Relevance and Marginalisation in Scandinavian and European Performing Arts 1770–1860: Questioning Canons

301 Pages·2020·59.641 MB·English

by  Randi Margrete Selvik, Svein Gladsø, Annabella Skagen

Relevance and Marginalisation

in Scandinavian and European
Performing Arts 1770– 1860
Relevance and Marginalisation in Scandinavian and European Performing Arts 1770–
1860: Questioning Canons reveals how various cultural processes have influenced
what has been included, and what has been marginalised from canons of
European music, dance, and theatre around the turn of the nineteenth century
and the following decades.
This collection of essays includes discussion of the piano repertory for young
ladies in England; canonisation of the French minuet; marginalisation of the
popular German dramatist Kotzebue from the dramatic canon; dance repertory
and social life in Christiania (Oslo); informal cultural activities in Trondheim;
repertory of Norwegian musical clocks; female itinerant performers in the
Nordic sphere; preconditions, dissemination, and popularity of equestrian
drama; marginalisation and amateur staging of a Singspiel by the renowned
Danish playwright Oehlenschläger, also with perspectives on the music and its
composers; and the perceived relevance of Henrik Ibsen’s staged theatre reper-
tory and early dramas.
By questioning established notions about canon, marginalisation, and rele-
vance within the performing arts in the period 1770–1 860, this book asserts
itself as an intriguing text both to the culturally interested public and to scholars
and students of musicology, dance research, and theatre studies.
Randi Margrete Selvik is Professor Emeritus in musicology at the Department
of Music, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU),
Trondheim. Her primary research interests include music history from the
seventeenth to the early nineteenth centuries, with French baroque opera,
Nordic Singspiel, and musical dilettantism in Norway as important focus areas.
Svein Gladsø is Professor Emeritus in theatre studies at the Department of Art
and Media Studies, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU),
Trondheim. His main research interests include theatre history, dramaturgy,
theatre politics, and theatre theory. He has been the chair of the Association of
Nordic Theatre Scholars and the editor of Nordic Theatre Studies.
Annabella Skagen is a Senior Curator at Ringve Music Museum in
Trondheim, Norway. She holds a PhD in theatre studies from the Norwegian
University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim (2015). Her main
research interests include theatre and music history in the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries, centring around performative practices within the contexts of
politics, sociability, and identity.
Relevance and Marginalisation

in Scandinavian and European
Performing Arts 1770– 1860
Questioning Canons
Edited by Randi Margrete Selvik,
Svein Gladsø, and Annabella Skagen
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
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© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Randi Margrete Selvik, Svein Gladsø,
and Annabella Skagen; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Randi Margrete Selvik, Svein Gladsø, and Annabella Skagen
to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors
for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with
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British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Selvik, Randi M., 1944– editor. |
Skagen, Annabella, editor. | Gladsø, Svein, editor.
Title: Relevance and marginalisation in Scandinavian and European
performing arts 1770–1860 : questioning canons / edited by Randi Selvik,
Annabella Skagen and Svien Gladsø.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020033741 (print) | LCCN 2020033742 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367469436 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003032090 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Arts and society–Scandinavia–History–18th century. |
Arts and society–Scandinavia–History–18th century. |
Performing arts–Scandinavia–History–18th century. |
Performing arts–Scandinavia–History–19th century. |
Canon (Art) Classification: LCC NX180.S6 R427 2021 (print) |
LCC NX180.S6 (ebook) | DDC 790.20948/09033–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020033741
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020033742
ISBN: 978- 0-3 67- 46943- 6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 1-0 03- 03209- 0 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Newgen Publishing UK
Contents

List of illustrations vii

List of contributors ix

Preface xv

1 The (pre)history of canons 1

SVEIN GLADSØ
2 Meeting the masters: Repertory choices for young ladies 22

PENELOPE CAVE
3 Canonisation of the danced minuet over centuries 43

DÓRA KISS
4 On the other side of the canon: August von Kotzebue
as a popular playwright and controversial public persona 66

MEIKE WAGNER
5 Traces of dance and social life: A dance book
and its context 87

ELIZABETH SVARSTAD
6 Outside canon: Anonymous music and informal cultural
activities in Trondheim around 1800 102

EVA HOV
7 A private playlist? Repertory in Norwegian
eighteenth- century musical clocks 128

MATS KROUTHÉN
vi Contents
8 Itinerant female performers in the Nordic sphere
1760‒1774: Traceability and visibility 156

ANNE MARGRETE FISKVIK
9 The hybrid child: The preconditions, dissemination, and
enduring popularity of equestrian drama 175

ELLEN KAROLINE GJERVAN
10 Vittorio Alfieri’s tramelogedia Abéle: A physiognomic reading
of a marginalised play by a canonical author 188

MARIA- CHRISTINA MUR
11 Oehlenschläger’s Freyas Altar: A rejected Singspiel performed 206

ANNABELLA SKAGEN
12 Forgotten music: Early Norwegian composers and
Oehlenschläger’s Freyas Altar 227

RANDI MARGRETE SELVIK
13 Questioning the canons of Ibsen’s theatre: Re- searching
the relevance of Ibsen’s theatre repertory, 1852– 1862 251

JON NYGAARD
General index 271

Person index 278
Illustrations

Figures
3.1 Antony L’Abbé, A New Collection of Dances. London. Barreau
(c. 1725), p. 21. © Derra de Moroda Tanzarchives 55

3.2 Nogent, Brittany. Feast with minuet dancing. Rol Press
Agency. 1913 © Bibliothèque nationale de France 58

4.1 Menschenhaß und Reue, copperplate print from August
von Kotzebue’s sämmtliche dramatische Werke, Leipzig
1827, vol. 2. © Meike Wagner 70

5.1 Svend Henrik Walcke, Toure- Bog, p. 4: List of positions,
steps, bows, and rules for correct behaviour. © NTNU
Universitetsbiblioteket – Gunnerusbiblioteket (NTNU
University Library – Gunnerus Library). Reprinted
with kind permission 93

6.1 The Knudtzon family, Trondheim. These are William
Allingham’s friends, the Knudtzon family. While the elder
siblings are occupied with musical activities, Sarah Marie is
knitting, Jørgen stands behind her dressed in uniform, and
Broder is playing with a spinning top. Painted by Elias Meyer,
1795 (private ownership). © Photo: Eva Hov. Reprinted
with kind permission 106

6.2 Ihlen. An area by the shore outside the town wall, where
farmers, working people, soldiers, and sailors met. Did William
Allingham waltz to pols tunes here? From a print of an
anonymous watercolour, ca. 1850– 1870. © Photo: Eva Hov 113

7.1 Musical clock, signed ‘Ingebrigt Graboe’ (NK 351– 1899).
© Photo: Johan Norrback 139

7.2 Action on the musical clock (NK 351–1 899). From below:
pinned barrel, hammers and bells. © Photo: Johan Norrback 140

7.3 The titles of the melodies, written on the clock face
(NK 351– 1899). © Photo: Mats Krouthén 141
viii Illustrations
8.1 Poster for performances 16–8 July 1760 by De Preussiske
Kunstnerinder, announcing a variety of acrobatic feats and
dance numbers. Statsarkivet i Trondheim (The Regional State
Archives in Trondheim). Reprinted with kind permission 159

9.1 Playbill promoting a performance in Trondheim on 4
February 1840. © Statsarkivet i Trondheim (The Regional
State Archives in Trondheim). Reprinted with kind permission 179

9.2 Undated engraving. © Statsarkivet i Trondheim (The
Regional State Archives in Trondheim). Reprinted
with kind permission 181

11.1 Hans Hagerup Falbe’s (1772– 1830) manuscript with the
opening of the final chorus for Fredsfesten (The Peace Festival,
1810). The original lines have been crossed out and replaced
with the lines from the finishing chorus from Freyas Altar.
© Nasjonalbiblioteket (National Library of Norway).
Reprinted with kind permission 216

11.2 Andreas Berg (1788–1 844). © Trondheim byarkiv
(The Municipal Archives of Trondheim). Reprinted
with kind permission 218

12.1 First page of ‘Duettino’ from Freias Altar for soprano and tenor
by Lars Møller Ibsen. © Nasjonalbiblioteket (National Library
of Norway). Reprinted with kind permission 233

12.2 Hans Hagerup Falbe (1772– 1830). Copperplate engraving
by Gilles- Louis Chretien (1754– 1811). © Det Kgl. Bibliotek
(The Royal Danish Library). Reprinted with kind permission 237

Tables
2.1 National Melodies by ‘the most eminent authors’ 29

2.2 Elizabeth Appleton’s suggested repertory table for
her pupil Amelia 30

7.1 Norwegian musical clockmakers according to Ingstad.
Urmakerkunst i Norge (1980). Use of other sources will be
commented 132

7.2 Graboe clock from the National Museum of Decorative
Arts and Design. Titles and identification 141

7.3 Graboe clock, Telemark (private owner). Titles and
identification 143

7.4 Hymn repertory in musical clock made by Torgeir
Hansen Leich 145
Contributors

Annabella Skagen (co- editor) is a Senior Curator at Ringve Music Museum in
Trondheim, Norway. She holds a PhD in theatre studies from the Norwegian
University of Science and Technology (NTNU), with the dissertation entitled
‘Fra grevens gård til Prinsens gate – teater i Trondhjem 1790–1 814’ (2015).
Her main research interests include Norwegian cultural history, and theatre
and music history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, centering
around performative, theatrical, and musical practices within the contexts of
politics, sociability, and identity. Her disseminations include both scholarly
writings and output directed towards a general audience. She has also co-
authored a textbook on theatre dramaturgy, entitled Dramaturgi – forestillinger
om teater (2015). Other publications include ‘Residensteater i 1790- årenes
Trondhjem: Mellom privat selskapelighet og offentlig festspill’, in Randi
M. Selvik et al. (eds.), Lidenskap eller levebrød? Utøvende kunst i endring rundt
1800 (2015) and ‘Å spille en rolle: Borgere og teater i Trondhjem 1814’, in
Ida Bull et al. (eds.), Trondheim 1814 (2014). Her forthcoming articles include
‘The Singspiels of Hans Iver Horn: Nuances of Dano- Norwegian patriotism
during the Napoleonic wars’ (1700- tal: Nordic Yearbook for Eighteenth-Century
Studies, 2020), and ‘Fem portrettmedaljonger fra 1700- tallets Trondhjem: En
tverrfaglig undersøkelse i materialitet, musikkhistorie og identitetsdannelse’
(submitted 2020).
Anne Margrete Fiskvik is a Professor in the programme for dance studies
at the Department of Music, Norwegian University of Science and
Technology (NTNU), Trondheim. Fiskvik’s main research areas are early
dance history, choreomusical analysis, popular dance and music cultures,
and itinerant dancing in the Nordic countries. Fiskvik was a member of
the cultural committee for dance in the Arts Council Norway, 2016–2 020.
Among her most recent publications are ‘ “Nemo ei in orbe terrarum in
artibus par est”: The rope and wire repertory of itinerant artist Michael
Stuart’, in Randi Margrete Selvik et al. (eds.), Performing Arts in Changing
Societies: Opera, Dance, and Theatre in European and Nordic Countries around
1800 (2020); ‘“Let no one invite me, for I do not dance”’, in Eric Ziolkowski
(ed.), Kierkegaard, Literature and the Arts (2018); ‘Where highbrow taste meets