Chapter 55 Part Two Results Chapter Fourteen Art 1

There will always be a fashionable interest: interest in driving the mail coach—interest in playing Hamlet—interest in philosophical lectures—interest in miracles—interest in simplicity—interest in splendor—interest in Sombre interests—interests in tenderness—interests in cruelty—interests in bandits—interests in ghosts—interests in devils—interests in French dancers and Italian singers and German beards and tragedy —interest in enjoying country life in November and wintering in London—interest in shoemaking—interest in visiting scenic spots—interest in interest itself, or in essays on interest . . .

—T.L. Peacock, Melincourt (1816) Compared with the wealth of the country, there are so few buildings in England that can be called famous... so little money is invested in museums, paintings, gems, curios, palaces, theaters, or other things that cannot be duplicated!Both foreign tourists and the writers of our own periodicals often take this aspect, which is the chief basis of a great power, as evidence of our inferiority. —S. Laing, Notes of a Traveler on the Social and Political Conditions of France, Prussia, Switzerland, Italy, and Other Parts of Europe, 1842 1 The first thing that strikes anyone who tries to survey the general picture of artistic development during the period of the Dual Revolution is its flourishing condition.One includes Beethoven and Schubert, Goethe mature and old, Dickens young, Dostoievski, Verdi and Wagner, Mozart ), and half a century of the life or most of the lives of Goya, Pushkin, and Balzac, not to mention a large number of men who would be giants in any other group of people, this half century The century rivals any period of a similar period in world history.Much of this extraordinary performance is due to the revival of the various arts, which attracted large, cultured publics in virtually all European countries that possessed them. (The arts of non-European civilizations are not considered here unless they were affected by the Dual Revolution, which in this period was hardly affected.)

Instead of harassing the reader with a long list, perhaps it would be better to randomly pick some cross-sections of this entire period to illustrate the breadth and depth of this cultural renaissance.For example, between 1789 and 1801, citizens who were interested in artistic innovation could enjoy the English Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Kirzing, Goethe, Schiller, Jean Paul ( Jean Paul and Novalis in German, at the same time, you can also hear Haydn's oratorio "Genesis" and opera "Four Seasons", as well as Beethoven's first and second symphonies. A string quartet.During these years, JL David completed his "Portrait of Madame Hercamier" and Goya his "Portrait of the Family of King Charles IV".Between 1824 and 1826 they may have read several novels in English by Walter Scott, poetry in Italian by Leopardi, and The Marriage Contract by Manzoni in Italian. Promessi Sposi, the French poems of Victor Hugo and Pooh, and, if you are lucky, an early part of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin in Russian, and new adaptations of ancient Scandinavian legends.Beethoven's "Choral Symphony", Schubert's "Death and the Maiden", Chopin's first work, Weber's "Oberon", Delacroix's painting "Isle of Chia" The Massacre of the 1990s and Constable's The Hay Wagon, also from this period. Ten years later (1834-1836), literature produced Gogol's Inspector-General and Pushkin's Oueen of Spades; in France Balzac's and Musset, Hugo, Theophile Gautier, Pooh, Lamartine, Alexander Dumas the Elder, etc.; in Germany produced Buechner, Gera Grabbe, Heine, etc.; in Austria, Grillprazer and Nestro; in Denmark, Hans Anderson; in Poland, Mickie Welch's Pan Tadeusz; in Finland the first edition of the national epic Kalerala; in England produced the volumes of Browning and Wordsworth .The music scene offered operas by Bellini and Donizetti in Italy, Glinka in Russia and others.Constable painted in England, Caspar David Friedrich in Germany.In the year or two before and after 1834-1836, we can read Dickens's (Pockwick Papers), Carlyle's "French Revolution", Goethe's "Faust" Part II, Platen, Eichendor poetry by Eichendorff and Morike, important works of Flemish and Hungarian literature, and further publications by leading French, Polish and Russian authors; for music hear Schumann (Schumann) "The League of David" and Berlioz (Berlioz).

From these casual examples, two things are evident.The first is the unusually wide spread of artistic achievement in these countries.This is a brand new phenomenon.In the first half of the 19th century, Russian literature and music suddenly became a world trend; American literature, although dwarfed by comparison, was followed by Cooper (Fenimore Cooper, 1787-1851), Edgar Allan Poe (Edgar Allan Poe, 1809-1849) and May The emergence of Herman Melville (1819-1891) also demonstrated a worldwide force.The same goes for the literature and music of Poland and Hungary, as well as the folk songs, fairy tales and epic poems of the Nordic and Balkan countries.Moreover, in several newly created literary cultures, the achievements are not only immediately obvious but also wonderful. For example, Pushkin is still the first-class Russian poet, Mickiewicz is the great Polish poet, Petofi (1823- 1849) is the Hungarian national poet.

The second obvious fact is the extraordinary development of certain arts and styles of art.Literature is a suitable example, and in literature, the novel is the most prominent.Perhaps never before in history has such a large group of immortal novelists gathered together in just half a century: Stendhal and Balzac in France, Jane Austen, Dickens, Thackeray and Brown in England. the Brontes, the Russian Gogols, the young Dostoevsky and Turgenev (Tolstoy's first work appeared in the 1850s).Music is arguably an even more compelling example.Even today, the general concert repertoire still relies heavily on composers active in this period - Mozart and Haydn (although they actually belonged to the previous period), Beethoven and Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann , Chopin and Liszt.The "classical" period of instrumental music was mainly achieved in Germany and Austria alone, but opera flourished more widely and perhaps more successfully than any other musical form: in Italy there were Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and the young Verdi, in Germany there was Weber and the young Wagner (not to mention Mozart's last two operas), in Russia there was Glinka, and a few lesser figures in France.Visual arts, on the other hand, performed slightly less well, with the exception of painting.It is generally accepted that among the great Spanish artists who appeared intermittently, Goya of this period ranks among the most outstanding painters of all time.It might be argued that English painting (thanks to J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) and Constable) reached the zenith of its achievements at this stage, and was slightly more original than The eighteenth century, of course, was therefore more internationally influential than before and since; it might be argued that French painting of this period (due to David, J-L Gericault, 1791-1824). Ingres [JD Ingres , 1780-1867], Delacroix, Daumier (Honore Daumier, 1808-1879) and the young Courbet (Gustave Courbet, 1819-1877) appearance) like all the outstanding paintings in its history outstanding.Italian painting, on the other hand, was virtually at the end of its centuries-old splendor, and German painting lagged far behind the singular achievements of Germany's literature or music, or its own incomparable achievements in the sixteenth century.In all countries the achievement of sculpture was markedly inferior to that of the eighteenth century, and the same was true of architecture, though some notable works appeared in Germany and Russia.In fact, the greatest architectural achievement of the period was undoubtedly the work of engineers.

Regardless of the period, the factors that determine the rise and fall of various arts remain unclear.However, there is no doubt that during the period 1789-1848, the answer must first be found in the impact of the dual revolution.If we want to use a misleading sentence to summarize the relationship between artists and society in this era, we can say that the French Revolution inspired them by its own example, and the Industrial Revolution awakened them by its horrors, and it was born of these two revolutions. The capitalist society has changed their own living conditions and creative methods.

There is no doubt that artists of this period were directly motivated by and involved in public affairs.Mozart wrote a propaganda opera (The Magic Flute, 1790) for a highly political Masonic ceremony, Beethoven dedicated the Eroica Symphony to Napoleon, heir to the French Revolution, and Goethe was at least one An influential politician and civil servant.Dickens wrote several novels attacking social ills, and Dostyevsky was almost sentenced to death for his revolutionary activities in 1849.Wagner and Goya were put into political exile, Pushkin was punished for his involvement with the Decembrists, and Balzac's Comedy Humane had become a monument to social awakening.Nothing is more untrue than to portray creative artists as "neutral."Those tasteful decorators of rococo palaces, of boudoirs, or purveyors of collections for English gentlemen, represent an art of precisely the sort that is in decline: how many of us remember Fragonard ( Fragonard) lived 17 years after the Revolution?Even music, apparently the most apolitical of the arts, is closely tied to politics.Perhaps only at this time in history has opera been written as a political statement or used to inspire revolution. (In addition to The Magic Flute, we can also cite Verdi's early operas, which were popular for expressing Italian nationalism; La Muette de Portici] sparked the Belgian Revolution of 1830; Glinka's A Life the Tsar, and "national operas" such as Hungary's Hunyady Laszlo , both still feature in the local repertoire for their association with early nationalism.)

The link between public affairs and the arts of all kinds is especially strong in countries where national consciousness and national liberation or unification movements are developing (see Chapter 7).In Germany, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Scandinavia and other countries, the Renaissance or birth of this period is related to the maintenance of the national language and the cultural supremacy of the national people against the use of foreign languages. It is clearly no accident that it coincides with the assertion of a cosmopolitan aristocratic culture—indeed it is often the first expression of this assertion.Naturally, such nationalism finds its most obvious cultural expression in literature and music, both forms of popular art, and capable of absorbing the powerful creative heritage of the people in general—language and folk song.It is also understandable that the categories of art—architecture and sculpture, and, to a lesser extent, painting—that traditionally depended on established ruling classes, courts, and government commissions reflected less of these nationalized revivals. (A lack of a sufficiently literate and politically aware population in much of Europe limited the availability of new and reproducible arts such as lithography. However, great revolutionary artists in this and similar media Outstanding achievements—for example, Goya's Disasters of War and Rhapsody, Blake's illustrations, and Daumier's engravings and newspaper cartoons—demonstrate how attractive these means of propaganda were.) Italian opera, as a popular art rather than a court art, flourished unprecedentedly; but at the same time, Italian painting and architecture declined.Of course we should not forget that these emerging national cultures are still limited to a small number of educated middle and upper classes.With the possible exception of Italian opera and the art of reproducible engraving, and some shorter poems or songs, there were no major artistic achievements of this period that were accessible to the illiterate or the poor, in large-scale national or Most of Europe's inhabitants were almost certainly unaware of these artistic achievements until political campaigns transformed them into common symbols.Of course, literature was always the most widely disseminated, though still largely confined to the emerging middle classes that were forming, who provided a particularly popular market (especially among women at leisure) for novels and long narrative poems.Successful writers seldom enjoyed relatively greater fortunes than during this period: Byron received £2,600 for the first three cantos of his Childe Harold.Although theater is more restricted in society, it also has tens of thousands of audiences.Concert music has not been so lucky, except in capitalist countries such as England and France and culture-hungry countries such as the Americas, where large public concerts have become quite common (hence, Several continental European composers and performers had their eyes firmly on the lucrative British market, if nothing else).Elsewhere, the field was still dominated by court musicians, sponsored concerts maintained by a small number of local nobles, or by private and amateur performances.Paintings, of course, were destined to belong to private buyers, and after their initial presentation at public exhibitions for sale or private buyers, paintings disappeared from view, although such public exhibitions had become customary.During this period, museums and galleries established or open to the public (for example, the Louvre and the British Museum, opened in 1826), displayed art from the past rather than contemporary art.Etchings, engravings, and lithographs, on the other hand, are ubiquitous because they are cheap.Of course, architecture still primarily works for private or public commissions (with the exception of a certain amount of speculative residential construction).