Music and the Making of the Middle-Class ― A Comparative History of Nineteenth-Century Leipzig and Birmingham

This unique study explores the making of bourgeois cultural identity by analysing and comparing the ethos and organisation of Leipzig's Gewandhaus and Birmingham's Triennial Festival from the late eighteenth century to the outbreak of the Great War. It breaks new ground by employing a multidisciplinary approach - social, political and cultural history, the history of ideas, philosophy, religion and music - to identify the social processes which contributed to the particular music culture that developed in these two representative cities. These include specific repertoire traditions, performance and reception practice, architectural layout and interior design of concert halls and attitudes towards the roles of conductors and composers.

ANTJE PIEPER studied Modern History at the University of Birmingham, UK, before going on to complete a PhD in 2005 on the 'Making of Middle-Class Culture in Germany and England from c. 1750-1914'. During her Masters and Doctoral research she has taught undergraduate courses on the social and cultural history of the Victorian middle classes.