This book tells three inter-related stories that radically alter our perspective on plainchant reform at the turn of the twentieth century and highlight the value of liturgical music history to our understanding of French government anticlericalism. It offers at once a new history of the rise of the Benedictines of Solesmes to official dominance over Catholic editions of plainchant worldwide, a new optic on the French liturgical publishing industry during a period of international crisis for the publication of plainchant notation, and an exploration of how, both despite and because of...

This collection of essays has been written by thirteen scholars, from five countries. It focuses on the musical activities of Hector Berlioz, viewed as a European phenomenon. The first part of the book discusses Berlioz s journeys to Breslau (1846), to Moscow and St Petersburg (1847 and 1867-68), and to London (especially in 1847 and 1853). In particular, the reception of Berlioz s music is placed under scrutiny. The second part of the book starts with a new history of the recitatives that Berlioz wrote for Weber s Der Freischutz, as they were used in Paris (1841, 1850), Berlin (1849),...