Musical Amateurs as Artistic Citizens in Schubert’s Vienna

Details the wide, integral and influential role played by ’amateur’ participants in early nineteenth-century Vienna’s musical life.

During Franz Schubert’s lifetime in early nineteenth-century Vienna, amateurs and dilettantes were a vital part of the music scene, so much so that Eduard Hanslick considered it the high point of musical dilettantism in Vienna. Schubert himself participated extensively in this rich world of domestic music-making. Around 1800 terms such as ＂amateur＂ and ＂dilettante＂ had broader and more positive connotations than today, and ＂amateurs＂ could indeed often portray a high skill level. The book considers the amateurs’ and dilettantes’ identities and motivations for making music, and their various roles in the musical life of early nineteenth-century Vienna. It dives deeply into contexts, performance practices and spaces, as well as instruments that have so far been little explored. Musical Amateurs in Schubert’s Vienna uncovers new key agents in early nineteenth-century Viennese musical life who have so far remained invisible.