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From concert to show business. Impresarios at the heart of international trade, 1850-1930. Laetitia Corbière. Editions Symmétrie, Symmétrie Research collection, History of the concert series. 440 pages. €38. 2023
Impresarios and concert organizers are omnipresent in the functioning of the musical world and yet little known. Laetitia Corbière does pioneering work with this work on these intermediaries who played a determining role in Europe and the Americas between 1850 and 1930.
Facts and individuals exist, but depending on how we look at them, they exist… or not. And the history of music is the demonstration of this. When we began to be interested in her, it was the concern of music lovers and musicologists, from a biographical or intellectual angle. It was only in the 1970s that the social dimension began to be the subject of research, on music and the middle class for example, and in the 1990s on the place of concerts in the 19th century. The historian Laetitia Corbière brings an additional dimension with her transnational approach, which therefore proves to be of great relevance for understanding these intermediaries who are impresarios, concert organizers and theater directors. Because they are, by their origin and their journey, particularly mobile, and just like artists, they have extended their scope of influence at the same time as the means of communication developed, trains and transatlantic liners in particular.
As surprising as it may seem, impresarios and intermediaries have left a mark in history through their autobiographies or through the research devoted to them. But who knows the American impresario Tony Pastor (1837-1908), the Viennese agent Albert Guttmann (1851-1915) or the powerful German concert organizer Hermann Wolff (1845-1902)? In France, Gabriel Astruc (1864-1938) is a more familiar name thanks to his spectacular project of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and his brilliant opening season of 1913 with the creation of the Rite of Spring.
The result of impressive, rigorous and documented research, with 400 pages of reflection and analysis, the work makes it possible to follow the development of this new profession that is the impresario both in Europe and in the States. -United. High-risk profession, which must constantly adapt to new conditions, whether it be public taste, the rise of nationalism, the development of means of transport, periods, alternately prosperous and lean economically, which alternate with the years of war, then the arrival of records and radio, which reshuffled the cards again. Reversals of fortune are a constant, almost a starting postulate. These very particular conditions played a role in the rise of Moravian Jewish families among New York impresarios in the 19th century. Max Maretzek (1821-1897), Maurice Strakosch (1825-1887) and the Grau family dominated this small environment, the explanation being found in the strong musical culture of Moravia (the most illustrious example of which is Gustav Mahler) combined with socio-economic conditions pushing one or two pioneers to open a path, into which other trusted members, families and relations then rush. France experienced this social network phenomenon with the Barcelonnettes, inhabitants of the mountain valley of Ubaye who went into exile in Mexico to make their fortune in the textile trade and department stores.
To get into this abundant book, it is advisable to start with the introduction, which allows us to understand the reality of the contribution of this publication to our knowledge of the role of impresarios, and then to refer to the conclusion, which provides a clear and precise summary. From there, all you have to do is refer to the detailed sections, the content of which is clearly announced by titles and subtitles that are always explicit.
We bet that this work will constitute the basis of many future publications, as impresarios constitute a rich and little-known theme.
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More details
From concert to show business. Impresarios at the heart of international trade, 1850-1930. Laetitia Corbière. Editions Symmétrie, Symmétrie Research collection, History of the concert series. 440 pages. €38. 2023
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2024-03-09 04:04:22
#littleknown #history #impresarios #ResMusica
