We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. By continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Find out more

Contents

Music in the Nineteenth Century

HOW THE ACORN TOOK ROOT

Chapter:
CHAPTER 9 Slavs as Subjects and Citizens
Source:
MUSIC IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Author(s):
Richard Taruskin
How the Acorn Took Root

ex. 9-8a Furiant: “Sedlák, sedlák,” from K.J. Erben, Napevy prostonarodnich pisni ceskych (“The Tunes of Czech Peasant Songs”), no. 588

How the Acorn Took Root

ex. 9-8b Bedřich Smetana, The Bartered Bride, II, Furiant, mm. 7–14

It was the Russians (or some Russians) who at midcentury put the most faith in traditional Volkstümlichkeit as the carrier of objective, non-negotiable national character even in instrumental music. There were two reasons. First, the Russians (or some Russians) were particularly eager to form a national school in opposition to what they saw as the threat of German hegemony; and second, the arts in Russia were particularly inclined toward realism, or (in Glinka's phrase) toward the embodiment of “positive data,”14 a truth-content that required no interpretation. As we shall see, the second ideal proved quixotic: artistic content, being a human product and a social one, always requires interpretation. But even the first was fraught with ironies.

Citation (MLA):
Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 9 Slavs as Subjects and Citizens." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2024. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-009005.xml>.
Citation (APA):
Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 9 Slavs as Subjects and Citizens. In Oxford University Press, Music in the Nineteenth Century. New York, USA. Retrieved 8 Dec. 2024, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-009005.xml
Citation (Chicago):
Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 9 Slavs as Subjects and Citizens." In Music in the Nineteenth Century, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 8 Dec. 2024, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-009005.xml
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content. Please, subscribe or login to access all content.