędzia do izb parlamentu w rozwiązaniach konstytucyjnych i praktyce politycznej Francji

2020 ◽  
Vol 6(161) ◽  
pp. 69-98
Author(s):  
Łukasz Jakubiak
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Third Republic ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Fifth Republic ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
The Third ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Constitutional Changes

The article is devoted to the presidential messages addressed to the chambers of parliament within the French political system. On the threshold of the Third Republic, the then regulations banned the President from speaking in parliament and this was also maintained under the constitutions of the Fourth and Fifth Republics. As a consequence, the presidential messages had to be read by the Presidents of the National Assembly and of the Senate. The constitutional changes introduced in 2008 created the opportunity to appear in person before the chambers of parliament assembled as Congress. This amendment has affected the practice of applying Article 18 of the 1958 Constitution, which currently regulates both forms of presidential messages. The aim of the article is to assess the impact of the 2008 amendment on the French presidency, as well as to analyze the practice of formulating messages by successive presidents of the Fifth Republic, in order to identify the basic similarities and differences between them. The wider institutional context is no less important in this respect. One of its components is the significantly strengthened position of the French head of state, compared to the Third and Fourth Republics. The latter feature of the existing system of government seems to considerably affect the presidential messages formulated from the beginning of Charles de Gaulle’s presidency until now

The Jewish Question in Zola's L'argent

PMLA ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 955-967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Grant
Keyword(s):  
Third Republic ◽  
Jewish Question ◽  
The Third ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Dreyfus Affair ◽  
Small Investors ◽  
The Government

Coinciding roughly with the establishment of the Third Republic, there developed in France a wave of anti-Semitism that was to lead ultimately to the Dreyfus affair. Thousands of Jews had moved to Paris, Marseilles, and Lyons after Germany took Alsace and Lorraine, bringing with them competition in finance, as well as a thick accent and coarse manners. It was also at this time (1882) that the great Catholic bank, the Union Générale, failed, ruining thousands of small investors. The action of the government in suddenly arresting for fraud the President and the Director of the firm just as they were attempting to rebuild their bank, and the subsequent accusation by the President, Eugène Bontoux, that the Jews, in league with the “Freemason” government, were responsible for having ruined him because he was a Christian, gave rise to one of the great anti-Semitic myths of the age. It was fully exploited by Edouard Drumont in La France juive (1886), a book that was widely sold and passionately discussed.

Not the Radical republic: liberal ideology and central blandishment in France, 1901–1914

1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald G. Wileman
Keyword(s):  
Third Republic ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Great War ◽  
Big Business ◽  
The Third ◽  
Liberal Ideology ◽  
Dreyfus Affair ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Great War

ABSTRACTMadeleine Rebérioux was right to wonder whether France was truly a ‘Radical republic’ in the years between the Dreyfus affair and the Great War. Archives only opened or explored since Rebérioux published in 1975, and the re-interpretation of older newspaper sources, show that control of the Third Republic was still hotly contested in those years. The Radicals tried to build a republic in their own image, but in a situation where left and right were closely balanced, they were almost always foiled. Crucial to this process was a politically republican but socially conservative centre – best typified by the A.R.D. The A.R.D. wanted a Third Republic frankly favourable to the interests of big business. Since it held the parliamentary balance of power between the left and a right only partly republican, it generally got its way. Statistical sources also support this interpretation.

scholarly journals The Slapstick Routine of Parisian Monumentalism: Robert Desnos and Jacques-André Boiffard’s “Pygmalion and the Sphinx” (1930)

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursula de Leeuw
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Third Republic ◽  
Georges Bataille ◽  
Greek Myth ◽  
Public Monuments ◽  
The Third ◽  
Municipal Council

This essay considers the 1930 essay “Pygmalion and the Sphinx” by Robert Desnos, originally published alongside Jacques André-Boiffard’s photographs of Parisian monuments in the journal Documents. I focus on Desnos and Boiffard’s tragicomic depiction of the municipal council of Paris’ failure to reconcile a fragmented sense of national identity through the erection of public monuments. As implicated by its title, “Pygmalion and the Sphinx” compares the “statuemania” of the Third Republic to the Greek myth. As Desnos and Boiffard reveal, within the monumental form is an antagonism between the civic ideal of ‘Pygmalion’ and the brute substance of the statue’s material, or the Sphinx. This tension inevitably collapses the idealist endeavour of monumentalism; a moment of folly opened by the laughter it evokes. Boiffard focuses the pedestal of the monument, and the rigidity of its material when exposed against the urban landscape. These photographs launch a base materialist perspective repeated by Desnos in his comic imagination. This term is further contextualised by the writings of Georges Bataille in Documents, whereby laughter is integral to the critique of idealism. In this essay, I read Desnos and Boiffard alongside Bataille to illuminate how monumentalism prepares its toppling in the ‘fall’ of the slapstick’s laugh.

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