Haydn and Mozart in the Long Nineteenth Century
Parallel and Intersecting Patterns of Reception

Traces the evolving musical reputations of Haydn and Mozart, evaluating a wide range of scholarship, biography, criticism and fiction.

Simon P. Keefe (Author)

9781009254373, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 March 2023

320 pages
25 x 17.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.66 kg

“In this important book, Simon Keefe traces a compelling joint historiography of Haydn and Mozart, with a biographer's eye for detail and a chronicler's grasp of the sweep of time. Deftly navigating a rich variety of period sources, he uses a wide-angle lens to challenge monolithic tendencies in well-known “master narratives” and reveals the long nineteenth century as a vital context for understanding Haydn and Mozart today.” Jessica Waldoff, Professor of Music, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester

The first extended study of the combined reception of Haydn and Mozart in the long nineteenth century, this book generates new, holistic understandings of their musical, cultural and historical significance in the Germanic, French and Anglophone worlds. It places a wide range of written sources under the microscope, including serious and popular biographies, scholarship, musical and non-musical criticism, and a diverse body of fiction, and evaluates the impact of anniversary commemorations. Haydn and Mozart in the Long Nineteenth Century determines how reputations, images and narratives for the two composers converge, diverge, develop at different speeds, and influence one another. Countering received wisdom about Haydn's reputational decline and reassessing Mozart reception through consideration of a broad spectrum of publications, we hear Haydn and Mozart speaking to the long nineteenth century in more nuanced, powerful, and persuasive voices than previously recognized.

1. Papa and the Matador, Alive and Dead: Haydn and Mozart, 1792–1810
2. Biographical and Critical Narratives and Perspectives, 1811–1830
3. Anniversaries, Commemorations, Writings: The Developing Reputations of Haydn and Mozart, 1831–1860
4. Scholarship and Fiction in the Late Nineteenth Century, 1861–1890
5. Anniversaries in Context, 1891–1914
Epilogue: Continuity and Change.

Subject Areas: Individual composers & musicians, specific bands & groups [AVH], Music reviews & criticism [AVC], Music [AV]