S3E45: America's Concerts & Cultural Icons - From Taylor Swift to 19th Century Opera Megastars

History Behind News Program

She could absolutely be a megastar because we have historical precedent for it.

In this episode, I ask my guests, Drs. James Davis & Steven Waksman, the following questions:

1. What were music concerts like in the 19th century?
2. Were concerts limited in size, since there was no amplification?
3. Was music as loud as it is now?
4. Was Jenny Lind in the 19th century a bigger star than Taylor Swift now?
5. How was it that young people readily listened to classical music - as if it was the hottest and most popular music?
6. When did concerts begin resembling modern concerts?
7. What is considered popular music? Has this definition changed over time?
8. How do we compare Taylor Swift’s concert to our history of concerts?

Dr. Davis is a professor of Musicology and Chair of the Music History Area at the School of Music at the State University of New York at Fredonia. Among his many books, he is the author of Maryland, My Maryland: Music and Patriotism during the American Civil War.

Dr. Waksman is the Elsie Irwin Sweeney Professor of Music and Professor of American Studies; and Chair in American Studies at Smith College. Among his many books, he is the author of Live Music in America: A History from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé.

Hollywood:

Just as America's music culture has changed over the centuries, so has America's movie culture. In S3E29, Professor Thomas Doherty of Brandeis University talked about the magic of the movies in the early 20th century, how all of that changed with the advent of television, and how it's changing now with the disruption of artificial intelligence.

I hope you enjoy these episodes.

Adel, host & producer

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1. 🎵 attribution, links and license for the theme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Music promoted by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.free-stock-music.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
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3. Image attributions: Taylor Swift 2023 MTV Video Music Awards by iHeartRadioCA, CC BY 3.0, on Wikimedi.org. Also Jenny Lind's 1862 portrait. (Public Domain).

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