The singing bourgeois : songs of the Victorian drawing room and parlour / Derek B. Scott.
| Author/creator | Scott, Derek B. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Milton Keynes, [England] ; Philadelphia : Open University Press, 1989. |
| Description | xiv, 242 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Subjects |
| Series | Popular music in Britain Popular music in Britain. ^A281097 |
| Contents | The foundations of the drawing-room genre -- The growth of the market for domestic music -- The rise of the woman ballad composer -- Cultural assimilation -- Sacred songs -- Promoters, publishers, and professional performers -- A best-selling formula? -- Nationalism and imperialism -- Hegemony -- Continuity and change -- Glossary of musical terms used in the text. |
| Abstract | The remarkable variety of musical forms and styles of song performed in Victorian middle-class homes has been obscured by terms like 'parlour song' and 'drawing-room ballad', which suggest an easily-categorized genre. Yet English operatic airs, blackface minstrel songs and re-worked 'traditional airs' were all sung with equal relish in the drawing-room. Nevertheless, the 'popular songs' of the bourgeoisie of this period do share a distinctive character which had its origin in the eighteenth century. After tracing the source of this character and looking briefly at the early music market, this book deals with developments which took place before the music industry's period of rapid growth post-1870, such as the rise of the woman composer, the assimilation of Afro-American and Celtic cultures, and the emergence of a new category of 'sacred song'. There follows a consideration of the later music market, the increasing professionalization of music, and the hunt for a formula which could guarantee a song's commercial success. But in addition to providing this particularized historical analysis, the book tackles two broader questions which embrace the nineteenth century: what place do these songs occupy in the context of English nationalism and British imperialism, and what is their hegemonic function in the dissemination of bourgeois values? |
| Bibliography note | Discography: pages 222. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliography (pages 223-224) and indexes. |
| Biographical note | "Derek Scott teaches for the Open University, the University of Hull and the Workers' Educational Association. He has long been interested in the Victorian drawing-room repertoire and frequently gives self-accompanied ballad entertainments. The foundations of the present book were laid when he was called upon to script and perform two series of programmes for BBC local radio."--Back cover. |
| LCCN | 88019625 |
| ISBN | 0335152910 : |
| ISBN | 0335152961 (pbk.) : |
| ISBN | 9780335152964 (pbk.) |