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AHTTE.Brq-Enlght.tpgs 9/14/04 12:12 PM Page 1 A R T S & H U M A N I T I E S T h r o u g h t h e E ra s AHTTE.Brq-Enlght.tpgs 9/14/04 12:12 PM Page 3 \ A R T S & H U M A N I T I E S T h r o u g h t h e E ra s The Age of the Baroque and Enlightenment 1600–1800 Philip M. Soergel, Editor 69742_AHTE_EEfm_iv-xxxii.qxd 9/21/04 1:34 PM Page iv Arts and Humanities Through The Eras: The Age of the Baroque and Enlightenment (1600–1800) Philip M. Soergel Project Editor Indexing Services Product Design Rebecca Parks Barbara Koch Michelle DiMercurio Editorial Imaging and Multimedia Composition and Electronic Prepress Danielle Behr, Andrew Claps, Pamela A. Dear, Randy Bassett, Mary K. Grimes, Lezlie Light, Evi Seoud Jason Everett, Dwayne Hayes, Rachel J. Kain, Michael Logusz, Kelly A. Quin Ralph G. Zerbonia Manufacturing Rights and Acquisitions Wendy Blurton Editorial Support Services Margaret Chamberlain, Shalice Shah-Caldwell Mark Springer © 2005 Thomson Gale, a part of the This publication is a creative work fully Cover photographs by permission of Corbis Thomson Corporation. protected by all applicable copyright laws, as (seated statue of Pharaoh Djoser) and well as by misappropriation, trade secret, AP/Wide World Photos (“The Creation of Thomson and Star Logo are trademarks and unfair competition, and other applicable laws. Adam and Eve” detail by Orvieto). 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Permissions Hotline: ment of the editors or publisher. Errors 248-699-8006 or 800-877-4253, ext. 8006 brought to the attention of the publisher and Fax: 248-699-8074 or 800-762-4058 verified to the satisfaction of the publisher will be corrected in future editions. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Arts and humanities through the eras. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7876-5695-X (set hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7876-5696-8 (Renaissance Europe : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7876-5697-6 (Age of Baroque : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7876-5698-4 (Ancient Egypt : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7876-5699-2 (Ancient Greece : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7876-5700-X (Medieval Europe : alk. paper) 1. Arts—History. 2. Civilization—History. NX440.A787 2004 700’.9—dc22 2004010243 This title is also available as an e-book. ISBN 0-7876-9384-7 (set) Contact your Thomson Gale sales representative for ordering information. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 69742_AHTE_EEfm_iv-xxxii.qxd 9/21/04 1:34 PM Page v \ C O N T E N T S ABOUT THE BOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix François de Cuvilliés. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Louis XIV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 CONTRIBUTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Christopher Wren. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 ERA OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii DOCUMENTARY SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 CHRONOLOGY OF CHAPTER 2: DANCE WORLD EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix IMPORTANT EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 CHAPTER 1: ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN TOPICS IN DANCE Social Dance in the Baroque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 IMPORTANT EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Dance in Court Spectacle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The Rise of the Ballet in France. . . . . . . . . . . . 83 TOPICS IN ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN The Ballet Elsewhere in Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 The Renaissance Inheritance and Social Dance in the Eighteenth Century . . . . . . 91 Catholic Renewal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The Enlightenment and Ballet . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 The Rise of the Baroque Style In Italy . . . . . . . 11 Ballet in an Age of Revolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 The Achievements of Gianlorenzo Bernini . . . . . 13 SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE The Tempestuous and Fanciful Baroque . . . . . . 14 Gasparo Angiolini. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Architecture in France in the Seventeenth Marie-Ann de Cupis de Camargo. . . . . . . . . . 101 Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Jean-Georges Noverre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Different Directions in England. . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Gaetano Vestris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Classicism and City Planning in the John Weaver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 The Baroque in Central Europe. . . . . . . . . . . . 36 DOCUMENTARY SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 The Rococo in the Eighteenth Century. . . . . . . 44 CHAPTER 3: FASHION The Development of Neoclassicism. . . . . . . . . . 49 Revivals and Romanticism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 IMPORTANT EVENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE OVERVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Robert Adam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 TOPICS IN FASHION Francesco Borromini. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 The Regulation of Consumption . . . . . . . . . . 113 v 69742_AHTE_EEfm_iv-xxxii.qxd 9/21/04 1:34 PM Page vi Contents Fashion Trends in the Early Seventeenth Performers, Performances, and Audiences. . . . . 218 Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Italian Opera in the Seventeenth Century . . . . 223 The Rise of the Netherlands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Opera in France. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 The Age of Louis XIV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Opera in the Early Eighteenth-Century Fashion Beyond the Court. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 The High Tide of French Fashion . . . . . . . . . 128 Oratorio and Cantata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Reaction to the Rococo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Baroque Instruments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 Fashion During the French Revolution . . . . . . 138 Baroque Keyboard Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Baroque Music for Instrumental SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE Ensembles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Marie-Jeanne Bécu du Barry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Music During the Rococo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Josephine Bonaparte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 The Reform of Opera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Françoise d’Aubigné Maintenon. . . . . . . . . . . 144 The Rise of Classicism and Romanticism. . . . . 258 Marie-Antoinette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson Pompadour . . . . . . 146 SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE Johann Sebastian Bach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266 DOCUMENTARY SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 George Frideric Handel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 CHAPTER 4: LITERATURE Josef Haydn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Jean-Baptiste Lully . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 IMPORTANT EVENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 OVERVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Antonio Vivaldi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 TOPICS IN LITERATURE DOCUMENTARY SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 English Literature in the Early Seventeenth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 CHAPTER 6: PHILOSOPHY French Literature in the Seventeenth IMPORTANT EVENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 OVERVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Baroque Literature in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Restoration Literature in England. . . . . . . . . . 172 TOPICS IN PHILOSOPHY English Literature in the Early Eighteenth Baroque Philosophical Roots . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 The Scientific Revolution and The Origins of the Novel in England . . . . . . . 182 Philosophical Rationalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 The Novel and Mid-Eighteenth-Century Empiricism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 English Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 The Enlightenment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 French Literature during the The Enlightenment in France. . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 Enlightenment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 The Enlightenment Elsewhere in Europe. . . . . 311 The Enlightenment in Germany. . . . . . . . . . . 195 Political Philosophy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE Daniel Defoe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 René Descartes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 John Donne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 David Hume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 Hans Jacob Christoffel von Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 Grimmelshausen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 John Locke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 Samuel Richardson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Baron de Montesquieu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 Marie de Rabutin-Chantal Sévigné . . . . . . . . . 204 DOCUMENTARY SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326 DOCUMENTARY SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 CHAPTER 7: RELIGION CHAPTER 5: MUSIC IMPORTANT EVENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 IMPORTANT EVENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 OVERVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334 OVERVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 TOPICS IN RELIGION TOPICS IN MUSIC The State Church in Early-Modern Origins and Elements of the Baroque Europe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 The Thirty Years’ War and Its Aftermath . . . . 341 vi Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: The Age of the Baroque and Enlightenment (1600–1800) 69742_AHTE_EEfm_iv-xxxii.qxd 9/21/04 1:34 PM Page vii Contents The English Civil Wars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344 SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE The Restoration Settlement in England. . . . . . 348 Aphra Behn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448 Catholic Culture in the Age of the Pedro Calderón de la Barca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449 Baroque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352 Pierre Corneille . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451 Protestant Culture in the Seventeenth Nell Gwyn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452 Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 DOCUMENTARY SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452 Free Will Versus Predestination in the Dutch Republic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 CHAPTER 9: VISUAL ARTS Jansenism and the Jesuits in France. . . . . . . . . 361 IMPORTANT EVENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456 Magic and Witchcraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 Pietism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 OVERVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 Christianity, Science, and the TOPICS IN VISUAL ARTS Enlightenment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 The Renaissance Legacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462 Christianity in the Revolutionary Era . . . . . . . 382 The Counter Reformation’s Impact on Art . . . . 464 SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE Elements of the Baroque Style . . . . . . . . . . . . 466 Realism and Emotional Expressivity . . . . . . . . 470 Jacobus Arminius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 The Caravaggisti. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 Cornelius Jansen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 Sculpture in Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476 William Laud. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 The Baroque Matures in Italy. . . . . . . . . . . . . 481 John Wesley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 Baroque Classicism in France. . . . . . . . . . . . . 483 DOCUMENTARY SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 Painting in the Low Countries. . . . . . . . . . . . 488 Spanish Painting in the Seventeenth CHAPTER 8: THEATER Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498 IMPORTANT EVENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394 The Rococo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501 OVERVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 The Decorative Arts in Eighteenth- Century Europe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504 TOPICS IN THEATER Neoclassicism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 The Commercial Theater in Early Seventeenth-Century England. . . . . . . . . . . 401 SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE Court Spectacle in Stuart England . . . . . . . . . 410 Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. . . . . . . . . 513 Theater in Golden-Age Spain. . . . . . . . . . . . . 411 Jacques-Louis David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515 The French Stage at the Beginning of the Artemisia Gentileschi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516 Baroque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414 Rembrandt van Rhijn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517 Neoclassicism in Seventeenth-Century Peter Paul Rubens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518 Paris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 DOCUMENTARY SOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 The Legacy of Corneille, Racine, and Molière. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418 GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521 Theater and Stagecraft in Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . 422 FURTHER REFERENCES. . . . . . . . . . . . 529 Restoration Drama in England. . . . . . . . . . . . 425 The Hanoverian Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 MEDIA AND ONLINE SOURCES . . . . 541 Central Europe Comes of Age . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 The French Enlightenment and Drama. . . . . . 439 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547 The Rise of Revolutionary Sentiment in France and Its Impact on the Theater . . . . . 444 INDEX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: The Age of the Baroque and Enlightenment (1600–1800) vii 69742_AHTE_EEfm_iv-xxxii.qxd 9/21/04 1:34 PM Page ix \ A B O U T T H E B O O K SEEING HISTORY FROM A DIFFERENT ANGLE. An Although treated in separate chapters, the connections education in history involves more than facts concern- between these topics are highlighted both in the text and ing the rise and fall of kings, the conquest of lands, and through the use of “See Also” references to give the reader the major battles fought between nations. While these a broad perspective on the culture of the time period. events are pivotal to the study of any time period, the Readers can learn about the impact of religion on liter- cultural aspects are of equal value in understanding the ature; explore the close relationships between dance, development of societies. Various forms of literature, music, and theater; and see parallel movements in ar- the philosophical ideas developed, and even the type of chitecture and visual arts. The development of each of clothes worn in a particular era provide important clues these fields is discussed within the context of important about the values of a society, and when these arts and historical events so that the reader can see history from humanities are studied in conjunction with political and a different angle. This angle is unique to this reference historical events a more complete picture of that society work. Most history books about a particular time period is revealed. This inter-disciplinary approach to studying only give a passing glance to the arts and humanities in history is at the heart of the Arts and Humanities Through an effort to give the broadest historical treatment possi- the Eras project. Patterned in its organization after the ble. Those reference books that do cover the arts and successful American Decades, American Eras, and World humanities tend to cover only one of them, generally Eras products, this reference work aims to expose the across multiple time periods, making it difficult to draw reader to an in-depth perspective on a particular era in connections between disciplines and limiting the per- history through the study of nine different arts and spective of the discipline’s impact on a specific era. In humanities topics: Arts and Humanities Through the Eras each of the nine • Architecture and Design disciplines is given substantial treatment in individual chapters, and the focus on one era ensures that the analy- • Dance sis will be thorough. • Fashion AUDIENCEANDORGANIZATION.Arts and Human- • Literature ities Through the Eras is designed to meet the needs of • Music both the beginning and the advanced history student. • Philosophy The material is written by subject experts and covers a vast array of concepts and masterworks, yet these con- • Religion cepts are built “from the ground up” so that a reader • Theater with little or no background in history can follow them. • Visual Arts Technical terms and other definitions appear both in the ix 69742_AHTE_EEfm_iv-xxxii.qxd 9/21/04 1:34 PM Page x About the Book text and in the glossary, and the background of historical sites are subject to change and may become obsolete in events is also provided. The organization of the volume the future. facilitates learning at all levels by presenting information PRIMARY DOCUMENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. In in a variety of ways. Each chapter is organized accord- an effort to provide the most in-depth perspective pos- ing to the following structure: sible, Arts and Humanities Through the Erasalso includes • Chronology covering the important events in that numerous primary documents from the time period, discipline during that era offering a first-hand account of the culture from the people who lived in it. Letters, poems, essays, epitaphs, • Brief overview of the development of that disci- and songs are just some of the multitude of document pline at the time types included in this volume, all of which illuminate • Topics that highlight the movements, schools of some aspect of the discipline being discussed. The text thought, and masterworks that characterize the is further enhanced by 150 illustrations, maps, and line discipline during that era drawings that bring a visual dimension to the learning experience. • Biographies of significant people in that discipline • Documentary sources contemporary to the time CONTACT INFORMATION. The editors welcome your comments and suggestions for enhancing and im- period proving Arts and Humanities Through the Eras. Please This structure facilitates comparative analysis, both be- mail comments or suggestions to: tween disciplines and also between volumes of Arts and The Editor Humanities Through the Eras, each of which covers a different era. In addition, readers can access additional Arts and Humanities Through the Eras research opportunities by looking at the “Further Refer- Thomson Gale ences” and “Media and Online Sources” that appear at 27500 Drake Rd. the back of the volume. While every effort was made to Farmington Hills, MI 48331-3535 include only those online sources that are connected to institutions such as museums and universities, the web- Phone: (800) 347-4253 x Arts and Humanities Through the Eras: The Age of the Baroque and Enlightenment (1600–1800) 69742_AHTE_EEfm_iv-xxxii.qxd 9/21/04 1:34 PM Page xi \ C O N T R I B U TO R S Andrew E. Barnesreceived the Ph.D. in history from Renaissance(Cornell, 1992); The Philosopher’s Game Princeton University in history in 1983. He taught at (Michigan, 2001); and a translation of Raffaele Bran- Carnegie-Mellon University for a number of years before dolini’s On Music and Poetry(Medieval and Renaissance accepting his current position at Arizona State Univer- Texts and Studies, Vol. 323). Originally trained as a sity in Tempe in 1995. His books include The Social musician, Moyer continues to read widely in the history Dimension of Piety(Paulist Press, 1994) and Social His- and musicology of Western music. tory and Issues in Human Consciousness(NYU, 1989) with Peter Stearns. He has published many articles on Philip M. Soergel, Editor,received the Ph.D. in history the religious history of early-modern France, and has from the University of Michigan in 1988, and has been more recently turned to examine European missionizing a member of the Department of History at Arizona efforts in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Africa. State University since 1989. There he is responsible for Currently, he is completing a history of Western mis- teaching courses on the Renaissance, the Reformation, sions in Nigeria, where he served as a senior Fulbright and early-modern Europe. From 1993–1995, he was a lecturer during 1992–1993. member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Prince- ton, and he has also held fellowships from the Friedrich Ann E. Moyerreceived the Ph.D. in history from the Uni- Ebert and Woodrow Wilson foundations, the American versity of Michigan in 1987, and taught at the Univer- Philosophical Society, and the National Endowment sity of Chicago and the University of California, Santa for the Humanities. He has twice served as a visiting Barbara, before accepting her current position at the professor at the University of Bielefeld in Germany. University of Pennsylvania. Moyer was also a member Professor Soergel’s research interests lie in the history of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton from of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, particu- 1994–1996, and has held numerous fellowships. Her larly in their use of miracles as propaganda. His books scholarship focuses on the intellectual history of the later include Wondrous in His Saints: Counter-Reformation Italian Renaissance. She has published widely on the Propaganda in Bavaria(California, 1993); the forth- place of music in humanism and is now researching the coming Miracles and the Protestant Imagination; and birth of the social sciences in the period. Her books in- the Renaissance volume in Thomson-Gale’s Arts and clude Musica Scientia: Musical Scholarship in the Italian Humanities Through the Erasseries. xi 69742_AHTE_EEfm_iv-xxxii.qxd 9/21/04 1:34 PM Page xiii \ E R A O V E RV I E W ONE PERIOD, MANY DESCRIPTIONS. The seven- “in search of stability.” In more poetic terms, too, it has teenth and eighteenth centuries have long been described even been dubbed the “Iron Century.” The eighteenth as the culmination of the “early-modern world,” a des- century, though, generally fares considerably better in ignation that calls attention to the period’s role in form- such summations, for it has most often been called the ing the institutions, economies, and societies that we “Age of Reason,” or the “Century of Light.” The fun- associate with the modern West. The rise of science and damental disparity of these terms points to an underly- technology, the birth of industrial capitalism, and the ing fact about the two centuries. Although many appearance of new political theories that eventually in- common threads link them, both periods have their own spired the French and American Revolutionaries were distinctive character, but a character that is hard to sum just a few of the many important developments in the up in the description of a few words. This book pri- years that anticipated the consumer-oriented, mass marily treats artistic and intellectual developments in democracies of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Eu- these two centuries, and consequently the text engages rope. At the same time the early-modern period was a in discussion of political, social, and economic changes curious amalgam of the old and the new, and for this only when they are necessary to illuminate cultural de- reason historians have coined numerous terms and velopments. Consequently, we have avoided those labels phrases in the hopes of describing its many conflicting that call attention to political, religious, or social issues features. Many scholars have long referred to both the in the period, and have instead decided to opt for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as “Europe of the title, “The Age of Baroque and Enlightenment,” a title Old Regime,” a phrase that draws attention to the wide- that calls attention to the two pervasive cultural move- spread religious intolerance, economic inequities, aristo- ments of the age, movements that had far-reaching ef- cratic dominance, and political absolutism that were fects on intellectual life and the arts. realities in the period. The challenge of finding a suit- able terminology to describe these centuries has also led THE ORIGINS OF THE BAROQUE. Like the term historians to separate the seventeenth century from the “Gothic,” the word “Baroque” was originally a pejorative eighteenth that followed it. The earlier century, for ex- term used to condemn the arts of seventeenth- and early ample, has often been treated in ways that call attention eighteenth-century Europe. The word may derive from to its many religious conflicts, its authoritarian political a Portuguese word barroco that had long been used to systems, and the generally dismal tenor of life. It has describe pearls that were rough and heavily encrusted been described, for instance, as the Age of Absolutism, with sediment. Or its origins might lie in the Italian the Age of Religious Wars, or the Age of Confessions. baroco, a term that referred to a thorny problem in logic. Some historians have treated this same period as the Its use can be first traced to the 1730s, when it began to “Crisis of the Seventeenth Century,” or a time that was be used almost simultaneously to describe both music xiii

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