Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This wide-ranging contribution to the study of nationalism and the social history of music examines the relationship between choral societies and national mobilization in the nineteenth century. From Norway to the Basque country and from Wales to Bulgaria, this pioneering study explores and compares the ways choral societies influenced and reflected the development of national awareness under differing political and social circumstances. By the second half of the nineteenth century, organized communal singing became a primary leisure activity that attracted all layers of society. Though strongly patriotic in tone, choral societies borrowed from each other and relied heavily on prominent German or French models. This volume is the first to address both the national and transnational significance of choral singing.



Contributors are: Carmen De Las Cuevas Hevia, Jan Dewilde, Tomás Kavka, Anne Jorunn Kydland, Krisztina Lajosi, Joep Leerssen, Sophie-Anne Leterrier, Jane Mallinson, Tatjana Marković, Fiona M. Palmer, Karel Sima, Andreas Stynen, Dominique Vidaud, Ivanka Vlaeva, Jozef Vos, Gareth Williams, Hana Zimmerhaklová.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgements (p. vii)
• Notes on Contributors (p. viii)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• 1 German Influences Choirs, Repertoires, Nationalities (p. 14)
• 2 Choral Societies and Nationalist Mobilization in Nineteenth-Century France (p. 33)
• 3 Song in the Service of Politics and the Building of Norway (p. 53)
• 4 Choral Societies and Nationalist Mobilization in the Nineteenth Century A Scottish Perspective (p. 70)
• 5 Fighting Choirs Choral Singing and the Emergence of a Welsh National Tradition, 1860-1914 (p. 83)
• 6 The Large-Scale Oratorio Chorus in Nineteenth-Century England Choral Power and the Role of Handel's Messiah (p. 99)
• 7 National Art and Local Sociability Dutch Male Choral Societies in the Nineteenth Century (p. 111)
• 8 The Choir Scene in Flemish Belgium in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century The Vlaemsch-Duitsch Zangverbond (p. 130)
• 9 Choral Societies and Nationalist Mobilization in the Basque Country The Orfeon Donostiarra (p. 152)
• 10 Choral Societies and Nationalist Mobilization in Catalonia, 1850-1930 (p. 157)
• 11 "By Means of Singing to the Heart, by Means of Heart to the Homeland" Choral Societies and the Nationalist Mobilization of Czechs in the Nineteenth Century (p. 187)
• 12 Collapsing Stages and Standing Ovations Hungarian Choral Societies and Sociability in the Nineteenth Century (p. 206)
• 13 Choral Societies and National Mobilization in the Serbian (Inter)national Network (p. 225)
• 14 Choral Societies and National Mobilization in Nineteenth-Century Bulgaria (p. 241)
• Bibliography (p. 261)
• Index (p. 280)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Krisztina Lajosi is Assistant Professor in the Department of European Studies at the University of Amsterdam, where her Ph.D. in cultural history examined the role of operas in nation-building movements in East-Central Europe. She is the coordinator of a research project supported by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences exploring the transnational ramifications of European national styles in music.
Andreas Stynen is a researcher at the Antwerp-based ADVN - the Archives and Documentation Center for Flemish Nationalism. He obtained a Ph.D. in history from Leuven University with a study of nineteenth-century visions of nature and cities. His publications include titles on the collective memory of national movements, trans-Atlantic migration, and popular music. He is also editorial secretary of Studies on National Movements, online journal of NISE (National movements and Intermediary Structures in Europe).