“Music-making in a Joyous Sense”: Community and the Dangers of Modernity at Benjamin Britten's Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts
Location
King Building 323
Document Type
Presentation
Start Date
4-29-2016 4:00 PM
End Date
4-29-2016 5:15 PM
Abstract
In 1948, the composer Benjamin Britten inaugurated the Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts in the provincial British town of Aldeburgh. My research explores Britten’s attempt through the festival to combat the alienation and consumerism of modernity by creating a vividly human community based upon a shared, localized musical experience. Through amateur participation and interpersonal connection, Britten sought to affirm the social value of art in the modern era.
Recommended Citation
Hautzinger, Daniel, "“Music-making in a Joyous Sense”: Community and the Dangers of Modernity at Benjamin Britten's Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts" (04/29/16). Senior Symposium. 21.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/seniorsymp/2016/presentations/21
Major
History; Piano Performance
Advisor(s)
Alvin Chow, Piano
Annemarie Sammartino, History
Project Mentor(s)
Annemarie Sammartino, History
April 2016
“Music-making in a Joyous Sense”: Community and the Dangers of Modernity at Benjamin Britten's Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts
King Building 323
In 1948, the composer Benjamin Britten inaugurated the Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts in the provincial British town of Aldeburgh. My research explores Britten’s attempt through the festival to combat the alienation and consumerism of modernity by creating a vividly human community based upon a shared, localized musical experience. Through amateur participation and interpersonal connection, Britten sought to affirm the social value of art in the modern era.
Notes
Session III, Panel 13 - Deciphering Musical Codes: Studies of "Excess," Joy, and Jewishness
Moderator: Ben Geyer, Visiting Instructor of Music Theory
Full text thesis available here.