What voices can be heard in British music-hall songs of the First World War?

The story of Ernest John Moeran’s experiences during the First World War has long been one of sensational speculation, and a narrative has evolved over the years that has significantly informed the reception and assessment of the composer’s music. Since 2007, the author of this paper has examined a mass of evidence, much of it previously unknown or disregarded, which has called into question the reliability of this narrative. Following the 100th anniversaries both of Moeran’s injury at the Second Battle of Bullecourt in northern France on 3 May 1917, and of the ending of the First World War on 11 November 1918, this article has been written to present, in unprecedented detail, an evidence-based account of the composer’s war, from its outbreak in August 1914, to his discharge in January 1919, both chronicling what happened to him, and suggesting how his life and work could be reconsidered in the light of the new narrative. Parts of this article derive from a paper by the same author: The Moeran Myth, previously published in British Music, vol. 32 (2010), 26-48, and from conference papers delivered by the author at ‘Music in Ireland: 1916 and Beyond’, Dublin, April 2016: Moeran in Ireland, 1917-1918 and 1935, and ‘A Great Divide or a Longer Nineteenth Century: Music, Britain and the First World War’, Durham, January 2017: A Composer Goes to War—E. J. Moeran and the First World War.

Download Full-text

Historical contributions to the study of Serbian-British relations in the field of music and culture from 1914 to 1941

New Sound ◽

10.5937/newso2055091m ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 91-117

Author(s):

Dimitrije Mlađenović

Keyword(s):

Great Britain ◽

First World War ◽

Mutual Understanding ◽

Creative Work ◽

World War ◽

British Music ◽

The First World War ◽

Kingdom Of Yugoslavia ◽

First World ◽

Historical Periods

The paper deals with the relations between the Kingdom of Serbia / Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Great Britain with special emphasis on their 'encounters' in the field of music and culture during the First World War and then between the two wars, which drew the two fairly mutually distant and insufficiently known 'worlds' closer. That music was an integral part of all major social and state events staged by the two countries at different moments and in different situations throughout the mentioned historical periods can be observed. The paper also shows that research into the role and significance of music in the relations between the two countries and its influence on them was continuously permeated, like a particular 'red thread' - which sublimated the most significant mutual effects of Serbian-British music relations in those times - by the creative work and enthusiasm of Oxford graduate Kosta Manojlović. There is no doubt that all this contributed to a more profound mutual understanding of these peoples and their countries.

Download Full-text

‘Certificated Operators’ versus ‘Handle-Turners’: The British Film Industry's First Trade Union

Journal of British Cinema and Television ◽

10.3366/jbctv.2018.0403 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 73-93 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jon Burrows

Keyword(s):

Working Conditions ◽

Trade Union ◽

First World War ◽

National Association ◽

World War ◽

Film Exhibition ◽

The First World War ◽

History Of ◽

Music Hall ◽

First World

This article examines the history of the British film industry's first trade union: the National Association of Cinematograph Operators (NACO), an organisation for projectionists established in 1907. The deterioration in pay and working conditions experienced by projectionists following the advent of permanent cinemas is outlined, but, contrary to prevailing wisdom, it is pointed out that NACO was not actually formed in response to these developments. NACO pre-dated the growth of fixed-site film exhibition venues and the reasons behind its inception are explained in relation to the politics of the music hall industry. It is shown that the union's executive steadfastly promoted a conception of projection work that was rapidly becoming anachronistic in several respects, and concentrated their campaigning efforts upon trying to police entry into the profession, primarily via a proposed parliamentary bill to make an annual examination of projectionists' fitness to ‘strike the arc’ compulsory. It is argued that this was an inadequate and blinkered response to the increasing exploitation of projectionists as sweated labour, and also that NACO's repeated denunciation of inexperienced projectionists as ‘handle-turners’ may have emboldened employers in their determination to drive wages down. Consequently, although NACO belatedly decided to relax its membership requirements, new subscriptions were in decline by 1912 and the union remained inactive throughout the First World War until it was wound up and replaced in 1919.

Download Full-text

Two-a-Day Redemptions and Truncated Camilles: the Vaudeville Repertoire of Sarah Bernhardt

New Theatre Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s0266464x0000004x ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 10 (37) ◽

pp. 11-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Leigh Woods

Keyword(s):

First World War ◽

University Of Michigan ◽

World War ◽

High Culture ◽

Important Stage ◽

British Music ◽

The First World War ◽

Theatre Studies ◽

The University ◽

First World

American vaudeville welcomed a host of important stage actors into its midst during the generation between the mid-1890s and the end of the First World War, and in 1912, following appearances in British music halls, Sarah Bernhardt became vaudeville's centrepiece in its own war with the legitimate theatre for audience and status. By way of exchange, she received the highest salary ever paid to a ‘headlined’ vaudeville act, while performing a repertoire from which she was able to exclude the sort of light entertainment which had previously typified the medium. Both vaudeville and Bernhardt profited, in very different ways, from this wedding of high culture to low – and in the process a cultural standing seems to have attached itself to exhibitions of pain which legitimised the lot of the morally deviant women she both portrayed and exemplified. Leigh Woods, Head of Theatre Studies at the University of Michigan, explores the ways in which the great actress thus maintained a demand for her services well after the eclipse of her legendary beauty and matchless movement.

Download Full-text