From Chapel to Radical Secularism: the Role of Music and Gender at the Ethical Society

从教堂到激进的世俗主义：音乐和性别在伦理社会中的作用

• 批准号: 1822549
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Royal Northern College of Music
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1822549
• 关键词: Chapel; Radical; Secularism; Role; Music

The project examines the role of music in the transition of the Ethical Society from a Chapel to an Institute to a Society; in other words, from a non-conformist religious organisation to a Humanist society. The South Place Ethical Society is known for its promotion of equal rights and free thinking. It was part of a web of interconnected progressive organisations whose members often had multiple affiliations. Many of these groups saw the creation of an alternative culture as part of their mission of 'making socialists'. This included musical as well as other forms of creative cooperative expression. The South Place Ethical Society was one space in which progressives of the period could encounter one another free of sectarian disputes and where what Belfort Bax called 'fads', such as theosophy, vegetarianism and feminism, might be shared interests rather than distractions from socialist or radical politics.This project tests this understanding of the Ethical Society in the case of music, where gender roles in the 19th and early 20th centuries have been clearly defined and confined to the private sphere. Music permeated the community life of the society where there was an emphasis on family participation. For instance, Josephine Troup (1880-1913) composed children's songs; the Flower sisters composed hymns and women participated in other family and semi-domestic music, such as children's parties. Music had a role and value in both 'worship' and what replaced it; hymns and anthems were sung and performed long after the organisation became secular. The society also had an orchestra, which was open to both members and non-members. Better known is the society's long running concert series, the South Place Sunday Concerts (from 1887-present) and the more peripatetic People's Concerts. These had an educative purpose, replacing services and standing alongside the lectures and debates, which were and still are so important to the identity of the organisation. The concerts were public and professional. Women certainly numbered among the performers and, more unusually, composers. Some names stand out, such as Edith Swepston, Amy Horrocks, Helen Henschall, Adela Verne. Some of these women were related to prominent figures in the South Place Ethical Society. This study will explore their participation as musicians and whether the opportunities they were afforded in this community context were replicated elsewhere. Did the Society nurture and promote musical talent so that it could develop elsewhere or was it confined to the community? The project will also look at programming to see whether the radical reputation of the Society was reflected in musical activities. In so doing, it will make comparisons with contemporaneous concert societies and will compare the functions of music in other radical societies, such as the Fabian Society and the Social Democratic Federation.The doctoral project focuses on the hitherto unstudied music holdings at theHumanist Library and Archives. These include the extensive South Place Sunday Concert Archive, which has annual reports detailing repertoire and performers, committee minute books and papers, concert programmes, an extensive collection of scores, catalogues for programme planning, publicity material, newspaper cuttings and photographs. The library's collection also includes the hymn books, anthems, children's songbooks and discussions of musical activities in the Society's publications, such as the South Place Magazine and Ethical Record. The student will engage with current audiences at the Conway Hall Ethical Society and seek to reach new audiences in mainly London, the North West and on-line to test out the findings of the project, to stimulate debate and facilitate reflection. This reflection will, in turn, feed into the project's discussion. The student will have the opportunity to fashion a PhD project from these resources in consultation with the supervisory team.

该项目考察了音乐在道德社会从教堂到研究所再到社会的转变中的作用；换句话说，从一个不墨守成规的宗教组织到一个人道主义社会。南地伦理协会以提倡平等权利和自由思想而闻名。它是一个相互联系的进步组织网络的一部分，这些组织的成员往往有多个隶属关系。这些团体中的许多人将创造一种另类文化视为他们“制造社会主义者”使命的一部分。这包括音乐以及其他形式的创造性合作表达。南方伦理协会是一个空间，在这个空间里，当时的进步人士可以在没有宗派纷争的情况下相互接触，贝尔福特·巴克斯（Belfort Bax）所说的“时尚”，如通神论、素食主义和女权主义，可能是共同的利益，而不是分散社会主义或激进政治的注意力。这个项目在音乐的情况下测试了这种对道德社会的理解，在19世纪和20世纪初，性别角色已经被明确定义并局限于私人领域。音乐渗透到强调家庭参与的社会的社区生活中。例如，约瑟芬·特鲁普（Josephine Troup, 1880-1913）创作儿童歌曲；花姐妹们创作了赞美诗，妇女们参加了其他家庭和半家庭音乐，比如儿童聚会。音乐在“崇拜”和取代它的东西中都有自己的角色和价值；赞美诗和圣歌在该组织变得世俗化很久之后才被传唱和表演。协会还有一个管弦乐队，对会员和非会员都开放。更为人所知的是该协会长期举办的音乐会系列，南方周日音乐会（从1887年至今）和更频繁的人民音乐会。这些活动具有教育目的，取代了服务，并与讲座和辩论站在一起，这些活动过去和现在都对组织的身份非常重要。音乐会是公开的，也是专业的。当然，在表演者和更不寻常的是，作曲家中也有女性。有些名字很突出，比如伊迪丝·斯威普斯顿、艾米·霍罗克斯、海伦·亨舍尔、阿德拉·凡尔纳。其中一些妇女与南方伦理协会的杰出人物有亲戚关系。这项研究将探讨他们作为音乐家的参与，以及他们在这个社区环境中获得的机会是否在其他地方得到了复制。协会是培育和促进音乐人才，让他们在其他地方发展，还是只局限于社区？该项目还将着眼于节目编排，以了解该协会的激进声誉是否反映在音乐活动中。在此过程中，它将与同时代的音乐会社会进行比较，并将比较音乐在其他激进社会中的功能，如费边社和社会民主联盟。博士项目的重点是人文图书馆和档案馆迄今为止尚未研究的音乐馆藏。其中包括大量的南方广场周日音乐会档案，其中有详细介绍剧目和表演者的年度报告、委员会纪要和文件、音乐会节目、大量的乐谱、节目策划目录、宣传材料、剪报和照片。图书馆的收藏还包括赞美诗书、圣歌、儿童歌曲书和协会出版物中的音乐活动讨论，如《南方杂志》和《道德记录》。该学生将与康威霍尔道德协会的现有受众进行互动，并寻求接触主要在伦敦、西北地区和在线的新受众，以测试项目的发现，激发辩论和促进反思。这种反思反过来又会进入到项目的讨论中。学生将有机会与监督团队协商，从这些资源中塑造博士项目。