Music Criticism in Nineteenth-Century France

This book focuses on the musical writings in the daily and periodical press in France during the nineteenth century. It covers the criticism of a wide range of Western music, explaining how composers such as Bach and Beethoven secured a permanent place in the repertory. Dr. Ellis analyzes the process of canon formation, the development of French musicology and the increasing sensitivity of critics to questions of performance practice. She also examines the inevitable conflict between commercial interest and aesthetic integrity.

This book focuses on musical writings in the daily and periodical press in France during the nineteenth century. It covers the criticism of a wide range of Western music, from c. 1580 to 1880, explaining how composers such as Bach and Beethoven secured a permanent place in the repertory. In particular, Dr Ellis considers the music journalism of the Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris, the single most important specialist periodical of the mid nineteenth century, explaining how French music criticism was influenced by aesthetic and philosophical movements. Dr Ellis analyses the process of canon formation, the development of French musicology and the increasing sensitivity of critics to questions of performance practice. Chapters on new music examine the conflict, inevitable in publishers' journals, between commercial interest and aesthetic integrity.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 274-284) and indexes.

Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Crosscurrents in early nineteenth-century criticism; 2. The rise of the specialist press from 1827; 3. Early music; 4. The Austro-German tradition I: the reception of Gluck, Haydn and Mozart; 5. The Austro-German tradition II: the reception of Beethoven; 6. The Austro-German tradition III: Weber, Schubert and Mendelssohn; 7. Contemporary music I: piano music; 8. Contemporary music II: chamber and symphonic music; 9. Contemporary music III: opera; 10. Contemporary music IV: the music of the future; 11. Contemporary music V: Berlioz; 12. Conclusion; Appendix 1. Principal contributors to the Gazette; Appendix 2. Personalia; Appendix 3. Contes, nouvelles, dialogues and other short literature in Schlesinger’s Gazette musicale, 1834 — 46; Appendix 4. Publishing history of the Gazette; Appendix 5. Pseudonyms and attributions; Bibliography; Index of musical works cited; General index.