Karen, You are quite right about church patronage in England - always
even at its nadir (poss. 1820-70?) it was a greater patron of music than
the English court and aristocracy. But I think the point there was that
in say Germany there were many more courts and hence greater patronage
than the centralized English court which was a fair enough comment from
whoever made it. Sorry I forget who it was.
Your point about French music between Rameau/Lully and Berlioz is taken.
Indeed it helps my argument. The French had a rather torrid political
and social time of it at just about that time. Periods of such upheaval
are usually not good for mucical creativity. The British it could be
argued had their own revolution with its consequent social upheaval - the
industrial revolution. Concerning Spain, Russia, Czechoslovia (however it
was constituted at that time), Hungary, Poland etc. you might remember
that I was talking about England, a country which was, at least after
1815, the first great superpower in Europe possessing great power, wealth
and prestige which within a Renaissance-based cultural context was
supposed to deliver 'proofs' of greatness in the form of great art. The
English themselves were aware of this seeming failure and questioned it
themselves. Ann
Ann Beedell
Humanities
Griffith University, Q. Australia 4111
A.Beedell@hum.gu.edu.au