Title Music, pantomime and freedom in enlightenment France / Hedy Law

Published Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK : The Boydell Press, 2020

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Description 1 online resource (xvii, 265 pages) : music Contents List of musical examples -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- List of abbreviations -- Notes on text -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Bacchic freedom -- Chapter 2. Freedom from an evil spell -- Chapter 3. Things that move -- Chapter 4. Things that walk -- Chapter 5. When humans dance like atoms -- Epilogue -- Select bibliography -- Index Summary "This book explains the relationships between music, pantomime and freedom in pre-Revolutionary France. It argues that composers and performers recognized their agency when they attempted, from the 1730s through the end of the Old Regime, to revive a lost art called 'pantomime' for their compositions. In musical settings of pantomimes in French operas and instrumental works, leading composers of the time - Rameau, Rousseau, Gluck, and Salieri - used pantomime as a type of expressive dance and acting style that marked an aesthetic rupture between Louis XIV's absolutist governance and the Enlightenment ideals of free expression. In musical settings of pantomime, these composers cultivated various forms of freedom theorized in Enlightenment writings : artistic freedom for the composer ; freedom as self-governance ; interpretive freedom for spectators ; freedom of action for performers ; and freedom from dance convention. Thus, pantomime was not only a dance genre ; it also functioned as an expressive medium for top performers and invited spectators to draw their own interpretative conclusions. Placing the cultural phenomenon of pantomime in the intellectual context of the Enlightenment, the book explains how composers helped develop thinking and feeling subjects in pre-Revolutionary France."--taken from back cover Analysis Composers Cultural Expression Enlightenment France Enlightenment Ideals Expression Freedom Music Pantomime Performers Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Music -- Political aspects -- France -- History -- 18th century Pantomime -- Political aspects -- France -- History -- 18th century Freedom of expression -- France Enlightenment -- France -- History -- 18th century Classical music (c 1750 to c 1830) Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900. French Revolution. MUSIC -- Genres & Styles -- Classical. HISTORY -- Modern -- 18th Century. Freedom of expression Enlightenment Music -- Political aspects France Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9781787449374 1787449378

Other Titles Music, pantomime & freedom in enlightenment France

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