Choral Fantasies

Rezensionen / Stimmen

'With an elegant lightness, Choral Fantasies is entirely persuasive in making us think about the chorus not as a ready-made means or compliant vessel for the communication of national or political aspirations but as an aesthetic and social imaginary associated with a German festival culture. Looking back to ancient Greece and Rome, the chorus reemerged in the music practices of the nineteenth century in a highly charged political atmosphere. This new and courageous exploration offers musically astute and politically revisionary readings of the choral works of Brahms, Liszt, and Wagner, and much more besides.' Lydia Goehr, Columbia University, New York 'Choral Fantasies is a penetrating study of the intricate workings of collective singing within the machinations of cultural nationalism in the nineteenth century. Minor draws up a carefully crafted and historically iridescent picture of changing notions of nationhood, the community and its charismatic leaders, from the cautious stirrings at the beginning of the century to the ebullient Hurrapatriotismus of the Bismarck years. With his sensitive musical observations and incisive reflections on historiography, Minor offers fascinating insights into the cultural work that choral music and choral singing performed in the nineteenth century.' Alex Rehding, Fanny Peabody Professor of Music, Harvard University, Massachusetts 'With admirable deftness, and an avoidance of the sociological or musicological jargon so often attendant upon such studies, Minor sketches a long-term shift in culture and class ...' R. J. Arnold, European History Quarterly