Description
Book SynopsisAuthor Una McIlvenna brings the execution ballad to life in Singing the News of Death, uncovering the relationship between punishment and music throughout Europe from 1500-1900 with an unprecedented breadth of study and ambition.
Trade ReviewIn her remarkably wide-ranging, rich, and engaging survey, McIlvenna documents the extraordinary appetite for songs about capital crime and executions across Western Europe over four centuries. McIlvennas approach opens a new and important avenue for more comparative cultural work that tracks popular print culture across state, language, and social boundaries. A must-read for scholars and students of the ballad, and attractive for students interested in the development of horror as a genre, it is also an important resource for scholars working on the psychology of crime. * Dr. Angela McShane, University of Warwick *
With extraordinary erudition, Una McIlvenna provides an original, ambitious, and fascinating investigation into a now-vanished genre of print—the execution ballad. She most impressively crosses five languages and four centuries to explore how people throughout Western Europe vicariously inhabited the condemned's last words as supposedly sung from the scaffold. Essential reading for anyone interested in the history of 'true' crime, public execution, and popular song. * Patricia Fumerton, Distinguished Professor of English, University of California, Santa Barbara *
The execution ballad was a distinctive sub-genre of cheap publishing from the first century of print to the nineteenth century, and in this definitive and wide-ranging study, Una McIlvenna does full justice to its musical subtlety, emotional appeal and moral purpose. This is a fantastic book, wide-ranging and authoritative, a landmark in the history of European print culture and balladeering. * Andrew Pettegree, University of St Andrews *
A challenging comparative study presenting a broad view of execution ballads throughout Europe. A vividly illustrated analysis in which music, pictures and texts in multiple languages bring life to five centuries of crimes and punishments through songs. * Éva Guillorel, Université Rennes 2, Institut universitaire de France *
The book moves well beyond the inevitable gore, horror, and sensationalism to reveal many aspects of early modern society in a surprising and diverse number of ways. This is an outstanding work, not just for its vivid history and comprehensive scholarship, but also for its wonderfully lucid prose. * Sean McGlynn, University of Plymouth at Strode College Street, UK, Journal of Early Modern History 27 *
This book is sure to remain the most important study on execution ballads for years to come. * Nicholas Hammond, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, French Studies *
In Singing the News of Death: Execution Ballads in Europe 1500-1900,...McIlvenna's study makes an important contribution to scholarship about ballads. * Jennifer Lodine-Chaffey, Early Modern Literary Studies *
The book moves well beyond the inevitable gore, horror, and sensationalism to reveal many aspects of early modern society in a surprising and diverse number of ways. This is an outstanding work, not just for its vivid history and comprehensive scholarship, but also for its wonderfully lucid prose. * Sean McGlynn, Journal of Early Modern History *
Singing the News of Death is a hefty scholarly tome. * David Atkinson, Folk Music Journal *
Singing the News of Death accounts for many powerful human emo-tions over four centuries, inviting us to look at various early modern European societies in new ways. * Gioia Filocamo, Conservatorio di musica 'Giulio Briccialdi' di Terni *
Singing the News of Death is an epic work that deserves the many accolades that are, no doubt, to come to both the text and its author. * Rachel Franks, Script & Print *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Abbreviations List of Illustrations List of Music Examples Introduction Part I: Selling the news of death Chapter One: The significance of contrafactum or, how melody made meaning Chapter Two: The centrality of shame in the punishment ritual Chapter Three: Fake news? How execution ballads walked the line between truth and fiction Part II: Crimes that Feature in Execution Ballads Chapter Four: The Devil's business: religion, witchcraft, sorcery, possession Chapter Five: How ballads portrayed murder and violence Chapter Six: Political executions in song Chapter Seven: Outlaw ballads: fantasy vs reality Chapter Eight: The end of execution ballads? Coda: Songs about the executioner Conclusion Bibliography Index
