Abstract
It should come as no surprise that Bernard Shaw, for whom there exists an ever-expanding checklist of Shaviana, should have focused his attention on musicians and composers from Spain. Indeed, Shaw’s interest in music was no mere dabbling, and it should also not surprise anyone that this extended to music and musicians in the Hispanophone world, Spain in particular, thus developing into a global familiarity with Spanish musicians, singers, and even dancers. As Corno di Bassetto (Shaw’s pseudonym as a music critic), Shaw adds Spain and Spanishness early to his repertoire of critiques, demonstrating an awareness of geography (“Iberian,” “Andalusian”) as it relates to performance and technique. Examining these areas reveals that Shaw’s penchant for incisive critique and unyieldingly high standards reached far beyond dramatic theater and politics and indeed beyond margins and national boundaries. Shaw’s knowledge of non-Anglophone composers and musicians, and of the ethnic and national backgrounds of the compositions in question, evinces his keen awareness of the role played by the international in the performance milieu of his day. This chapter will thus serve as the entry point for a neglected research area of Shavian studies, arguing that Shaw was in fact quite knowledgeable about Spanish music to the extent that his criticism encompassed both technical music theory and Spanish culture.
There are people who will read about music and nothing else. They are presumably the only people who will dream of reading these three volumes.
—Bernard Shaw (CMC I: Inscription)
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Notes
- 1.
Brigitte Bogar, “Introduction,” SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies 39.1 (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019), 3.
- 2.
Fintan O’Toole, Judging Shaw (Dublin: The Royal Irish Academy, 2017), 64.
- 3.
Gustavo A. Rodríguez Martín, of the Universidad de Extremadura, publishes “A Continuing Checklist of Shaviana” annually in the SHAW Journal.
- 4.
For example, musicians and composers like Pablo de Sarasate were already “famous throughout Europe and in North and South America” by 1859. Composers of international provenance were inspired by his talent to dedicate musical compositions to him as well. Likewise, Isaac Albéniz studied in Brussels with Franz Liszt and was already influencing salon piano music out of France prior to his appearances in London. See Jim Samson, ed., The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Music (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 729.
- 5.
Stanley, Weintraub, “Music and the Man: The Autobiography of Corno di Bassetto.” TLS (5 July 2013): 13–15. When Weintraub notes that “there are practically no other extant records” of de Silka’s career, he must be referring to the English-speaking world. De Silka had made a name for himself in Spain by the time Shaw first saw him perform, and there are numerous notes and brief critical pieces about him in the Spanish press at the time. See, for example, in the autumn of 1890 alone, “Crónicas de la Corte,” La Época (29 September 1890), 2; “Boletín del Día,” El Correo Militar (11 October 1890), 2; “Noticias de San Sebastián,” El Imparcial (21 October 1890), 2; and “Boletín Musical de la Quincena,” Ilustración Musical Hispanoamericana 68 (15 November 1890), 389.
- 6.
Stanley Weintraub, “Music and the Man. The Autobiography of Corno di Bassetto,” 2013.
- 7.
Bernard Shaw, London Music in 1888–1889 as Heard by Corno di Bassetto (Later Known as George Bernard Shaw) with Some Further Autobiographical Particulars (London: Constable and Company Limited, 1937), 6.
- 8.
Bogar, “Introduction,” 3.
- 9.
O’Toole, Judging Shaw, 69.
- 10.
Bogar, “Introduction,” 3.
- 11.
Ranald C. Michie, Guilty Money: the City of London in Victorian and Edwardian Culture, 1815–1914 (London: Pickering and Chatto, 2009), 190.
- 12.
Cosmopolitanism characterized much of Shaw’s work as well as London’s concert and performance milieu in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Though ancillary to this chapter’s discussion of Shaw’s Spanish music criticism, an understanding of this concept aids in contextualizing the transnational elements of Shaw’s music criticism. Furthermore, it emphasizes the role played by London as a significant locus of culture. See, for example, Rebecca L. Walkowitz’s introduction to her monograph Cosmopolitan Style: Modernism Beyond the Nation (2006). Walkowitz situates critical cosmopolitanism in London as a space where local affiliations interact with and against international perspectives. The presence of such perspectives was linked to London as a global financial center in which cosmopolitanism meant that much of the cultural, financial, and political affairs were increasingly conducted by persons from outside of England. For more information on the economic and literary intersections here, see Ranald C. Michie, Guilty Money: the City of London in Victorian and Edwardian Culture, 1815–1914 (London: Pickering and Chatto, 2009).
- 13.
Bernard Shaw, London Music in 1888–1889, 120.
- 14.
O’Toole, Judging Shaw, 91.
- 15.
The Magic Opal was revised by Albéniz and performed in London later that year as The Magic Ring.
- 16.
Shaw situates this review as part of a “resumption” of this particular concert series, which he intended to chronicle (CMC II: 181).
- 17.
Shaw notes that finding someone to rival his talent is “not reasonably possible” (CMC III: 28).
- 18.
Shaw, Music in London, 1890–1894, vol. I, 80.
- 19.
Shaw also discusses Sarasate in relation to his participation at music festivals, Norwich in particular; Shaw describes it as “splendid” and refers to Sarasate’s violin playing specifically (CMC III: 30).
- 20.
Shaw submits critiques even for performances he does not attend (CMC I: 209, 264–265).
- 21.
Bogar, “Introduction,” 4.
- 22.
In his review, Shaw writes “Valera,” likely a typographical error, as there are no other mentions of “Valera” in the three volumes of music criticism, nor does the name appear in the index.
- 23.
Bogar, “Introduction,” 3.
- 24.
See Manuel Garcia, Garcia’s new treatise on the art of singing. A compendious method of instruction, with examples and exercises for the cultivation of the voice (New York: C.H. Ditson and Company, 1800).
- 25.
Shaw’s disdain for this technique is readily apparent across his criticism. He informs the reader that in order to produce the same sound, “surprise a gentleman of full habit by a smart dig of your finger into his epigastrium at the moment when he has taken a full inspiration” (CMC II: 227).
- 26.
Shaw mentions dance primarily in passing throughout the three volumes, but even these superficial remarks reveal a deep knowledge of dance culture(s). For instance, Shaw distinguishes between the “crudities” of country step dances and the “Ultra Academic” of classical ballet (CMC I: 45).
- 27.
“Perhaps by the next time I visit a music-hall,” Shaw proclaimed, “the ballet will have found its Wagner, or at least its Meyerbeer. For I have had enough of mere ballet: what I want now is dance-drama” (CMC II: 66).
- 28.
More reviews of Collins are found throughout Shaw’s volumes and he speaks highly of her “perfect self-possession” and “fine athletic training” (CMC II: 90).
- 29.
In other reviews included in this volume, prior to this one from 17 May 1893, Shaw notes that Wallace is “a young Scotch composer” (CMC II: 203, 314).
- 30.
Bogar, “Introduction,” 1–6.
References
Bogar, Brigitte. 2019. Introduction. SHAW: The Journal of Bernard Shaw Studies, 39 (1). Special Issue: Shaw and Music. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
Garcia, Manuel. 1800. Garcia’s new treatise on the art of singing. A compendious method of instruction, with examples and exercises for the cultivation of the voice. New York: C.H. Ditson and Company.
Michie, Ranald C. 2009. Guilty Money: the City of London in Victorian and Edwardian Culture, 1815–1914. London: Pickering and Chatto.
O’Toole, Fintan. 2017. Judging Shaw. Dublin: The Royal Irish Academy.
Samson, Jim, ed. 2001. The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shaw, Bernard. 1932a. Music in London, 1890–1894. Vol. I. London: Constable.
———. 1932b. Music in London, 1890–1894. Vol. II. London: Constable.
———. 1932c. Music in London, 1890–1894. Vol. III. London: Constable.
———. 1937. London Music in 1888–1889 As Heard by Corno di Bassetto (Later Known as George Bernard Shaw) with some Further Autobiographical Particulars. London: Constable.
Walkowitz, Rebecca L. 2006. Cosmopolitan Style: Beyond the Nation. New York: Columbia University Press.
Weintraub, Stanley. 2013. Music and the Man: The Autobiography of Corno di Bassetto. Times Literary Supplement 5753: 13–15.
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Ruane, A.R. (2022). Shaw and Spanish Music Criticism. In: Rodríguez Martín, G.A. (eds) Bernard Shaw and the Spanish-Speaking World. Bernard Shaw and His Contemporaries. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97423-7_6
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