Scholarly Abstractions: Male Singing Societies

Palant, Jonathan.  Unifying a Nation: Male Singing Societies and Part Songs in Nineteenth-Century Germany.  Doctor of Musical Arts dissertation.  Michigan State Univversity, 2007.

 

       The start of the nineteenth century marked the beginning of an emerging consciousness of German identity among certain speakers of the German language.  Culture and politics merged and began to define the conventional ethos of the German land.  Music, and specifically male singing societies, played a vital role in this movement. 

       While German literature has traditionally preoccupied historians of cultural nationalism, it was music that was of central importance in the spread of German national feeling.  Early twentieth-century German historian Heinrich von Treitschke writes, “Music became the social art of the new century, an indispensable ornament of every German festival, a genuine pride of the nation.”

       The goal of this document is to address certain social and political factors that influenced German musical culture in the nineteenth-century.  I intend to identify and explain how these attitudes and changes allowed for the creation and enormous growth of male singing societies throughout the region.

       The second part of this document contains new editions of nineteenth-century choral works representative of the male singing society tradition.  These usable editions were created using the latest notational programs and styles and have singable translations.  Accompanying each new edition is a biography of the composer and remarks on my editorial decisions. 

 

(“Scholarly Abstractions” is a feature highlighting brief abstracts from recent graduate projects in choral music.  To share your thesis abstract, contact Scott Dorsey at )