scholarly journals Music Theory for the “Weaker Sex”: Oliveria Prescott’s Columns for The Girl’s Own Paper

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Lumsden
Keyword(s):  
Young Women ◽  
Music Theory ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Victorian England ◽  
Print Journalism ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
Solo Piano ◽  
Piano Works ◽  
Female Audience ◽  
Rare Opportunity

In this article, I examine a cluster of music theory essays by Oliveria Louisa Prescott (1842–1917), which were published between 1886 and 1891 in The Girl’s Own Paper (TGOP), the most popular periodical for young women in Victorian England. Although little known today, Prescott sustained a vibrant musical career in London as a composer and teacher, and her articles on music theory regularly appeared in major periodicals such as The Musical World and TGOP. Prescott’s work for TGOP presents a rare opportunity to explore music theory that was not just written by a woman, but also intended for a genteel female audience in the Victorian era. Her articles include explanations of fundamental theoretical subjects (cadences, basic harmonic progressions) as well as short analyses of solo piano works by Beethoven and Mendelssohn. But these articles are also noteworthy for their discussions of more advanced theoretical topics (such as chromatic harmony), concepts that might seem surprising for a popular periodical for young ladies. Mainstream journalism is often devalued as a “less serious” form of intellectual discourse, but Prescott’s work complicates stereotypes of ignorant amateur female musicians and the so-called “private” sphere, and it demonstrates how print journalism could serve as a vital public platform for the circulation of music theory among young British women in the Victorian era.

UPON THE OCCASION OF THE MILTON BABBITT (1916–2011) CENTENARY: AN INTERVIEW WITH BENJAMIN BORETZ

Tempo ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 70 (278) ◽  
pp. 29-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Banks Mailman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
York City ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Solo Piano ◽  
Piano Works ◽  
Milton Babbitt ◽  
Stylistic Changes

AbstractThis edited transcript of a public pre-concert discussion with composer, theorist and critic Benjamin Boretz not only touches on early personal encounters with Babbitt but also ranges over issues of reception of his music, listening experiences, transformations of music's temporality, connections to Schoenberg, Webern, Cage, and postmodernism, stylistic changes over Babbitt's career and composerly poetics, as well as motivations and consequences for precompositional structures and systems. The discussion took place on 22 November 2015, at the first of three recitals during the 2015–16 concert season at Spectrum, in New York City, in which Augustus Arnone for the second time performed all of Milton Babbitt's solo piano works, this time in honour of the composer's centenary.

scholarly journals The Concept of Victorianism in A. S. Byatt’s “Posession”

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Victorian Novel ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Victorian England ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
English Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
Russian Literary ◽  
Postmodern Novel ◽  
Current Research Interest

The late 1990s – early 2000s was a time of numerous projects dedicated to the Victorian age and the Victorian novel as a specific phenomenon that inspires the modern novel development. The English postmodern novel with its typical narrative, time transferal to Victorian England, weaving of time layers, invokes current research interest. The relevance of this study is caused by considerable interest of researchers in the Victorian era heritage and by need of a comprehensive study of Victorian linguoculture and its implementation in the modern English novel. The Victorian text influences a new genre of the novel that reflects the gravity of modern English prose to the traditional literature of Victorian era, assumed to be particularly important in this context. The analysis of A. S. Byatt’s “Possession” in the Russian literary criticism was made only by O. A. Tolstykh; in the Ukrainian science, this work was investigated by O. Boynitska in the context of searching the past, so this subject is not investigated enough, and in our opinion is new and relevant, especially from the perspective of the “Victorian era” concept embodied in the novel. The aim of the paper is to analyze the “Victorian era” concept peculiarities in the intercultural context, on the basis of A. S. Byatt’s “Possession” as a Victorian novel. The paper takes into account the reproduction of concepts of Marriage, Home, Family, Freedom, Life, as components of “Victorian era.” The Victorian family is often represented through the place of their dwelling; therefore, the great Victorians’ works are overwhelmed by interior descriptions (Dombey’s house, Miss Havisham’s home, Mr. Rochester’s Castle). However, in “Possession,” there is an obvious contrast of Victorian buildings to the same structures in the XX century: the past prime – the modern decline. All the secrets and delusions hidden behind the facades of supposedly respectable buildings result in distorting facts and, to some extent, to violating the rights of ownership to the memories of the past. This gives another meaning to the title of the novel – “possession,” that is ownership, possession of letters, memory, truth.

Defaming and Defining ‘Bloody Mary’ in Nineteenth-Century England

2014 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Richards
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
History Textbooks ◽  
Victorian England ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
John Foxe ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Catholic Faith ◽  
Papal Authority ◽  
Mary Tudor

Although the reputation of Englands first queen regnant, Mary Tudor (died 1558) had remained substantially unchanged in the intervening centuries, there were always some defenders of that Catholic queen among the historians of Victorian England. It is worth noting, however, that such revisionism made little if any impact on the schoolroom history textbooks, where Marys reputation remained much as John Foxe had defined it. Such anxiety as there was about attempts to restore something of Marys reputation were made more problematic by the increasing number and increasingly visible presence of a comprehensive Catholic hierarchy in the nineteenth century, and by high-profile converts to the Catholic faith and papal authority. The pre-eminent historians of the later Victorian era consistently remained more favourable to the reign of Elizabeth, seen as the destroyer,of an effective Catholic church in England.

When the Republic Came for the Nuns

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-451
Author(s):  
Miranda Sachs
Keyword(s):  
Young Women ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Public Welfare ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Religious Orders ◽  
The Third ◽  
Protection De L’Enfance ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
The Republic

Abstract During its first decades the Third Republic's relationship with the Catholic Church soured. While the Republic notoriously recast itself as a secular regime through removing clerics from the classroom, laicization also drove the development of public welfare. By examining the case of ouvroirs, charitable ateliers run by female religious orders to train and employ young women, this article explores the consequences of new ideas about welfare for working-class girlhood. In the context of rising anticlericalism, the Republic mobilized labor law and sent labor inspectors to scrutinize the nuns' treatment of their charges. The Republic's efforts to regulate these spaces represent a transformation in its treatment of girlhood, a recognition that girls' care could not be left to the private sphere. Instead, not only was it the Republic's responsibility to protect these girls, but this protection had a larger, societal imperative. Durant ses premières décennies, les relations entre la Troisième République et l'Eglise catholique se détérioraient. Si l'écartement du clergé des salles de classe est un exemple notoire de la laïcisation républicaine, l'avènement de l'assistance sociale n'en est pas moins un. En examinant le cas des « ouvroirs », ces ateliers dirigés par des religieuses afin de former et employer des jeunes filles, cet article s'intéresse aux conséquences des conceptions nouvelles de l'assistance sociale pour les filles de la classe ouvrière. Alors que l'anticléricalisme devient de plus en plus présent, la République fait appel aux lois sur le travail et demande aux inspecteurs de vérifier le bon fonctionnement des actions entreprises par les religieuses. Cet effort croissant de la République pour réglementer ces locaux marque un refus de laisser le sort des jeunes filles à la sphère privée ainsi qu'une transformation de la politique sur l'enfance. Quand la République accepte la responsabilité de protéger ces filles des ouvroirs, la protection de l'enfance devient un devoir politique.

Fighting electoral corruption in the Victorian era: An overlooked dimension of John Stuart Mill’s political thought

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Selinger
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Action ◽  
John Stuart Mill ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Victorian England ◽  
Liberal Politics ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Electoral Corruption

For nearly half a century John Stuart Mill was a major critic of the forms of electoral corruption prevalent in Victorian England. Yet this political commitment has been largely overlooked by scholars. This article offers the first synoptic account of Mill’s writings against corruption. It argues that Mill’s opposition to corruption was not accidental or temperamental, but sprung from fundamental principles of his political thought. It also shows that Mill’s opposition to electoral corruption put him at odds with other leading liberal thinkers of his era, who thought that the existing ways in which wealth influenced elections had positive effects – or at the very least that they did not impede a healthy electoral contest from taking place. Mill’s fervent intent to eliminate corruption also distinguishes him from many liberal theorists today, who either do not write about electoral corruption, or consider it an issue to be managed and lived-with. Reflecting on Mill’s political thought alongside other liberal thinkers raises the question of whether liberal states can draw a definitive line between prevalent forms of corruption and legitimate modes of political action, and eliminate the former, or whether we must regard corruption as among the constitutive dilemmas of a liberal politics.

scholarly journals Depiction of Victorian Era in the Novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. p17
Author(s):  
Farhana Haque
Keyword(s):  
Charles Dickens ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Victorian England ◽  
Great Expectation ◽  
Great Expectations ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
Class System ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Middle Class Family

Charles Dickens’ Great Expectation actually did reflect the Victorian society and therefore the morality of that era’s people inside of the novel. Since we know that Victorian era basically present some features such as virtue, strength, thrift, manners, cleanliness, honesty and chastity. These are the morals that Victorian people used to hold with high esteem. In this novel Great Expectations, Dickens has created some Victorian characters whom we have seen both in good working way or not at all. But the protagonist named Pip was dynamic and he went through some several changes and dealt with different and significant moral issues. Somehow Pip left behind all the values he was raised with. Because Miss Havisham and Estella have corrupted Pip with rich life. Greed, beauty and arrogance were his ingredient of immoral life. The other characters like Joe and Biddy were static characters throughout the entire novel and became noticeable to be the manifestation of what we call as ideal Victorians. The main heroin of this novel was Estella with whom Pip thought he had some love connection. Hence, Estella has been presented as a good in the sense of potentiality and turned morally bad. Miss Havisham, who was basically a corrupt woman and she engraved the center of the novel. Great Expectations did disclose how was the situation of Victorian society through some important features such as higher class, corrupted judicial system between rural and urban England. Here in this novel, Dickens was concern about the education system in Victorian era where the lower class people get less opportunities of getting proper education. From the beginning to the end of this novel, Dickens explored some significant issues regarding higher and lower class system of Victorian society which did fluctuate from the greatest woeful criminal named Magwitch to the needy people of the swamp country, where Joe and Biddy were the symbol of that regime. After that we can proceed to the middle class family where Pumblechook was the person to represent that regime. Last but not the least Miss Havisham symbolized and bear flag of very rich and sophisticated Victorian woman who has represented the higher class society in the novel Great Expectations. Hence we can say Great Expectations has talked and displayed the class system of Victorian England and the characters of this novel therefore also did uphold the true reflection of Victorian era.

scholarly journals Mid-Victorian England and Female Emancipation: Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Saman Ali Mohammed
Keyword(s):  
Elizabeth Gaskell ◽  
Apparent Difference ◽  
Domestic Sphere ◽  
Victorian England ◽  
Economic Competition ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
North And South ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Class Distinction

One of the heated discussions of the Victorian era is female emancipation. In the heart of an industrial period when materialism, economic competition and public domain were dominated by men, women had the domestic sphere. The apparent difference between these two spheres was not tolerable for Elizabeth Gaskell and she critiqued it. Her novel North and South discusses the perceptions on women, the idea of industrialization, and class distinction in Victorian Era. Developing her main character Margaret Hale, Gaskell critiques her society and the mentality behind a perception of patriarchal and materialistic society. Gaskell develops her character on many different levels by giving her various roles especially in the industrial north. Valuing certain qualities women possess in the domestic level, Gaskell brings Margaret to the debates, businesses, factories, riots and public sphere of Milton. Gaskell presents the contemporary and Victorian readers with a different perception of women, their roles, and significance in the private and public spheres. 

scholarly journals The Pen as Camera

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Beaudoin
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Musical Borrowing ◽  
History Of Photography ◽  
Solo Piano ◽  
Piano Works ◽  
Tonal Function ◽  
History Of ◽  
Compositional Practice

The photographic effect of overexposure is analogous to Michael Finnissy’s technique of selective musical borrowing. Just as a photographer uses the camera to allow an overabundance of light to wash out pictorial details, Finnissy uses his transcriptive pen to allow an overabundance of silence to alter and fragment his borrowed sources. Case studies demonstrate Finnissy’s borrowing of cadential phrases by J. S. Bach, Beethoven, and Bruckner in his solo piano works Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sind (1992) and The History of Photography in Sound (1995–2001). Comparing original sources, unpublished sketches, and published autographs reveals the composer’s precise transcriptive mechanisms. Measuring the alteration of tonal function enacted by specific harmonic and rhythmic distortions illuminates Finnissy’s pre-compositional practice while celebrating the sonic experience of his music on its own terms.

Mental Disability in Victorian England: The Earlswood Asylum 1847–1901. By David Wright. [Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2001. xii, 244 and (Index) 10 pp. Hardback £40. ISBN 0–19–924639–4.]

2002 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 463-492
Author(s):  
M. A. Stein
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disability ◽  
Victorian England ◽  
Poor Law ◽  
National Network ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
Mentally Disabled ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Drastic Increase ◽  
History Of

Under the auspices of the 1808 Asylums Act, twelve county asylums for the institutionalised care of “dangerous idiots and lunatics” were created from 1808 through 1834. The advent of the New Poor Law in that latter year, with its emphasis on economising costs through “relieving” the poor in Union workhouses, resulted in a drastic increase in the number of mentally disabled people under the care of the Poor Law Overseers. Subsequently (and partially in consequence) the Lunatics Act of 1845 directed that all “lunatics, idiots, or persons of unsound mind” be institutionalised in county asylums. The Earlswood Asylum (formerly the National Asylum for Idiots) was the premier establishment for the care of people with mental disabilities throughout the Victorian era, and the institution upon which a national network would be modelled. This book chronicles and examines the history of the Earlswood Asylum from 1847–1901.

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