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At the beginning of the nineteenth century, a fundamental change in the Western world-view began: The dynastic worldview prevailing since the sixteenth century, explaining social order, chronology, and geography with reference to genealogy, was challenged by new nationalist ideas (Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities). This process lasted most of the century and was characterized by a struggle for interpretive precedence. How should the ideas that constitute the worldview be understood? What weight should they have? Here, different social strata stood against each other, since the nationalist worldview included ideas of equality, democracy, and, by extension, a shift of power. One way to address this was precisely by reinterpreting the meaning of the novel ideas and making them compatible with the prevailing social order. Particularly important for this interpretive work was the cultural life, where the worldview was primarily shaped. Here, music played an important role, particularly since its significance for wider social groups increased markedly during the period.

Part of a larger project ranging throughout the nineteenth century, this paper fo-cuses on the Swedish Royal Opera in the first half of the century. Taking leads from James H. Johnson (Listening in Paris, 1995) and Michael Walter (“Die Oper ist ein Irren-haus,” 1997) I show how this institution and its associated affective practices contributed to the interpretations of the nationalist ideas. Fundamentally propagandistic, the institution itself contributes to the understanding. The occurrence and use of nationalist ideas in this arena fit their meaning to the dynastic worldview. In the paper, music is studied as an affective practice, acknowledging how the practice gives music affective value. To a large extent, it is in practice that music conveys new ideas. The practice determines the meaning, to a greater degree even than the music itself.

At the beginning of the 19th century, a fundamental change in the Western worldview began: the dynastic worldview prevailing since the 16th century, explaining social order, chronology and geography with reference to genealogy, was challenged by new nationalist ideas (BenedictAnderson, Imagined Communities). This process lasted most of the century, and was characterized by a struggle for interpretive precedence. How should the ideas that constitute theworldview be understood? What weight should they have? Here, different social strata stood against each other, since the nationalist worldview include ideas of equality, democracy and, by extension, a shift of power. One way to address this was precisely by reinterpreting the meaning of the novel ideas and making them compatible with the prevailing social order. Particularly important for this interpretive work was the cultural life, where the worldview was primarily shaped. Here music played an important role, particularly since its significance for wider social groups increased markedly during the period. Part of a larger project ranging throughout the 19th century, this paper focuses on the Swedish Royal Opera in the first half of the century. Taking leads from James H. Johnson (Listening in Paris, 1995) and Michael Walter (“Die Oper ist ein Irrenhaus”, 1997) I show how this institution and its associated affective practices contributed to the interpretations of the nationalist ideas. Fundamentally propagandistic, the institution itself contributes to the understanding. The occurrence and use of nationalist ideas in this arena fit their meaning to the dynastic worldview. Music is studied as an affective practice, acknowledging how the practice gives music affective value. To a large extent, it is in practice that music conveys the new ideas. The practice determines the meaning, to a greater degree even than the music itself.

In ‘Nationalism in eighteenth-century German opera? – Changing views on the nation in two operas of Johann Friedrich Reichardt’, Mårten Nehrfors Hultén investigates how the idea of nationalism as defined in Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities (2006) is manifested in the operas: Brenno (1789) and Die Geisterinsel (1798). Both were composed for royal celebrations. Hultén shows what kind of nationalism the two operas portray. Brenno, an opera seria, is a typical representational court opera, and the character Brenno represents the absolute ruler of the Prussian state. Die Geisterinsel is a modern Singspiel with a different national spirit. The main protagonist is not an absolutist ruler, but like a father of all inhabitants in a geographically defined community. Reichardt had earlier (1774) expressed scepticism about the German Singspiel, but in Die Geisterinsel he succeeded in portraying ideas of German nationalism based on national identity, common morals, and a new aesthetic.

The changing view of the nation is dependent on genre, and the Singspiel is a far better vehicle than the representational court opera for the expression of a nationalist community. When songs from the play were published for use in German private homes, new nationalistic ideas were also communicated to the general public.

Att den gustavianska perioden kännetecknas av en i högsta grad aktiv kulturpolitik är allmänt vedertaget. Med detta brukar åsyftas Gustav III:s mångfacetterade kulturverksamhet, med skapandet av den gustavianska operan som en höjdpunkt. Detta är något som studerats grundligt genom åren. Betydligt mindre genomlyst är tiden efter Gustav III:s död. I detta paper ligger fokus på den musikpolitik som fördes under Gustav IV Adolfs regenttid (1792–1809). Den högst medvetna och kontrollerade musikpolitik som Gustav III använt sig av upphörde inte med hans död; strukturerna och institutionerna fanns kvar. Exempelvis så expanderade Kungliga Operans verksamhet markant under seklets sista år. Med tanke på att det dessutom handlade om politiskt väldigt turbulenta år är det knappast förvånande att motiven för en aktiv kulturpolitik var fortsatt stort, inte minst med tanke på att den politiska innebörden av offentlig kultur var betydligt större än vi är vana vid idag. Genom att studera periodens offentliga musik, med fokus på musikdramatiken, visas i detta paper hur musikpolitiken under den sengustavianska perioden fortsatte att vara både aktiv och medveten. Den förändring i repertoar man kan iaktta på Kungliga Operan, med fokus på lättare operor och sångspel, ska inte nödvändigtvis ses som ett steg från politisk propaganda till ren underhållning. Som institution fortsätter Operan dessutom att i sig utgöra en symbol för kung och envälde. Även om den offentliga musiken under Gustav IV Adolf inte innebar en ren fortsättning på Gustav III:s bedrivna politik så var den fortfarande ett maktmedel i allra högsta grad.

For some decades now, reading The Tempest has meant engaging in colonial discourse and post-colonial debate (Greenblatt 1976; Brown 1985; Vaughan 1988; Skura 1989; Willis 1989; Wilkes 1995; Brotton 1998; Wells 2001; Loomba 2002; Ridge 2016). Earlier, the play was traditionally given an idealistic interpretation. However, there have been times when The Tempest was used as a vehicle for quite different purposes. In this paper I show how, in late eighteenth century German lands, it was adapted for the opera stage, advocating a novel nationalistic worldview. 

This German interest in The Tempest, which actually led to a number of opera libretti and settings, has been explained as founded in the play’s fantastic qualities, making it suitable to answer a growing demand for romantic adventure following the success of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Bauman 1985). Although relevant, I believe that the engagement with nationalism is just as important. At the time, this issue had been fiercely debated in German journals (Vazsonyi 1999), and above all Johann Gottfried Herder’s writings on the subject was influencing the intellectual climate. 

Looking at Johann Friedrich Reichardt’s 1798 setting of Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter’s Die Geisterinsel libretto, I show how nationalism becomes the ideal presented in the play, as well as the lesson Prospero has to learn before he can return to Milan as rightful Duke. This is partly achieved by alterations in characters and plot, but also through the medium of national opera, which at the time provided a sense of inclusive national community in the theatre. Discussing Herder’s advocating Shakespeare as preferable to the dominating neo-classical theatre doctrines, I further show how this view supports also his ideas on nationalism, and therefore makes Shakespeare’s plays suitable as nationalistic models. 

The primary aim of this dissertation is to study the nationalistic worldview as it emerged in the German lands in the second half of the eighteenth century . The research focuses on how this influenced the artistic practices of Prussian composer, writer and court Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752–1814), and likewise how Reichardt’s activities influenced and formed this field. Reichardt was one of the musicians most actively involved in the development of this field at the time, both as a composer and as a writer. The nationalistic view that a society ought to have as its foundation a common cultural identity, and that this identity should be the guiding principle for organization and government, was groundbreaking at the time. In line with this Reichardt’s ambition involved a transformation of the composer’s/musician’s role in society, turning music into a means to influence and alter the state. As the dissertation shows, this was done in a variety of ways. Above all Reichardt was advocating, and helped shape, a German national cultural identity. This identity he sought to induce in the people, for instance through songs composed specifically for children.

The study focuses on a variety of sources, above all a selection of Reichardt’s writings, songs and song collections. These are subjected to a substantial discourse analysis. Following the conviction that a discourse is formed and expressed not just in writing, but also in musical compositions, musical practices, institutions et cetera, the analytical approach vary throughout the study, depending on the researched material. Identified in the analyses are things and signs that point towards a new nationalistic system of meaning.

Following a chapter on the historical background, including an analysis of Herderian nationalism, an exposition of the idea of expressive communities, and an account of Reichardt’s biography, the analytical part of the study is divided into two parts, dealing with two different kinds of music and fields of musical application. The first is devoted to music for the community, used in private and semi-private company. Here it is shown how Reichardt contributed to the formulation of a German national musical style founded on folksong ideals and the concept of Volkston. The second is devoted to music for school and education and study the strong interest and belief in education that characterized the eighteenth century, and which Reichardt fully embraced. Here Reichardt’s views on education, and their importance for his activities, are examined.

A secondary aim of the study is the theoretical development of the concept expressive communities. This is founded on a central view of Johann Gottfried Herder’s (1744–1803) that acknowledges a natural expressive desire in man. On a community-level this leads to the cultural identity (national or other) being characterized by a particular expressiveness, and being acquired through an active cultural practice. This view is particularly applicable when regarding the late eighteenth century German lands.

One result of the study is a better understanding of Reichardt’s activities and works. At the same time, as Reichardt was not the only one involved with the emerging nationalistic ideas, the study serves also as an example and its results are valid on a wider scale, providing a more nuanced understanding of the period on the whole.

Whereas national music has been acknowledged at least since the thirteenth century (Dahlhaus, 1980), nationalistic music did for obvious reasons emerge only with nationalism in late eighteenth century. Although closely connected, the relationship between the two is considerably more complex than is often acknowledged (Taruskin,2001).

In the nineteenth century, national music was set a nationalistic task, expressing the national culture necessary as foundation for political nationalistic ambitions. Typically, these manifestations of national culture were conceived in prestigious art forms such as opera and symphony, aiming at canonical status. So far this has been the kind of nationalistic music that have received the greater part of the research interest. However, arguably more important for the national culture, was the emergence of nationalistic music in less prestigious genres, such as music for amateur choirs and children’s songs. Here, ambitions to actually shape a nation and its culture were asserted, and this was music with a much more active relationship to nationalistic ideas. So far, this music has unfortunately been widely neglected and is still in need of considerably more research. In this paper, I show how Prussian composer, writer and Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752–1814) sought to influence and form the German cultural community with songs, particularly through collections directed specifically at children such as Lieder für Kinder (4 vols.), Lieder für die Jugend (2 vols.), and Wiegenlieder für gute deutsche Mütter. By singing Reichardt’s songs children were schooled into a German cultural community. At the same time the songs influenced and shaped also the character of this community.

I further show how this practice was founded on a Herderian conception of national cultural communities. Following Johann Gottfried Herder’s (1744–1803) expressivist views on culture and language I focus on the active participatory character of the communities, and talk therefore specifically of expressive communities. Reichardt’s songs for children were composed specifically for such an expressive community, and were intended to be a natural and intimate part of the national cultural community. Ideally, they would eventually gain a sort of folksong status. In this way also these songs would obtain canonical status, albeit of a different kind than the prestigious nineteenth century operas and symphonies. Instead of the limited canonicity of the concert hall these kinds of works would become canonical through their role and position in society. This indicates a more complex nature of the canonicity concept than is generally acknowledged, something that is further explored in my paper.

Since the affective turn in cultural history a lot of studies have identified and analysed various emotional communities (e.g. Reddy 2001, Rosenwein 2007, 2015). However, when it comes to the forming and spreading of these emotional communities there is still much research needed, particularly when music’s role is concerned. In this paper I show how Prussian composer, writer and Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Reichardt (1752–1814) sought to influence and form the German cultural community with songs, particularly through collections directed specifically at children such as Lieder für Kinder (4 vols.), Lieder für die Jugend (2 vols.), and Wiegenlieder für gute deutsche Mütter. By singing Reichardt’s songs children were schooled into a German emotional community. At the same time the songs influenced and shaped also the character of this emotional community. I further show how this practice was founded on a Herderian conception of national cultural communities. Following Johann Gottfried Herder’s (1744–1803) expressivist views on culture and language I focus on the active participatory character of the communities, and have chosen to talk therefore of expressive communities rather than emotional.