{"title":"Music history with love? The hits, the cults, and the snobs","authors":"M. Frolova-Walker","doi":"10.2298/muz1927071f","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In this article I refer to a number of examples of powerful manifestations of love for music that routinely fall under the radar of music historians. One of these is the present case study: the 'tenor cult' as a prominent feature of Soviet culture in the 40s and 50s. Discouraged by the authorities and scorned by critics, it led to extravagant behaviour that may seem anomalous for such a regimented society. This potent love for both music and performer was largely female-driven, and it delivered formative, life-defining experiences for many of the participants. I test the suitability of the concept of ?the middlebrow? for analysing this phenomenon and investigate how such studies can contribute to the project of a listeneroriented music history.","PeriodicalId":30174,"journal":{"name":"Muzikologija-Musicology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Muzikologija-Musicology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2298/muz1927071f","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"MUSIC","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In this article I refer to a number of examples of powerful manifestations of love for music that routinely fall under the radar of music historians. One of these is the present case study: the 'tenor cult' as a prominent feature of Soviet culture in the 40s and 50s. Discouraged by the authorities and scorned by critics, it led to extravagant behaviour that may seem anomalous for such a regimented society. This potent love for both music and performer was largely female-driven, and it delivered formative, life-defining experiences for many of the participants. I test the suitability of the concept of ?the middlebrow? for analysing this phenomenon and investigate how such studies can contribute to the project of a listeneroriented music history.