Author: Katie Gunn

As I’ve reviewed my papers and my notes, the themes that emerged most strongly were nationalism, expression of emotion, old vs. new, and sexuality. When I thought about it more carefully, though, I realized all of the latter themes lead back to nationalism. After everything we’ve learned in class, I define musical nationalism as doing […]

I’m writing about Poulenc’s Organ Concerto, which was commissioned by the Princesse de Polignac. The piece was premiered privately at her salon in late 1938, and then publicly at the Salle Gaveau in mid-1939. I was initially very worried about finding sources for this paper. After spending a little too long figuring out how to […]

Dorf’s and Moore’s papers examine vastly different pictures of queerness in music. Moore’s argument is very convincing. It makes perfect sense that Poulenc and his contemporaries could hide their sexualities behind a smokescreen of flamboyance. Moore points out that straight people at the time didn’t notice the ambiguity and dog whistles embedded in Poulenc’s music. […]

The 1920s Parisian audiences experienced a fascination and infatuation with African and African American artists. Their racism prevented them from feeling true love for the art and artists they encountered. French audiences separated themselves from Black artists, caricatured African culture, and dehumanized Black artists. First of all, Parisian critics continually “othered” African American jazz. Levinson’s […]

After doing all the readings assigned for this class, I understand how French nationalism arose after the Franco-Prussian War. At first I thought, “They lost a war. So what?” And then I realized that the French had suffered a huge blow to their self-esteem. They were reeling. They had to find something they were good […]