Music Makes the Nation: Nationalist Composers and Nation Building in Nineteenth-Century Europe

This book is an intellectual and cultural history of one of the most striking phenomena in all of nineteenth-century culture -- namely, the interaction of nationalism and music. Nearly all the nation-building movements that swept across Europe in that century found some of their most influential and lasting expressions through the art of nationalist composers.

The political, intellectual, and artistic story behind some of the greatest musical works of the time and the artists who created them is the book's focus. The careers and works of three composers stand at the center of the analysis: Richard Wagner in Germany, Bedrich Smetana in the Czech lands, and Edvard Grieg in Norway.

Through their political and artistic projects the book traces how nationalist composers believed music could create nations. From the role of folk sources in nationalist music, to the inspirations of landscape, language, and myth, to composers' aspirations for their music to win internaional prestige for their homeland, the book provides a comprehensive, comparative survey of music's interaction with nineteenth-century politics.

Music Makes the Nation is an essential resource for students and scholars in history and musicology, and, as a groundbreaking analysis of the socio-political functions of nationalist music, the book will be of interest to those studying nationalism and political science.