This study offers a radical reassessment of a crucial period of political and cultural history. By looking at some 400 songs, many of which are made available to hear, and at their writers, singers, and audiences, it questions both our relationship with song, and ordinary Britons' relationship with Napoleon, the war, and the idea of Britain itself.

Autorentext

Oskar Cox Jensen is Research Fellow in the Department of Music, King's College London, UK. He is currently co-editing a volume of essays on the world of Charles Dibdin the Elder and preparing a second monograph on London Ballad Singers.

Inhalt

Introduction

1. 'A Hacknied Tune'? Song Culture in Napoleonic Britain
2. 'Threats of the ': Contesting the Nation, 1797-1805
3. 'That the War Might Cease': Awaiting and Making News, 1806-13
   4.'Now Boney's Awa'': Triumph, Tragedy, and the Legend Established, 1814-22
4. 'Canny Newcassel': A Case Study, 1797-1822
   Coda