1st Edition
Twentieth-Century Music and Politics Essays in Memory of Neil Edmunds
When considering the role music played in the major totalitarian regimes of the century it is music's usefulness as propaganda that leaps first to mind. But as a number of the chapters in this volume demonstrate, there is a complex relationship both between art music and politicised mass culture, and between entertainment and propaganda. Nationality, self/other, power and ideology are the dominant themes of this book, whilst key topics include: music in totalitarian regimes; music as propaganda; music and national identity; émigré communities and composers; music's role in shaping identities of 'self' and 'other' and music as both resistance to and instrument of oppression. Taking the contributions together it becomes clear that shared experiences such as war, dictatorship, colonialism, exile and emigration produced different, yet clearly inter-related musical consequences.
Biography
Pauline Fairclough is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Bristol. She has published widely on Shostakovich and Soviet music, and is currently writing her monograph on early Soviet musical culture, Classics for the Masses.
’In general terms, this is a volume that will be greeted enthusiastically by a wide range of scholars and which will have resonance for historians and sociologists as well as musicologists.’ Jan Smaczny, Queen’s University Belfast, UK 'Music historians will of course find the whole collection fascinating but individual chapters throw light on some little-explored areas, increasing its value.' Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies Information Digest '... an original and thought-provoking collection on an impressive range of topics and a fitting tribute to a scholar whose life ended so prematurely.' Slavic Review 'This is a volume of broad appeal and high calibre, which demonstrates the great rewards close historical analysis and an extended approach can bring to the study of music in a range of contexts. It is also a poignant, yet vivid, memorial to a gifted scholar and teacher for whom music was as expansive as the historical setting from which it is inseparable.' Fontes Artis Musicae