Paul Watt

Sarah Collins

Michael Allis

Rarely studied in their own right, writings about music are often viewed as merely supplemental to understanding music itself. Yet in the nineteenth century, scholarly interest in music flourished in fields as disparate as philosophy and natural science, dramatically shifting the relationship between music and the academy. An exciting and much-needed new volume, The Oxford Handbook of Music and Intellectual Culture in the Nineteenth Century draws deserved attention to the people and institutions of this period who worked to produce these writings. Editors Paul Watt, Sarah Collins, and Michael Allis, along with an international slate of contributors, discuss music's fascinating and unexpected interactions with debates about evolution, the scientific method, psychology, exoticism, gender, and the divide between high and low culture. Part I of the handbook establishes the historical context for the intellectual world of the period, including the significant genres and disciplines of its music literature, while Part II focuses on the century's institutions and networks - from journalists to monasteries - that circulated ideas about music throughout the world. Finally, Part III assesses how the music research of the period reverberates in the present, connecting studies in aestheticism, cosmopolitanism, and intertextuality to their nineteenth-century origins. The Handbook challenges Western music history's traditionally sole focus on musical work by treating writings about music as valuable cultural artifacts in themselves. Engaging and comprehensive, The Oxford Handbook of Music and Intellectual Culture in the Nineteenth Century brings together a wealth of new interdisciplinary research into this critical area of study.

The Oxford Handbook of Music and Intellectual Culture in the Nineteenth Century

Marking the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Aldous Huxley (1894–1963), Temporaries and Eternals focuses on the music column that Huxley wrote for The Weekly Westminster Gazette in 1922–23. Readers of Huxley’s novels, essays and travel writing will be aware of the wealth of musical detail in these works, and this book suggests that such references can only be fully understood in the context of the opinions voiced in Huxley’s music criticism. Not only does Huxley’s column offer a fascinating snapshot of musical life in 1920s Britain, but several of the themes that Huxley explores continue to have contemporary relevance. These include music and technology, the composer-performer relationship, the nature of the child prodigy, musical tradition and innovation, the suitability of opera libretti, and how to write about music effectively. However, Huxley’s central theme, reflected in the title of this book, is the problematic question of how to judge the significance and potential longevity of specific composers and their works, from Palestrina to Schoenberg. After an extended introduction placing Huxley’s music criticism in the context of his other writings, the book reproduces all 64 of Huxley’s weekly articles, with footnote commentary to help the reader appreciate his wide-ranging textual references.

Michael Allis

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