Overview

Performing Arts in Changing Societies is a detailed exploration of genre development within the fields of dance, theatre, and opera in selected European countries during the decades before and after 1800. An introductory chapter outlines the theoretical and ideological background of genre thinking in Europe, starting from antiquity. A further fourteen chapters cover the performing genres as they developed in England, France, Germany, and Austria, and follow the dissemination and adaptation of the corresponding genres in minor and major cities in the Nordic countries. With a strong emphasis on the role that pragmatic and contextual factors had in defining genres, the book examines such subjects as the dancing masters in Christiania (Oslo), circa 1800, the repertory and travels of an itinerant acrobat and his wife in Norway in the 1760s, and the influence of Enlightenment ideas on bourgeois drama in Denmark. Including detailed analyses in the light of material, political, and social factors, this is a valuable resource for scholars and researchers in the fields of musicology, opera studies, and theatre and performance studies.

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9781032236063

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What struck me as the real common denominator - at least of what I thought were the most interesting contributions - is a reliance on approaches drawn from Cultural Studies, which has led to investigations of amateur practices and itinerant performers, often drawing on original archival research. This marks a refreshing departure from the traditional writing of music and theatre history in the Nordic countries, which for a long time was focused exclusively on national repertoires and artists, often structured around simplistic labels such as 'classicism', 'enlightenment', 'pre-romanticism', 'realism', etc. Though the present volume is not entirely free from the old periodizing, the latter has become laudably secondary. Swedish Journal of Music Research, Volume 103, 2021

Author Information

Randi Margrete Selvik is Emeritus Professor in Musicology, Department of Music, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim. Svein Gladsø is Emeritus Professor in Theatre Studies, Department of Art and Media Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim. Anne Margrete Fiskvik is Professor, Programme for Dance Studies, Department of Musicology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim.

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