Napoleon and British Song, 1797-1822

by Oskar Cox Jensen

Overview

This study offers a radical reassessment of a crucial period of political and cultural history. By looking at some 400 songs, many of which are made available to hear, and at their writers, singers, and audiences, it questions both our relationship with song, and ordinary Britons' relationship with Napoleon, the war, and the idea of Britain itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781137555373
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	10/12/2015
Series:	War, Culture and Society, 1750-1850
Edition description:	1st ed. 2015
Pages:	261
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.04(d)

About the Author

Oskar Cox Jensen is Research Fellow in the Department of Music, King's College London, UK. He is currently co-editing a volume of essays on the world of Charles Dibdin the Elder and preparing a second monograph on London Ballad Singers.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. 'A Hacknied Tune'? Song Culture in Napoleonic Britain
2. 'Threats of the Carmagnols': Contesting the Nation, 1797-1805
3. 'That the War Might Cease': Awaiting and Making News, 1806-13
4.'Now Boney's Awa'': Triumph, Tragedy, and the Legend Established, 1814-22
5. 'Canny Newcassel': A Case Study, 1797-1822
Coda

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Cox Jensen combines different modes of reading from different disciplines with boldness and great assurance and in the process offers new methodologies for historians and literary scholars alike, opening out to the larger historical questions that absorb all of us working in this period. This is new and fascinating material, and the stories are well told - lively, engaged, and free of jargon." - Mary-Ann Constantine, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, UK

"This richly detailed and entertaining work is distinguished by its acute sense of the connections between songs about Napoleon and the wider debates about the character of political controversy during his rise to and fall from power. It demonstrates that taking 'ephemera' seriously can transform our understanding of the period." - Mark Philp, University of Warwick, UK

"In a series of richly textured readings, Oskar Cox Jensen shows how central popular songs were to the formation of British identity and opinion during the period of the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. The critical implications of this brilliant, multi-layered study will resonate with scholars for years to come." - Philip Shaw, University of Leicester, UK

"This is a brilliant book, impressively researched, and argued with great clarity. It uses the evidence of song to challenge some previously unquestioned accounts of the supposed popular hostility towards France and Napoleon, at the same time as it shows that popular song in general was neither loyalist nor radical." - John Barrell, Queen Mary, University of London, UK

Editorial Reviews

Napoleon and British Song, 1797–1822 is an excellent study that brings fresh insights to our understanding of both the political and cultural histories of this period. It demonstrates that a nuanced reading of the era’s popular song is highly rewarding, and its critical approach should serve as a model for scholars working with any ephemera of any kind.” (Erica Buurman, The BARS Review, Issue 48, Autumn, 2016)

From the Publisher