Overview

Considered one of the greatest composers-and music critics-of the Romantic era, Robert Schumann (1810-1856) played an important role in shaping nineteenth-century German ideas about virtuosity. Forging his career in the decades that saw abundant public fascination with the feats and creations of virtuosos (Liszt, Paganini, and Chopin among others), Schumann engaged with instrumental virtuosity through not only his compositions and performances but also his music reviews and writings about his contemporaries. Ultimately, the discourse of virtuosity influenced the culture of Western ""art music"" well beyond the nineteenth century and into the present day. By examining previously unexplored archival sources, Alexander Stefaniak looks at the diverse approaches to virtuosity Schumann developed over the course of his career, revealing several distinct currents in nineteenth-century German virtuosity and the enduring flexibility of virtuosity discourse.

Full Product Details

Author:   Alexander Stefaniak
Publisher:   Indiana University Press
Imprint:   Indiana University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.544kg
ISBN:  

9780253021991

ISBN 10:   0253021995
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   19 September 2016
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction: The Virtuosity Discourse Part I: Schumann and the Piano Virtuosity of the 1830s Part I Introduction 1. Florestan among the Revelers: Postclassical Virtuosity and Schumann's Critique of Pleasure 2. Florestan's Wine, Clara Wieck's Spirit: Postclassical Virtuosity and Poetic Interiority 3. Poetic Showpieces in the Cultivated Salon 4. Virtuosity and the Rhetoric of the Sublime Part II: The Virtuoso on Mount Parnassus: Schumann and the Culture of the Work Concept Part II Introduction 5. Steps to Parnassus? Schumann's Equivocal Work Concept 6. Festivals of the Virtuoso Priesthood: Collaborating with Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim Epilogue List of Endnote Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

Schumann's Virtuosity is thoughtfully organized and loosely chronological, with in-depth, elegant analyses of relevant examples. * Nineteenth-Century Music Review * This is a fascinating look into the more abstract aspects of 19th-century musical attitudes and how it has fueled long standing conversations on the value of poetic interiority over overt technical virtuosity. * American Music Teacher * It is refreshing to read a contemporary scholarly book that embraces aesthetics so forcefully without resorting to identity politics and deconstructive modes of discourse that have all but remove aesthetics as a category of musicological research. . . . Recommended. * Choice *

It is refreshing to read a contemporary scholarly book that embraces aesthetics so forcefully without resorting to identity politics and deconstructive modes of discourse that have all but remove aesthetics as a category of musicological research. . . . Recommended. * Choice *

Author Information

Alexander Stefaniak is Assistant Professor of Musicology at Washington University in Saint Louis.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions