Brahms in the Priesthood of Art - Gender and Art Religion in the Nineteenth-Century German Musical Imagination (Hardcover)

Brahms in the Priesthood of Art: Gender and Art Religion in the Nineteenth-Century German Musical Imagination explores the intersection of gender, art religion (Kunstreligion) and other aesthetic currents in Brahms reception of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, it focuses on the theme of the self-sacrificing musician devoted to his art, or "priest of music," with its quasi-mystical and German Romantic implications of purity seemingly at odds with the lived reality of Brahms's bourgeois existence. While such German Romantic notions of art religion informed the thinking on musical purity and performance, after the failed socio-political revolutions of 1848/49, and in the face of scientific developments, the very concept of musical priesthood was questioned as outmoded. Furthermore, its essential gender ambiguity, accommodating such performing mothers as Clara Schumann and Amalie Joachim, could suit the bachelor Brahms but leave the composer open to speculation. Supportive critics combined elements of masculine and feminine values with a muddled rhetoric of prophets, messiahs, martyrs, and other art-religious stereotypes to account for the special status of Brahms and his circle. Detractors tended to locate these stereotypes in a more modern, fin-de-siecle psychological framework that questioned the composer's physical and mental well-being. In analyzing these receptions side by side, this book revises the accepted image of Brahms, recovering lost ambiguities in his reception. It resituates him not only in a romanticized priesthood of art, but also within the cultural and gendered discourses overlooked by the absolute music paradigm.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	March 2021
Authors:	Laurie McManus (Associate Professor of Music History and Literature)
Dimensions:	244 x 165 x 24mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover - Cloth over boards
Pages:	288
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-008327-4
Categories:	Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Theory of music & musicology > General Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Western music, periods & styles > Romantic music (c 1830 to c 1900) Books > Humanities > History > European history > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Gender studies > General Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious experience > General Books > History > European history > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious experience > General Books > Music > Theory of music & musicology > General Books > Music > Western music, periods & styles > Romantic music (c 1830 to c 1900) Promotions
LSN:	0-19-008327-1
Barcode:	9780190083274

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