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Abstract

This thesis investigates one of the key figures of pianism in the nineteenth-century, Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein (1829-1894), and his lectures on the history of piano literature which he performed towards the end of his career. After defining Rubinstein’s rich multicultural and historical context, this investigation focuses on the practice of historical concerts in the nineteenth century in Europe with the aim of understanding the distinctiveness of Rubinstein’s approach.

My work traces the practical and philosophical considerations that prompted Rubinstein’s approach to concert repertoire, as he set about creating his historical concerts at the end of his American tour. The core of this thesis explores the relationship between theory and practice in Rubinstein’s lectures on the history of piano literature, as the summation of his approach to ‘living history’ in relation to his lecture recitals.

The aim is to unveil how Rubinstein established the primacy of experience, through offering his audiences processes of immersion and soliloquy within historical cycles of growth and decay, and how these processes can be traced through the structure and the content of his thirty-two lecture recitals.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BH Aesthetics L Education > LA History of education M Music and Books on Music M Music and Books on Music > M Music M Music and Books on Music > ML Literature of music
Departments:	Doctoral Theses

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