Sounding streets: music and urban change in Paris, 1830-1870

Street space has inspired much scholarly investigation in the humanities and social sciences, and has been treated as a site where social communities, hierarchies, and politics are made visible. Absent from street studies, however, is the notion that the streets might have influenced, mediated, or shaped the social exchanges they hosted. Instead of seeing the street as a passive location, this project views the street as a mediator and an actor that influences and shapes social activity. As such, the street not only functions as the site of the study, but it also is part of the analysis. Looking specifically at musical life in Paris between 1830 and 1870, I present three different studies that illustrate the influence of the changing urban environment, specifically the streets, on the city’s musical scene. In the first study, I claim that a fleet of omnibuses, named and painted after Boieldieu’s comic opera La dame blanche, profoundly affected the historical reception of the work, connecting the opera with democratic and working class ideologies. As the omnibuses trumpeted the opera’s refrains on a novelty mechanical horn for decades, Boieldieu’s opera became part of the streetscape and Parisian urban identity. In the next study, I respond to Charles Gounod’s analogy between the street and the residential music scene, a metaphor that inspired my investigation of Second Empire music salons and their perceived street-like characteristics. Considering the events hosted by Princess Mathilde Bonaparte and others, I argue that society music salons utilized multiple reception rooms, fostered a motion-filled environment, and featured musical programs that responded to the salon’s circulation. In the last study, I contend that itinerant musicians problematized the Parisian streets. Performing through residential windows and in the interior courtyards of urban mansions, they subverted boundaries between public and private space. The street provided a platform for their otherwise disempowered voices, provoking bourgeois and governmental fears about civil resistance and stimulating the development of urban street policy. Building upon the work of Georgina Born, Adam Krim, and Benjamin Piekut, this study ultimately shows that space was an important mediating factor in nineteenth-century Paris, influencing the dynamics of musical performance, circulation, and reception.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Nicole Vilkne