Singing the English: Britain in the French Musical Lowbrow, 1870–1904 by Hannah L. Scott

Abstract

Reviewed by: Singing the English: Britain in the French Musical Lowbrow, 1870–1904 by Hannah L. Scott Claire Moran Singing the English: Britain in the French Musical Lowbrow, 1870–1904. By Hannah L. Scott. London and New York: Routledge. 2022. ix+ 254 pp. £96. ISBN 978-0-367-81543-1. Scholarship in nineteenth-century French Studies has, in recent years, increasingly highlighted the need to address the complexity of everyday lived experience and unravel the myths which have shaped our perceptions of the period. Hannah L. Scott's remarkable study of British popular music in late nineteenth-century France offers a fascinating glimpse into French cultural life in an extraordinary period of the country's history. The focus on British music in a study concerned with France may, as Scott points out wryly in her Introduction, 'strike the reader with some surprise' (p. 2) since, as the influential French musical theorist François-Joseph Fétis put it, 'the English [are] on the lowest rung of the ladder of musical talent' (p. 2). However, through her engaging, well-documented, and well-illustrated study, Scott makes a compelling case for the influence of British lowbrow music in shaping modern France. Singing the English revalorizes the centrality of popular British music for 'exploring, negotiating and mediating national identity and the importance of Britain in Third Republican society, politics and culture' (p. 12). The book comprises an Introduction, four chapters, and an Epilogue, and also includes a comprehensive appendix of café-concert songs about the English. The Introduction offers a much-needed contextual overview, all the while citing the pervasiveness of representations of les Anglais in French culture, most notably in literature, and Scott calls attention to the many minor and central figures such as the chronically melancholic Lord Ewald of Villiers d'Isle-Adam's L'Ève future, the courageous yet angelic Miss Clifton in Hector Malot's Souvenirs d'un blessé, and the sadistic English femme fatale Clara in Mirbeau's Le Jardin des supplices. The first chapter focuses on comic songs from French popular theatres in which French performers pretended to be English and where 'Englishing up' was the trend. The second explores the phenomenon of the Salvation Army band and its noisy presence on the streets of Paris, while the third discusses the French reception of Celtic folk music and includes analyses of translations and arrangements of songs by Robert Burns, Walter Scott, and Thomas Moore. The last chapter discusses the place of music in French travel writing and emphasizes how 'music and sound become fundamental axes in the French mental conception of British character and culture' (p. 185). Singing the English captures the essence of Britishness through nineteenth-century French eyes. It is both entertaining and illuminating, offering glimpses into a French mindset via a host of intriguing texts and archival documents. Paul Bourget's 1889 description of the aural impression of a Salvation Army band is a case in point: 'suddenly, a blast of trumpets bursts out, accompanied by strange singing. […] [A] man begins a sort of yelled prayer; his head is thrown back, his mouth is twisted, his eyes are turned backwards in his head. He calls out "the Lord, the Lord…". An expression of despair or ecstasy can be seen upon every face' (p. 85). Scott navigates texts and documents such as these with ease and [End Page 141] skill, highlighting the linguistic specificities and visual imaginaire that they draw upon. Overall, her analysis of the popular songs, performances, and traditions that represented Britishness in nineteenth-century France offers important insights into the relationship between France and Britain. It is, as she argues in her Epilogue, a relationship which continues to be influenced by popular music, and she cites the dozens of songs by artists from Mick Jagger to Bertrand Cantat which attempted to 'influence, mock, critique and occasionally praise the outcome of the June 2016 referendum' (p. 227). Singing the English is an excellent book which, in its careful and rigorous interdisciplinary scholarship, shows the importance of the nineteenth century in shaping modern life. Claire Moran Queen's University Belfast Copyright © 2023 Modern Humanities Research Association