Matthew Riley Boeken

How and why do listeners come over time to 'feel the nation' through particular musical works?

Nostalgia plays a significant role in understanding Edward Elgar's music and personal life throughout the twentieth century. It influences both the reception of his works and various artistic interpretations of his character. While some view this nostalgia as escapist and symptomatic of a problematic heritage industry in contemporary Britain, Matthew Riley's exploration offers a nuanced perspective. His analysis reveals the complexities of Elgarian nostalgia and highlights the composer's enduring cultural relevance in modern society.

The silent attentiveness expected of concert audiences is one of the most distinctive characteristics of modern Western musical culture. This is the first book properly to examine the concept of attention in the history of musical thought and its foundations in the writings of German musical commentators of the late eighteenth century. Matthew Riley examines the significant writers on the topic (Descartes, Leibniz, Wolff, Baumgarten, Rousseau, Meier, Sulzer and Forkel) and provides analytical case studies to illustrate how these perceived modes of attention shaped interpretations of music of the period.