Singing the news of death : execution ballads in Europe 1500-1900 / Una McIlvenna

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McIlvenna, Una, author.

Series:

Oxford Academic

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Music--early works to 1800.

Music--Ballads.

Music.

Europe.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (561 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2022

Summary:

From the dawn of printing until the late nineteenth century, all over Europe the news of criminals and their brutal public executions was routinely put into song form and sold in the streets. But why would someone want to sing about such a macabre subject? Singing the News of Death explores the hugely popular phenomenon of execution ballads in Europe from the early modern period onwards, revealing how song was employed for centuries as a common means of informing society about the news of public executions. It examines how these ballads, usually cheaply printed and sold by itinerant peddlers, framed the news of crime and punishment, and how the unique features of song-rhythm, rhyme, and melody-presented information about criminals in a way that prose accounts could not. Based on a study of over a thousand ballads in English, French, German, Dutch, and Italian, from the sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries, Singing the News of Death reveals extraordinary continuities across time and space. While attention is paid to regional variations, the book demonstrates how popular and enduring the tradition of singing (often graphically violent) ballads about criminals was for centuries across Europe.

Contents:

Contents: List of Illustrations - List of Music Examples - Acknowledgements - Abbreviations - Introduction: Selling the News of Death - Part IFeatures of Execution Ballads - 1. The Significance of Contrafactum, or, How Melody Made Meaning - 2. The Centrality of Shame in the Punishment Ritual - 3. Fake News? How Execution Ballads Walked the Line between Truth and Fiction - Part IICrimes That Feature in Execution Ballads - 4. The Devil's Business: Religion, Witchcraft, Sorcery, Possession - 5. How Ballads Portrayed Murder and Violence - 6. Political Executions in Song - 7. Outlaw Balladry: Fantasy vs Reality - 8. The End of Execution Ballads? - Coda: Songs about the Executioner - Conclusion: The Centrality of Song to Punishment - Bibliography - Index of Songs - Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Print version: McIlvenna, Una Singing the News of Death

ISBN:

0-19-755188-2

0-19-755186-6

0-19-755187-4

OCLC:

1319859030