The seminar will be followed by tea and refreshments in the Theatre Bar. All welcome.
Abstract:
This paper examines what Christmas cards sent to Leonard Bernstein by his fans reveal about the reception of classical music in the mid-twentieth-century United States. Through close analysis of cards from three writers, I explore how and why the “language of feeling” promoted by the greetings-card industry resonated with Bernstein’s audience. I argue that, in offering a language for expressing aesthetic emotion, these cards provide an insight into some of the most common ways in which classical music fandom was articulated and understood.
Bio:
Kate Guthrie is a Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Bristol, creator of the podcast series Dear Maestro (www.dearmaestro.org) and author of The Art of Appreciation: Music and Middlebrow Culture in Modern Britain (University of California Press, 2021). Her current AHRC-funded research project explores classical music fandom and everyday listening in the mid-twentieth-century United States.