In message <199505232034.AA10106@mail1.access.digex.net> H-Net British and Irish
History List writes:
> For the period 1760-1790+, of course, "new" music really lacked royal
> patronage (as George III still prefered "Handalesque"). But I agree with
> you -- I can't really see why that would have stunted the whole culture for
> over 100 years, leaving music to foreigners, amateurs, and the Church.
This presumption that the Church is somehow a lesser patron of the arts than the
monarchy is really quite ridiculous given that, until the Reformation, the
Church was the *only* patron of the arts of any note, and remained at least as
significant a patron in France and Italy for several centuries afterwards.
Ridiculous also because one *never* questions or denigrates Johann Sebastian
Bach's or Antonio Vivaldi's works because they were produced under patronage of
the Church rather than some secular patron.
As for the 100 year "lull" in English music, I would suggest that a similar lull
occurred in France (name one French work of note written between the active
years of Rameau/Lully in the 17th Century and those of Berlioz in the mid-19th),
and that more significantly, *nothing* of note in Western classical musical
terms emerged from Russia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, or Poland *until* the 19th
Century. Meanwhile, in Spain the lull between Mudarra and Sanz in the 16th and
17th Centuries and Albeniz and Tarrega in the latter half of the 19th was
significantly greater than that between Henry Purcell (late 17th Century) and
G.F. Handel (first half of the 18th) or between Handel and Thomas Moore (late
18th) in Britain -- and the former in a country where the Church was still a
predominant cultural force. Even Italy has had its lull, ie, what music of note
has been written in Italy since Puccini?
Karen Mercedes
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| The English patient was discussing the unfortunate |
| life of Lorenz Hart. Some of his best lyrics to |
| "Manhattan", he claimed, had been changed and he now |
| broke into those verses: |
| "We'll bathe at Brighton; / The fish we'll frighten |
| When we're in. / Your bathing suit so thin |
| Will make the shellfish grin / Fin to fin." |
| "Splendid lines, and erotic, but Richard Rodgers,|
| one suspects, wanted more dignity." |
| -- Michael Ondaatje, THE ENGLISH PATIENT |
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