Nadia Boulanger - composer, critic, impresario and the most famous composition teacher of the twentieth century - was also a performer of international repute. Her concerts and recordings with her vocal ensemble introduced audiences on both sides of the Atlantic to unfamiliar historical works and new compositions. This book considers how gender shaped the possibilities that marked Boulanger's performing career, tracing her meteoric rise as a conductor in the 1930s to origins in the classroom and the salon. Brooks investigates Boulanger's promotion of structurally motivated performance styles, showing how her ideas on performance of historical repertory and new music relate to her teaching of music analysis and music history. The book explores the way in which Boulanger's musical practice relied upon her understanding of the historically transcendent masterwork, in which musical form and meaning are ideally joined, and shows how her ideas relate to broader currents in French aesthetics and culture.
Proposes a new approach to Nadia Boulanger's career and influence through the history of performance
Uses Boulanger as a test case to investigate the impact of modernist concepts of the musical work on performance culture
Draws upon a wide body of evidence, including unreleased recordings, annotated scores, concert programmes, unpublished letters and diaries, uncovering a range of materials previously unknown to musical scholarship.
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9781316616383
