The Guitar and the Romantic Vision of the Medieval World
Gresham College Lectures
Gresham College Lectures
The Guitar and the Romantic Vision of the Medieval World
Jan 08, 2015
Gresham College
Professor Page continues the his examination of the guitar in history: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-guitar-and-the-romantic-vision-of-the-medieval-world
Between approximately 1750 and 1850, interest in the Middle Ages was fed by many activities with porous boundaries, including the antiquarianism of those who collected coins, seals and armour and the collection of poems generally called 'ballads' regarded as the core materials of nascent national literatures.
In poetry, and the many new publications offering serialised fiction in the Regency period, the guitar was often associated with a vanished medieval past, imagined as a time of Catholic ignorance but also of political stability and fluent minstrelsy. Here, as in other respects, the associations of the guitar ran counter to nineteenth-century industrialism and the encroachment of new brick-built suburbs into green land, and even to Anglicanism, since the guitar was strongly associated with Catholic Spain and an imagery of warm nights, vesper bells, and elderly duennas nodding over their books of hours.
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-guitar-and-the-romantic-vision-of-the-medieval-world
Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,700 lectures free to access or download from the website.
Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
Between approximately 1750 and 1850, interest in the Middle Ages was fed by many activities with porous boundaries, including the antiquarianism of those who collected coins, seals and armour and the collection of poems generally called 'ballads' regarded as the core materials of nascent national literatures.
In poetry, and the many new publications offering serialised fiction in the Regency period, the guitar was often associated with a vanished medieval past, imagined as a time of Catholic ignorance but also of political stability and fluent minstrelsy. Here, as in other respects, the associations of the guitar ran counter to nineteenth-century industrialism and the encroachment of new brick-built suburbs into green land, and even to Anglicanism, since the guitar was strongly associated with Catholic Spain and an imagery of warm nights, vesper bells, and elderly duennas nodding over their books of hours.
The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-guitar-and-the-romantic-vision-of-the-medieval-world
Gresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 1,700 lectures free to access or download from the website.
Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege
