Between the waning of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Enlightenment; many fundamental aspects of human behaviour - from expressions of gender to the experience of time - underwent radical changes. While some of these transformations were recorded in words; others have survived in non-verbal cultural media; notably the visual arts; poetry; theatre; music; and dance. Structures of Feeling in Seventeenth-Century Cultural Expression explores how artists made use of these various cultural forms to grapple with human values in the increasingly heterodox world of the 1600s.Essays from prominent historians; musicologists; and art critics examine methods of non-verbal cultural expression through the broad themes of time; motion; the body; and global relations. Together; they show that seventeenth-century cultural expression was more than just an embryonic stage within Western artistic development. Instead; the contributors argue that this period marks some of the most profound changes in European subjectivities.
#3052970 in eBooks 2013-03-24 2013-03-24File Name: B00BY5S5E8
Review
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful. An excellent introduction to a vast subjectBy F. BehrensAlthough my shelves are loaded with histories of the Broadway musical; there is always room for one more. So I really looked forward to reading "The Cambridge Companion to The Musical" (Cambridge University Press; 2002). When I saw there were only 265 pages of text (not counting bibliography and index); I doubted that they could adequately cover the field. Soon I began to realize that the "field" included American and British musicals; film musicals and film versions of stage musicals; and even recordings; and I just settled down to enjoy what amounts to a series of essays covering all these fields; none of them adequately but all of them interestingly. There are fourteen chapters by various writers; organized into three parts. The first deals with "Adaptations and transformations before 1940" and includes essays on the early days of the American musical theatre in general; then in New York; operetta on both sides of the Atlantic; the Afro-American as depicted on stage; and the American musicals of the 1920s and 1930s. Part II covers the years from 1940 to 1970 and discusses the British theatre; Rodgers and Hammerstein; their successors; and Weill and Bernstein. Part III picks up the story with a disproportionately long chapter on Sondheim; the fully integrated musical; the film musical; rock; and the megamusical--which brings us into the present century with a lot of questions yet to be answered by way of projection. In short; there are plenty of ideas packed into this short book and each one can lead you in several directions if you wish to follow up this or that idea. There are one or two piddling errors; such as calling "Yip Yip Yaphank" an "all-sailor vaudeville"; but in general what is said here is trustworthy; the opinions (mostly positive) about certain works and composers are informed opinions; the organization is very good. The few pictures; however; are not very helpful. Yes; I would recommend this highly for those who want to begin to understand the complex evolution of the musical play by way of enough examples to form a solid basis before going on to books that deal with each of these topics in more detailed and expanded way.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Not as good as previous versionsBy Jan L.Too much information and too little analysis.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Invaluable phone Kindle holderBy John BalmeGreat little holder for phone; kindle; even the iPad.