Structural framing is the reference to initial material at the end of a formal unit; this formal unit might be a theme, section, movement or even a multi-movement work. Structural framing is a special kind of thematic restatement that is fundamentally distinct from recapitulation or apotheosis. Whereas a recapitulation associates the beginning of one section with the beginning of another section, a structural frame associates the beginning of one section with its end. Thus a recapitulation is a re-beginning, an apotheosis is a triumphant arrival, and a structural frame is a closing gesture – a parting ‘adieu’ that assists the listener in the conceptual encompassment of a formal unit.

If the phenomenon of, or even ‘obsession’ with, the aestheticization of ‘death’ in nineteenth-century German culture was central to Schopenhauer's philosophy, its firm roots lay in Hegel's philosophy.

Hegel is the first thinker to recognize the force of negation; for him negativity creates a positive action: it is brought into presence carried forward by the dialectical activity of the Spirit. It is within this context, as I shall argue in the present article, that Wagner's notion of ‘negativity’, or the ‘utopian celebration of nothingness and death’, appears in his work. Consequently, it is within this framework of thought that Wagner's music acts – or is intended to act – as Musik als Idee.

In art, literature, theatre and music, Victorians demonstrated increased interest in the supernatural and nostalgia for a lost mythic time, a response to rapid technological change and increased urbanization. Romanticism generated a new regard for Shakespeare, also fuelled by British nationalism. The immortal bard's plays began to receive theatrical performances that more accurately presented their original texts, partially remedying the mutilations of the previous century. The so-called ‘fairy’ plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest, were also popular subjects for fairy paintings, stemming from the establishment of the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in 1789. In such a context, it is no wonder that Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream was so overwhelmingly popular in England and that his style became closely associated with the idea of fairies. This article explores how the Victorians’ understanding of fairies and how the depiction of fairies in the theatre and visual arts of the period influenced the reception of Mendelssohn's music, contributing to its construction as ‘feminine’. Victorian fairies, from the nude supernatural creatures cavorting in fairy paintings to the diaphanously gowned dancers treading lightly on the boards of the stage, were typically women. In his study of Chopin reception, Jeffrey Kallberg has interpreted fairies as androgynous, but Victorian fairies were predominantly female, so much so that Lewis Spence's 1948 study, The Fairy Tradition in Britain, includes an entire section on fairy gender intended to refute the long-standing notion that there were no male fairies. Thus, for Mendelssohn to have composed the leading musical work that depicted fairies contributed to his increasingly feminized reputation over the course of the nineteenth century.

In the early nineteenth century there were three main styles of music performed in the English Catholic Church. First, there was plainchant, mainly that copied by John Francis Wade in the previous century and then refracted through arrangements by Samuel Webbe the elder, Samuel Wesley and Vincent Novello. Second, there was a native and, for its day, a fairly up-to-date style associated again with the two Webbes, Wesley and Novello. Third, there were Continental imports, especially grand masses, composed by Viennese Classical masters such as Mozart and Haydn, or Hummel and Weber. All three styles were developed and remained popular throughout the nineteenth century; but increasingly they were challenged by a revived interest in Renaissance-style polyphony, especially music composed between 1551 and 1650. This paper examines that development looking at, first, the general factors that encouraged it; second, the main stages in its revival; and third, the extent and effects of its influence and achievement.

In June and July of 2004, Grange Park Opera gave the first professional stage performances in the United Kingdom of Tchaikovsky's The Enchantress (Charodeyka). David Lloyd-Jones conducted and was responsible for the performing version. The following article is based on an interview with him taped between the sixth and seventh performances.

A retired Syracuse University music librarian, is the author of two published Tchaikovky studies: ‘The Tchaikovsky Fifth: a symphony without a programme’ (1991) and, in collaboration with Mark Elder, ‘The Dramaturgy of Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa’ (1988). He was for many years a contributor of record reviews and interviews to Fanfare magazine.