scholarly journals Escaping aesthetic control

2021 ◽  
pp. 85-125
Author(s):  
Marco Fatichenti
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Separate Entity ◽  
Specialist Training ◽  
Cultural Shift ◽  
Performance Practices ◽  
Critical Editions ◽  
Spanish Music ◽  
Aesthetic Control

Spanish pianists, educators, and commentators have relished passing down to following generations the performance practices of their own tradition, with the renowned institution L’escola de música de Barcelona claiming to offer specialist training in “Spanish music”. In this context, Granados’s Goyescas have inevitably become the almost-exclusive domain of native musicians, herding artists’ creativities towards sets of performance instructions familiar to them. That we should continue to consider this repertoire as a specifically separate entity, fully knowable only by local artists or those trained within their tradition, is worthy of attention, as it places anyone outside this educational background and performing tradition as ‘other’ in need of acceptance. While the study of Granados’s output has recently been enriched by analytical investigations, recording projects, and new critical editions, it is the still unfamiliar early-recorded legacy by the composer/pianist that will be the catalyst for insights in this article. His Welte-Mignon roll recordings show a dynamic and flexible artistry, unsurprising in pianists of his generation, together with a lack of highly articulated ornamental inflexions and the rhythmical rigour we might expect in performances of such repertoire. The question that I wish to raise is whether at some point during the twentieth century there was a cultural shift that shaped ‘Spanish music’ to sound as distinctively national as possible. Such a shift would have occurred, in the minds of players, in parallel to wider changes in performance styles taking place throughout the continent. Exploring these aesthetic ideals through the lens of the country’s cultural history during the troubled years across the middle of the last century may hint at the subtle but meaningful ways that defined a canon flavoured with local folklore, both within and without the Spanish borders. The aim throughout is to challenge these orthodox approaches controlling the repertoire, resulting in my own renewed performance of El amor y la muerte; the hope will be that of empowering pianists to make different choices, diversifying performance options in the future.

The Arrival of the Zarzuela in Budapest El rey que rabió by Ruperto Chapí

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 243-262
Author(s):  
Gloria A. Rodríguez-Lorenzo
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
String Quartets ◽  
Musical Theatre ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Going Public ◽  
Spanish Music ◽  
Written Performance

The appearance of zarzuela in Hungary is entirely unknown in musicology. In the present study, I discuss the currently unchartered reception of the zarzuela El rey que rabió (first performed in Spain in 1891) by Ruperto Chapí (1851-1909), a Spanish composer of over one hundred stage pieces and four string quartets. Premièred as Az unatkozó király in Budapest seven years later in 1898, Chapí’s zarzuela met with resounding success in the Hungarian press, a fervour which reverberated into the early decades of the twentieth century. Emil Szalai and Sándor Hevesi’s skilful Hungarian translation, together with Izsó Barna’s appropriate adjustments and reorchestration, accordingly catered the work to Budapest audiences. Through analysis of hand-written performance materials of Az unatkozó király (preserved in the National Széchényi Library), alongside a detailed study of the Hungarian reception, the profound interest in Spanish music–particularly in relation to musical theatre–amongst the turn-of-the-century Hungarian theatre-going public is revealed. This paper explores how Az unatkozó király became a success in Hungary.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Whitehead
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Television Film ◽  
Popular Image

The introductory chapter discusses the popular image of the ‘Romantic mad poet’ in television, film, theatre, fiction, the history of literary criticism, and the intellectual history of the twentieth century and its countercultures, including anti-psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Existing literary-historical work on related topics is assessed, before the introduction goes on to suggest why some problems or difficulties in writing about this subject might be productive for further cultural history. The introduction also considers at length the legacy of Michel Foucault’s Folie et Déraison (1961), and the continued viability of Foucauldian methods and concepts for examining literary-cultural representations of madness after the half-century of critiques and controversies following that book’s publication. Methodological discussion both draws on and critiques the models of historical sociology used by George Becker and Sander L. Gilman to discuss genius, madness, deviance, and stereotype in the nineteenth century. A note on terminology concludes the introduction.

BANDITS, ELVIS, AND OTHER MYSTICS: An Interview with Paul Vanderwood

2012 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-592
Author(s):  
Eric Van Young
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
San Diego ◽  
Professor Emeritus ◽  
The Political ◽  
State University ◽  
History Of ◽  
San Diego State University ◽  
Power Of God

Paul Vanderwood, Professor Emeritus of History at San Diego State University, died in San Diego onOctober 10, 2011, at the age of 82. A distinguished and innovative historian of modern Mexico, Vanderwood authored or co-authored several books, mostly dealing with the political, social, and cultural history of Mexico between about 1860 and the mid-twentieth century. The four works for which he is best known are Disorder and Progress (1982), The Power of God Against the Guns ofGovernment (1998), Juan Soldado (2004), and Satan's Playground (2010), and they are discussed extensively in this interview.

On the Heels of Juan Moreira: Lessons for the Cultural History of Reading

PMLA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-163
Author(s):  
William G. Acree
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
South America ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Real Life ◽  
History Of Reading ◽  
Río De La Plata ◽  
The Real ◽  
La Plata ◽  
History Of

Between November 1879 and January 1880, the argentine author Eduardo Gutierrez published a serialized narrative of the life of Juan Moreira in the Buenos Aires newspaper La Patria Argentina. Titled simply Juan Moreira, the heroic tale of the real-life outlaw went like this: Moreira was a good gaucho gone bad, who fought to preserve his honor against the backdrop of modernizing forces that were transforming life in this part of South America. His string of crimes and ultimate downfall resulted from his unjust persecution by corrupt state officials. The success of the serial surpassed all expectations. The paper's sales skyrocketed, and the melodramatic narrative soon appeared in book form. Enterprising printers produced tens of thousands of authorized and pirated editions to sell in the Rio de la Plata (Argentina and Uruguay), making Juan Moreira a leading example of everyday reading for the region's rapidly growing literate population and one of Latin America's pre-twentieth-century bestsellers (Acree, Everyday Reading; Gutiérrez, The Gaucho Juan Moreira).

Pens, Planes, and Politics

2018 ◽  
pp. 223-238
Author(s):  
Joseph M. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
African American ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Geographical Proximity ◽  
Military Industrial Complex ◽  
Civic Leader ◽  
Defense Contracts ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter combines political, labor, and cultural history methodologies to compare the Lockheed aircraft factory in Marietta, Georgia, and the Scripto pen and pencil factory in nearby Atlanta. While the mostly male employees at Lockheed, a majority-white plant, enjoyed the job security delivered by defense contracts at the height of the Cold War military-industrial complex, the Scripto workers, the majority of whom were African American women, faced the more capricious turns of the market. Many of the disparities between these factories stemmed from their common management history found in the career of attorney, businessman, and civic leader, James V. Carmichael. Although situated within close geographical proximity, Lockheed and Scripto helped create disparate racial, political, and cultural worlds in the mid-twentieth century. The tale of these two factories uncovers the stark contrasts between the ways race, gender, and government intervention shaped different sectors of the postwar southern economy.

A Return to Rossini

2021 ◽  
pp. 89-104
Author(s):  
Hilary Poriss
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Critical Edition ◽  
Critical Editions ◽  
Work Concept

This chapter situates The Barber of Seville in the context of the twentieth century, a time when the Rossini Renaissance and a growing sense of fidelity to the “work concept” led to a desire to adhere closely to Rossini’s intent. Following a brief overview of sporadic attempts to access the “original” opera during the nineteenth century, the focus falls on the development of the critical edition project, exploring the various singers, directors, and musicologists who played a role in accessing an authentic version of The Barber of Seville. The chapter concludes with a comparison of the two modern critical editions of the opera.

Select Learning Organizations?

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Ellington
Keyword(s):  
Success Factors ◽  
Learning Organizations ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Cultural Shift ◽  
Critical Success ◽  
Strategic Direction ◽  
Traditional Organization ◽  
New Vision ◽  
Successful Change

Transformation is how adults make meaning from and interpret experiences. Transformation know-how is an important attribute to demonstrate while leading. This paper examines the transformational ability of leaders. It is generally perceived that since leaders have similar leadership skills, the perception of how they transform their organizations into learning organizations would be uniform. Expectations directly influence meaning and how the perspective changes to accommodate the new experience. This could be attributed to factors like a leader’s educational background, experience in a complex organization, or exposure to successful change efforts. This study attributes specific leadership experiences and perceptions toward the ability to transform an organization. Critical success factors are sound awareness of transformation, the courage to engage in a disoriented dilemma, to accept the knowledge that a perspective requires new understandings of those who lead at all levels within the organization, and the ability to articulate the strategic direction and gain the motivation and engagement from all stakeholders. Four leadership skills are found in the literature that acknowledges transformational leaders have similar skills and perceptions on transforming a traditional organization into a learning organization: a) sense of urgency, b) envision a new vision, c) catalyst for a cultural shift, and d) strategic thinking.

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