Sacred and Secular Intersections in Music of the Long Nineteenth Century

Sacred and Secular Intersections in Music of the Long Nineteenth Century: Church, Stage, and Concert Hall

eds. Eftychia Papanikolaou and Markus Rathey

About the book

Sacred and Secular Intersections in Music of the Long Nineteenth Century: Church, Stage, and Concert Hall explores interconnections of the sacred and the secular in music and aesthetic debates of the long nineteenth century. The essays in this volume view the category of the sacred not as a monolithic attribute that applies only to music written for and performed in a religious ritual. Rather, the “sacred” is viewed as a functional as well as a topical category that enhances the discourse of cross-pollination of musical vocabularies between sacred and secular compositions, church and concert music. Using a variety of methodological approaches, the contributors articulate how sacred and religious identities coalesce, reconcile, fuse, or intersect in works from the long nineteenth century that traverse an array of genres and compositional styles. This volume is edited by Eftychia Papanikolaou and Markus Rathey.

REVIEWS

“This fascinating set of essays digs deep into the complexities of religion’s intertwining with music during an era when so many fundamental questions about the human condition were being thrown to the surface and debated. A rich feast indeed.”

- Jeremy Begbie

Duke University

“Sacred and Secular Intersections in Music of the Long Nineteenth Century is an excellently researched, written, and edited volume, with essays spanning a broad scope of topics, genres, composers, and geographic regions. The authors challenge the conception of ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’ as separate compositional and performative spheres, seeing them rather as complex categories with fluid boundaries. The volume is deeply cross-disciplinary, grounded in musicology while drawing on a wealth of other fields, including theology, liturgy, philosophy, history of religion, the politics of church and state, literature, theater, visual art, and aesthetics. It provides a valuable contribution to the field of nineteenth-century studies, both in the significant new insights it contains and in the ways it points to new avenues for future research.”

- Mark A. Peters

Trinity Christian College

“This wide-ranging collection of essays clearly demonstrates the generative potential of dialogue between musical and religious themes. The volume is fascinating, illuminating, and highly recommended!”

- Stephen A. Crist

Emory University

INTRODUCTION

Eftychia Papanikolaou and Markus Rathey

I RELIGION, MUSIC, AND THE ROMANTIC IMAGINATION

Joyce L. Irwin, “Music for the ‘Cultured Despisers’ or Religion: Schleiermacher on Singing in Church and Beyond”
Joseph E. Morgan, “The Cross and the Wanderer: From the Sacred to the Secular in the Early Nineteenth Century”
Matthew Roy, “The Sacred Looking Glass: Imaginative Children’s Music as Syncretic Nexus”

II SACRED AND SECULAR DRAMA ON THE STAGE

4. Sonja Wermager, “Reassessing Robert Schumann’s Motivations for Composing a Mass and Requiem”
5. Christopher Ruth, “Spirituality and the Fugal Topos in the Secular Dramatic Works of Robert Schumann”
6. Eftychia Papanikolau, “Hieratic Iconoclasm: Liszt Hanslick, and the Graner Festmesse”
7. Matthew Hoch, “Sacred Moments in the Secular Dramatic Works of Arthur Sullivan”

III COUNTERPOINT AND CHORALE IN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

8. Siegwart Reichwald, “Redeeming Chamber Music: Experiencing Solace in Mendelssohn’s Late Chamber Music”
9. Joshua A. Waggener, “Felix Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang: ‘Imaginary Church Music’ or a Sublime Symphony?”
10. Chiara Bertoglio, “The Italian Reception in Bach’s Keyboard Works and Passions: Intersections of the Sacred and the Secular”

IV ECHOES OF THE SACRED IN FRENCH MUSIC AFTER THE REVOLUTION

11. Callum Blackmore, “’The Habit Does Not Make the Monk’: Rethinking Anti-Clericalism in French Revolutionary Opéras-Comiques”
12. Jennifer Walker, “Biblical Boulevards: Sounding the Ralliement on Parisian Popular Stages”
13. Megan Sarno, “Debussy’s Religion of Art in His Trois mélodies de Verlaine”

V SACRED SONGS AND MEMORY IN NORTH AMERICAN MUSIC

14. James A. Davis, “’Old 100th,’ Militarization, and Nostalgia during the American Civil War”
15. Thomas J. Kernan, “Mourning, Judgment, and Resurrection: Christian Imagery in Reconstruction Sheet Music”
16. Markus Rathey, “Spirituals Share the Stage with Mozart and Beethoven: The Germany Tour of the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1877/78 and the Responses of the German Press”

VI MUSIC, RITE, AND IDENTITY IN EASTERN EUROPE AND RUSSIA

17. Bogumila Mika, “Veiled Allusions to the Sacred: Secular Music during the Partitions of Poland”
18. Barbara Swanson, “Futurist Constructions of the Sacred: The Ballets Russes, Liturgie, and the Problem of a Musical Score”
19. David Salkowski, “(Re)constructing Medieval Rus’ in Kastalsky’s Furnace Rite”