{"title":"Constructing a Versatile Virtuoso Persona","authors":"Peng Liu","doi":"10.1525/jm.2023.40.1.73","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"German pianist Anna Caroline de Belleville was one of the foremost virtuoso pianists in the 1820s and 1830s, deemed the “Chamber Virtuoso of Her Royal Highness” by Princess Louise of Prussia and “Queen of the Piano” by Paganini. Although a few modern biographical accounts provide an overview of her life and career, there has been no critical examination of her virtuosity within the context of early nineteenth-century performance culture. Drawing on periodicals, magazines, correspondence, memoirs, and contemporary writings, this article reconstructs Belleville’s early career and illustrates her significance by examining her strategic programming, pianism, and reception. I argue that Belleville’s reorientation of her public concert repertory in the mid-1830s, particularly her incorporation of works considered “classical” or “serious,” enabled her to mediate the conflicting musical tastes of her critics and audiences, and to reinvent herself as a pianist renowned not for a bravura style but for a versatile, eclectic virtuosity centering on the faithful interpretation of “serious” works. This course of action marked Belleville as a significant forerunner to the interpreter-performer pianists who came to dominate the virtuoso scene from the mid-nineteenth century onward.","PeriodicalId":44168,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"JOURNAL OF MUSICOLOGY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1525/jm.2023.40.1.73","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"艺术学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"MUSIC","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
German pianist Anna Caroline de Belleville was one of the foremost virtuoso pianists in the 1820s and 1830s, deemed the “Chamber Virtuoso of Her Royal Highness” by Princess Louise of Prussia and “Queen of the Piano” by Paganini. Although a few modern biographical accounts provide an overview of her life and career, there has been no critical examination of her virtuosity within the context of early nineteenth-century performance culture. Drawing on periodicals, magazines, correspondence, memoirs, and contemporary writings, this article reconstructs Belleville’s early career and illustrates her significance by examining her strategic programming, pianism, and reception. I argue that Belleville’s reorientation of her public concert repertory in the mid-1830s, particularly her incorporation of works considered “classical” or “serious,” enabled her to mediate the conflicting musical tastes of her critics and audiences, and to reinvent herself as a pianist renowned not for a bravura style but for a versatile, eclectic virtuosity centering on the faithful interpretation of “serious” works. This course of action marked Belleville as a significant forerunner to the interpreter-performer pianists who came to dominate the virtuoso scene from the mid-nineteenth century onward.
期刊介绍:
The widely-respected Journal of Musicology enters its third decade as one of few comprehensive peer-reviewed journals in the discipline, offering articles in every period, field and methodology of musicological scholarship. Its contributors range from senior scholars to new voices in the field. Its reach is international, with recent articles by authors from North America, Europe and Australia, and circulation to individuals and libraries throughout the world.