Amateur Musical Societies and Sports Clubs in Provincial France, 1848-1914

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Sociability and Fraternity

   • Alan R. H. Baker

   Pages 1-26

3. Musical Societies

   • Alan R. H. Baker

   Pages 27-155

4. Sports Clubs

   • Alan R. H. Baker

   Pages 157-281

5. Conclusions and Conjectures

   • Alan R. H. Baker

   Pages 283-318

6. Back Matter

   Pages 319-350

   PDF

This book explores leisure-related voluntary associations in France during the nineteenth century as practical expressions of the Revolutionary concept of fraternité. Using a mass of unpublished sources in provincial and national archives, it analyses the history, geography and cultural significance of amateur musical societies and sports clubs in eleven départements of France between 1848 and 1914. It demonstrates that, although these voluntary associations drew upon and extended the traditional concept of cooperation and community, and the Revolutionary concept of fraternity, they also incorporated the fundamental characteristics of competition and conflict. Although intended to produce social harmony, in practice they reflected the ideological hostilities and cultural tensions that permeated French society in the nineteenth century.

• French Revolution
• fraternité
• voluntary associations
• départements
• historical geography

“This book provides an important glimpse into the shifting landscape of sociability and identity during a formative moment of the French national narrative and underscores the huge role of associations in the development of republican values.” (Corry Cropper, Journal of European Studies, Vol. 48 (02), June, 2018)



“This is an important study for anyone who wants to know the details of music-making and sports organizations in the French provinces. Relying on hitherto unexamined primary sources from all corners of France, Baker offers a dense, data-rich volume that will surely assist scholars who examine French culture and its influence on political thought and social practice in the period.” (Donna M. Di Grazia, H-France Review, Vol. 18 (102), May, 2018) “An exemplary match of extensive recovery, for the period 1848 -1914, of a massive array of archival data on amateur sports and musical associations from across France with profound understanding of their historiographical contexts and conceptual and practical links with the revolutionary concept of fraternity.” (Robin Butlin, University of Leeds, UK)

“A truly innovative book analysing French musical and sports societies through the lens of ‘fraternité’… Music historians have needed this study for a long time. Baker, a historical geographer, has done us proud.” (Katharine Ellis, University of Cambridge, UK)

“Alan Baker brings an original approach in historical geography. This is high-quality work on French cultural identity.” (Philippe Boulanger, University of Paris VIII, France)

“In this carefully researched, beautifully written volume, Baker demonstrates how the revolutionary ideal of fraternity and the related concept of sociability were continually reanimated byquotidian debates and practices in towns and villages across France.” (Michael Heffernan, University of Nottingham, UK)

“Bringing French sociability to life and countering long-standing assumptions about the primacy of French individualism, Baker has much of interest to tell us about the social role of voluntary associations in provincial France.” (John Merriman, Yale University, USA)

• Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

  Alan R. H. Baker

Alan Baker is a Life Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, UK.

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