French Cultural Politics and Music: From the Dreyfus Affair to the First World War

by Jane F. Fulcher

Overview

This book argues that French musical meanings and values in the years from 1898 to 1914 are best explained not in terms of contemporary artistic movements, but rather in terms of the political culture, which was undergoing subtle but profound transformation as nationalist Leagues enlarged the arena of political action. Applying recent insights from French history, sociology, political anthropology, and literary theory, the book reveals how nationalists used critics, educational institutions, concert series and lectures to disseminate their values through a discourse on French music and how the Republic and Left responded to this challenge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195120219
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	12/28/1998
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	1570L (what's this?)

About the Author

Jane F. Fulcher is also the author of The Nation's Image: French Grand Opera as Politics and Politicized Art (1987), as well as numerous articles. She served as Visiting Professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris in 1985 and again in 1995. She has been a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Paris) and a Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study (Berlin), the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies. Fulcher earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University and is now Professor of Music at Indiana University.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	3
I	The Battle Is Established: Musicians Enter, 1898-1905
1	The New "Cultural War" and the French Musical World	15
	The Dreyfus Affair and French Musicians	15
	D'Indy, Anti-Dreyfusism, and the Schola	24
	The Republic's First Riposte: The 1900 Exposition and Music	35
	Sources of Support for the Schola	48
	The Battle over French Music History	56
	Ideological Dialogue at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Sociales	59
2	Creative and Professional Responses to the Politicization of Music	64
	D'Indy's "Ideological Music,"	64
	Magnard's "Dreyfusard" Compositions	74
	Charpentier's Louise: Its Political Uses and Critical Misreadings	77
	The "Conservatoire Populaire de Mimi Pinson,"	97
	Politicization in Repertoire Choices, Subventions, and Journalism	103
II	The Battle Escalates and Is Won, 1905-1914
3	Proliferating Factions, Issues, and Skirmishes	119
	The Action Francaise and Music	120
	French Socialist Initiatives in Music	126
	The National-Socialist Musical Aesthetic	133
	Cultural Politics in French Musical Journalism	136
	Interlocked Battles over the "New Sorbonne" and the Paris Conservatoire	140
	The Conservatoire's Response through Faure	143
	New Counterattacks on the Schola	147
	Politicization in the War of the "Chapelles,"	153
	Perceptions of the Conflicting Musical "Dogmas,"	162
4.	Responses of French Composers to the Traditionalist Victory in Politics and Music	169
	Debussy's Nationalism	170
	Satie's Creative Politics	194
	Charpentier's Disillusionment and Politics	204
	D'Indy's Triumph and His Enduring Obsessions	206
	The Dilemma of the Independents: Magnard, Ravel, Ropartz, and Roussel	208
	Final Attempts at a Reconciliation	213
	Scholisme and the Musical Mainstream	214
	The Last Skirmish: Le Sacre du printemps	216
	Conclusion	221
	Notes	227
	Bibliography	265
	Index	285

Editorial Reviews

"There is much to praise in Fulcher's book, which is well proportioned and includes some excellent summaries of obscure but important sources."—Notes

"...a study that deserves to become a standard reference for advanced students of the period."—Choice

"The interdisciplinary scope of Fulcher's project, the attempt to unravel political meanings from within musical form and content, and the attention to institutional history should excite interest among musicologists today."— Journal of the American Musicological Society

From the Publisher