Description
A study of musical salons in Europe and North America between 1760 and 1800 and the salon hostesses who shaped their musical worlds.
In eighteenth-century Europe and America, musical salons-and the women who hosted and made music in them-played a crucial role in shaping their cultural environments. Musical salons served as a testing ground for new styles, genres, and aesthetic ideals, and they acted as a mediating force, bringing together professional musicians and their audiences of patrons, listeners, and performers. For the salonniere, the musical salon offered a space between the public and private spheres that allowed her to exercise cultural agency.
In this book, musicologist and historical keyboardist Rebecca Cypess offers a broad overview of musical salons between 1760 and 1800, placing the figure of the salonniere at its center. Cypess then presents a series of in-depth case studies that meet the salonniere on her own terms. Women such as Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy in Paris, Marianna Martines in Vienna, Sara Levy in Berlin, Angelica Kauffman in Rome, and Elizabeth Graeme in Philadelphia come to life in multidimensional ways. Crucially, Cypess uses performance as a tool for research, and her interpretations draw on her experience with the instruments and performance practices used in eighteenth-century salons. In this accessible, interdisciplinary book, Cypess explores women's agency and authorship, reason and sentiment, and the roles of performing, collecting, listening, and conversing in the formation of eighteenth-century musical life.
About the Author
Rebecca Cypess is associate dean for academic affairs and associate professor of music at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. She is the author of Curious and Modern Inventions: Instrumental Music as Discovery in Galileo's Italy, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Reviews
"Women and Musical Salons in the Enlightenment is a fascinating, imaginative, and richly detailed study of musical salon culture in the late eighteenth century. As Cypess argues, while salon culture in general has been extensively explored, musical salons have not. The women at the salons' centers have often been treated as accessories to the male 'geniuses' they have supported, their own musical productions and activities ignored. But Cypess takes a fundamentally new approach, attempting to reimagine and recreate the lived musical experiences of those social spaces. This is an important and compelling book, executed with verve and authority, carefully considered and argued, and richly presented." * Annette Richards, Cornell University *
"Traditional narratives in musical historiography have tended to cast (male) genius-composers as protagonists, often overlooking the variety of influential roles played by women. This book is a much needed and timely corrective. With elegant prose that moves seamlessly from theoretical perspectives to music analysis to the author's reflection on her own performance experience, Women and Musical Salons in the Enlightenment is encyclopedic in its mastery of the relevant literature from musicology and other disciplines. Accessible and engaging to diverse readerships, this book will certainly interest scholars from a variety of fields." * Edward Klorman, McGill University *
"Few music books can be considered revelatory, but Cypess's volume earns that accolade because it exposes vital activity in 18th-century Europe (and America) that has been all but ignored by most musicians... Although the book classes as music, it will be perfectly accessible to readers beyond the music discipline. Fascinating and compelling... Essential." * Choice *
"Rebecca Cypess's second monograph. . . represents a remarkable achievement, or rather, several remarkable achievements - as an account of an elusive musical history, a feat of musical performance studies, a model of feminist historiography, and a courageous challenge to methodological limits." * Ad Parnassum *
"Cypess's own virtuosity as a musician and scholar is itself amply displayed in this elegantly written and insightful study. Her interpretations are meticulous and rely on detailed study of a wealth of primary sources as well as her own experiences as a very accomplished keyboardist. . . [An] outstanding monograph." * Austrian History Yearbook *
"Musical salons in the late 18th century, which were mostly held in private homes and hosted by accomplished women, have often been treated as "fringe events" in music histories. Rebecca Cypess, however, has put them front and center in her engaging new book. . . . The five case studies in the book provide a fascinating cross-section, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in exploring the topic. Perhaps it will even encourage performers to delve further into the musical repertory and make new connections." * Early Music America *
"This broadly conceived and exceptionally detailed work is a collection of interdependent essays that consider the musical salon during the Enlightenment period, specifically 1760-1800, as a space for music making and as praxis for understanding music making in the West. . . . [Cypress's] essays unpack the salon's role in the formation of the Enlightenment sense of selfhood, assess the intersections of gender and social status at play in these complex spaces, and track the salon's transference to the colonial US at a time of profound cultural formation." * Notes *
Book Information
ISBN 9780226817910
Author Rebecca Cypess
Format Hardback
Page Count 368
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 653g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 33mm
In eighteenth-century Europe and America, musical salons-and the women who hosted and made music in them-played a crucial role in shaping their cultural environments. Musical salons served as a testing ground for new styles, genres, and aesthetic ideals, and they acted as a mediating force, bringing together professional musicians and their audiences of patrons, listeners, and performers. For the salonniere, the musical salon offered a space between the public and private spheres that allowed her to exercise cultural agency.
In this book, musicologist and historical keyboardist Rebecca Cypess offers a broad overview of musical salons between 1760 and 1800, placing the figure of the salonniere at its center. Cypess then presents a series of in-depth case studies that meet the salonniere on her own terms. Women such as Anne-Louise Brillon de Jouy in Paris, Marianna Martines in Vienna, Sara Levy in Berlin, Angelica Kauffman in Rome, and Elizabeth Graeme in Philadelphia come to life in multidimensional ways. Crucially, Cypess uses performance as a tool for research, and her interpretations draw on her experience with the instruments and performance practices used in eighteenth-century salons. In this accessible, interdisciplinary book, Cypess explores women's agency and authorship, reason and sentiment, and the roles of performing, collecting, listening, and conversing in the formation of eighteenth-century musical life.
About the Author
Rebecca Cypess is associate dean for academic affairs and associate professor of music at the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. She is the author of Curious and Modern Inventions: Instrumental Music as Discovery in Galileo's Italy, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Reviews
"Women and Musical Salons in the Enlightenment is a fascinating, imaginative, and richly detailed study of musical salon culture in the late eighteenth century. As Cypess argues, while salon culture in general has been extensively explored, musical salons have not. The women at the salons' centers have often been treated as accessories to the male 'geniuses' they have supported, their own musical productions and activities ignored. But Cypess takes a fundamentally new approach, attempting to reimagine and recreate the lived musical experiences of those social spaces. This is an important and compelling book, executed with verve and authority, carefully considered and argued, and richly presented." * Annette Richards, Cornell University *
"Traditional narratives in musical historiography have tended to cast (male) genius-composers as protagonists, often overlooking the variety of influential roles played by women. This book is a much needed and timely corrective. With elegant prose that moves seamlessly from theoretical perspectives to music analysis to the author's reflection on her own performance experience, Women and Musical Salons in the Enlightenment is encyclopedic in its mastery of the relevant literature from musicology and other disciplines. Accessible and engaging to diverse readerships, this book will certainly interest scholars from a variety of fields." * Edward Klorman, McGill University *
"Few music books can be considered revelatory, but Cypess's volume earns that accolade because it exposes vital activity in 18th-century Europe (and America) that has been all but ignored by most musicians... Although the book classes as music, it will be perfectly accessible to readers beyond the music discipline. Fascinating and compelling... Essential." * Choice *
"Rebecca Cypess's second monograph. . . represents a remarkable achievement, or rather, several remarkable achievements - as an account of an elusive musical history, a feat of musical performance studies, a model of feminist historiography, and a courageous challenge to methodological limits." * Ad Parnassum *
"Cypess's own virtuosity as a musician and scholar is itself amply displayed in this elegantly written and insightful study. Her interpretations are meticulous and rely on detailed study of a wealth of primary sources as well as her own experiences as a very accomplished keyboardist. . . [An] outstanding monograph." * Austrian History Yearbook *
"The strength of the book lies in Cypess's engagement with recent scholarship. . . Cypess's
exploration of music history from a social and cultural perspective opens the door to new ways of thinking about the past. Cypess's analysis of the established historical narrative only adds to the enjoyment of the book. This book is recommended to anyone interested in a fresh perspective on the history of classical music."
"Musical salons in the late 18th century, which were mostly held in private homes and hosted by accomplished women, have often been treated as "fringe events" in music histories. Rebecca Cypess, however, has put them front and center in her engaging new book. . . . The five case studies in the book provide a fascinating cross-section, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in exploring the topic. Perhaps it will even encourage performers to delve further into the musical repertory and make new connections." * Early Music America *
"This broadly conceived and exceptionally detailed work is a collection of interdependent essays that consider the musical salon during the Enlightenment period, specifically 1760-1800, as a space for music making and as praxis for understanding music making in the West. . . . [Cypress's] essays unpack the salon's role in the formation of the Enlightenment sense of selfhood, assess the intersections of gender and social status at play in these complex spaces, and track the salon's transference to the colonial US at a time of profound cultural formation." * Notes *
Book Information
ISBN 9780226817910
Author Rebecca Cypess
Format Hardback
Page Count 368
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 653g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 33mm
