Bøker av William Weber

A bold application of the concept of "e;canonical"e; works to the development of French operatic and concert life in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.This long-awaited book by a leading historian of European music life offers a fresh reading of concert and operatic life by showing how certain musical works in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century France came to be considered "e;canonic"e;: that is, admirable and worthy of being taken as models. In a series of interlinked essays, William Weber draws particular attention to the ways in which such reputations could shift in different eras and circumstances. The first chapter outlines how such a surge of reputation came about for Jean-Baptiste Lully after his death in 1687, followed a century later by one for the operas of Christoph-Willibald Gluck and Niccolo Piccinni. Next, Beverly Wilcox contributes a crucial chapter exploring how a canon of sacred works evolved at the Concert Spirituel between 1725 and 1790. Subsequent chapters detail the rise of an "e;incipient canon"e; for Joseph Haydn's music in the 1780s; a new operatic canon centered on works of Gioachino Rossini and Giacomo Meyerbeer; a century-long canonic repertory at the theater of the Opera-Comique; and, between 1860 and 1914, frequent concert performances of excerpts from Wagner's operas, sometimes along with excerpts from Meyerbeer's. Throughout, Weber and Wilcox demonstrate how the French musical press reflected musical taste, and also shaped it, across two centuries.

The idea that the middle class arose during the 1880s is now widely accepted amongst social historians but the notion that such a social group dominated music appreciation is probably untrue. This book explores the European middle class and its role in musical life.

Tracing the evolution of musical taste in European concert programs from 1750 to 1870, William Weber demonstrates how separate worlds arose around classical music, popular songs, and opera selections. The book includes over a hundred transcriptions of programs, enabling the reader to follow the analysis in detail.

In 1812, less than forty years after breaking from Britain, the United States found itself in another war with its former colonial master. Now, during the two hundredth anniversary of the War of 1812 comes Neither Victor nor Vanquished, William Weber¿s reappraisal of this critical but frequently misunderstood conflict. In the first half of the book, Weber reexamines the war¿s military aspects, highlighting the asymmetric nature of the conflict as the world¿s foremost naval power with a credible professional army stood against an idealist republic with commercial and agricultural aspirations but without an adequate navy and army. Weber also attempts to recalibrate popular conceptions of the U.S. forces¿ generally poor performance during ¿Mr. Madison¿s War,¿ and frames the War of 1812 in the context of both the Jeffersonian Revolution that preceded the war and the accelerated territorial expansion and consolidation of the United States that eventually led to the American Civil War. The book¿s thought-provoking second half presents alternative outcomes for the War of 1812, reminding us that history is made, not predetermined. Various scenarios arise from differences in two key factors¿the quality of generalship in both armies and the direction of the Napoleonic Wars, which Britain was simultaneously fighting. Weber imagines a worst case scenario for the young republic, an ending worse than a simple military defeat. Indeed, history might have provided a different answer to Francis Scott Key¿s central question, ¿O, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave / O¿er the land of the free and the home of the brave?¿ A final what-if explores a nineteenth-century America that chooses to avoid the War of 1812 and, consequently, the rise of Andrew Jackson.