The Work of Music : Labor and Creativity in Germany's Long Nineteenth Century - Celia Applegate

The Work of Music

Labor and Creativity in Germany's Long Nineteenth Century

By: Celia Applegate

Hardcover | 7 October 2025

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In The Work of Music, Celia Applegate examines the cultural history of Austro-German music through the lens of labor from the 1648 Peace of Westphalia to the Third Reich. She explores the working world of music and musicians, the various jobs they performed, the work music did in society, the observations and commentaries of contemporaries on the shape and function of musical life, and the work of organizing music making, both amateur and professional. At a time when ideas of absolute music and music-as-leisure were both on the rise, writing about music tended to obscure these practical matters. Here, Applegate reflects on how an intensely musical society organized and understood the ubiquitous activity that underpinned it.
Industry Reviews
"Applegate is one of the world's leading authorities on the social and cultural history of German music in the modern era, and that shows through clearly in this concise, engaging, and readable volume." - David Gramit, University of Alberta

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