In this Book
- Proof through the Night: Music and the Great War
- Book
- 2002
- Published by: University of California Press
summary
Carols floating across no-man's-land on Christmas Eve 1914; solemn choruses, marches, and popular songs responding to the call of propaganda ministries and war charities; opera, keyboard suites, ragtime, and concertos for the left hand—all provided testimony to the unique power of music to chronicle the Great War and to memorialize its battles and fallen heroes in the first post-Armistice decade. In this striking book, Glenn Watkins investigates these variable roles of music primarily from the angle of the Entente nations' perceived threat of German hegemony in matters of intellectual and artistic accomplishment—a principal concern not only for Europe but also for the United States, whose late entrance into the fray prompted a renewed interest in defining America as an emergent world power as well as a fledgling musical culture. He shows that each nation gave "proof through the night"—ringing evidence during the dark hours of the war—not only of its nationalist resolve in the singing of national airs but also of its power to recall home and hearth on distant battlefields and to reflect upon loss long after the guns had been silenced.
Watkins's eloquent narrative argues that twentieth-century Modernism was not launched full force with the advent of the Great War but rather was challenged by a new set of alternatives to the prewar avant-garde. His central focus on music as a cultural marker during the First World War of necessity exposes its relationship to the other arts, national institutions, and international politics. From wartime scores by Debussy and Stravinsky to telling retrospective works by Berg, Ravel, and Britten; from "La Marseillaise" to "The Star-Spangled Banner," from "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" to "Over There," music reflected society's profoundest doubts and aspirations. By turns it challenged or supported the legitimacy of war, chronicled misgivings in miniature and grandiose formats alike, and inevitably expressed its sorrow at the final price exacted by the Great War. Proof through the Night concludes with a consideration of the post-Armistice period when, on the classical music front, memory and distance forged a musical response that was frequently more powerful than in wartime.
Watkins's eloquent narrative argues that twentieth-century Modernism was not launched full force with the advent of the Great War but rather was challenged by a new set of alternatives to the prewar avant-garde. His central focus on music as a cultural marker during the First World War of necessity exposes its relationship to the other arts, national institutions, and international politics. From wartime scores by Debussy and Stravinsky to telling retrospective works by Berg, Ravel, and Britten; from "La Marseillaise" to "The Star-Spangled Banner," from "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" to "Over There," music reflected society's profoundest doubts and aspirations. By turns it challenged or supported the legitimacy of war, chronicled misgivings in miniature and grandiose formats alike, and inevitably expressed its sorrow at the final price exacted by the Great War. Proof through the Night concludes with a consideration of the post-Armistice period when, on the classical music front, memory and distance forged a musical response that was frequently more powerful than in wartime.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- List of Illustrations
- pp. xi-xiv
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xv-xvi
- Introduction
- pp. 1-9
- I. PROLOGUE
- pp. 11-29
- Chapter 1. In Search of Kultur
- pp. 13-30
- II. GREAT BRITAIN
- pp. 31-49
- Chapter 2. Pomp and Circumstance
- pp. 33-46
- Chapter 3. The Old Lie
- pp. 47-60
- Chapter 4. The Symphony of the Front
- pp. 61-79
- III. FRANCE
- pp. 81-99
- Chapter 6. War and the Children
- pp. 103-121
- Chapter 7. War Games, 1914–1915
- pp. 122-139
- Chapter 8. Charades and Masquerades
- pp. 140-156
- Chapter 9. Church, State, and Schola
- pp. 157-169
- V. GERMANY-AUSTRIA
- pp. 211-229
- Chapter 12. “Dance of Death”
- pp. 213-226
- Chapter 13. “The Last Days of Mankind”
- pp. 227-241
- VI. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
- pp. 243-261
- Chapter 14. “The Yanks Are Coming”
- pp. 245-269
- Chapter 15. “Onward Christian Soldiers”
- pp. 270-281
- Chapter 16. The 100% American
- pp. 282-296
- Chapter 17. “Proof through the Night”
- pp. 297-311
- Chapter 18. “On Patrol in No Man’s Land”
- pp. 312-332
- Chapter 19. Coming of Age in America
- pp. 333-354
- VII. POST-ARMISTICE
- pp. 355-373
- Chapter 20. “Goin’ Home”
- pp. 357-371
- Chapter 22. The Persistence of Memory
- pp. 386-402
- Chapter 23. Prophecies and Alarms
- pp. 403-416
- VIII. EPILOGUE
- pp. 417-435
- Chapter 24. Unfinished Business
- pp. 419-429
- Selected Bibliography
- pp. 541-573
- List of CD Contents
- pp. 597-598
Additional Information
ISBN
9780520927896
Related ISBN(s)
9780520231580
MARC Record
OCLC
56028697
Pages
614
Launched on MUSE
2014-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No