Mozart's Operas and National Politics

Canon Formation in Prague from 1791 to the Present

Author: Martin Nedbal

This wide-ranging study explores how Czech and German nationalism has influenced the reception of Mozart's operas in Prague over the centuries.

This wide-ranging study explores how Czech and German nationalism influenced the reception of Mozart's operas in Prague over the centuries. It demonstrates the role of politics in the construction of the Western musical canon, revealing how both Czech and German factions in Prague used Mozart's legacy to promote their political interests.

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Summary

This wide-ranging study explores how Czech and German nationalism has influenced the reception of Mozart's operas in Prague over the centuries.

Description

As both an in-depth study of Mozart criticism and performance practice in Prague, and a history of how eighteenth-century opera was appropriated by later political movements and social groups, this book explores the reception of Mozart's operas in Prague between 1791 and the present and reveals the profound influence of politics on the construction of the Western musical canon. Tracing the links between performances of Mozart's operas and strategies that Bohemian musicians, critics, directors, musicologists, and politicians used to construct modern Czech and German identities, Nedbal explores the history of the canonization process from the perspective of a city that has often been regarded as peripheral to mainstream Western music history. Individual chapters focus on Czech and German adaptations of Mozart's operas for Prague's theaters, operatic criticism published in Prague's Czech and German journals, the work of Bohemian historians interpreting Mozart, and endeavours of cultural activists to construct monuments in recognition of the composer.

Critic Reviews

'An original, seminal, inherently fascinating, and scholastically meticulous study … enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of lists for figures, tables, and musical examples.' James A. Cox, Midwest Book Review
'… Cheng's book provides a valuable and politically sophisticated contribution to democratic theory on how to manage difference and disagreement. His role-based approach presents an extremely promising path that remains underused in democratic theory. Hanging Together illustrates the great dividends that this approach can yield in addressing some of democracy's most dire challenges.' Kevin J. Elliott, Perspectives on Politics
'Fascinating.' Larry Wolff, Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Martin Nedbal is Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Kansas. He is the author of Morality and Viennese Opera in the Age of Mozart and Beethoven (Routledge, 2016) and translator and editor of The Published Theoretical Works of Leoš Janáček (Editio Janáček, 2020).