Romanticism and Music Culture in Britain 1770-1840

Music was central to everyday life and expression in late Georgian Britain and this is the first interdisciplinary study of its impact on Romantic literature. Focusing on the public fascination with virtuoso performance Gillen D''Arcy Wood documents a struggle between sober literary'' virtue and luxurious effeminate virtuosity that staged deep anxieties over class cosmopolitanism machine technology and the professionalization of culture. A remarkable synthesis of cultural history and literary criticism this book opens new perspectives on key Romantic authors including Burney Wordsworth Austen and Byron and their relationship to definitive debates in late Georgian culture.