German pianist Anna Caroline de Belleville was one of the foremost virtuoso pianists in the 1820s and 1830s, deemed the “Chamber Virtuoso of Her Royal Highness” by Princess Louise of Prussia and “Queen of the Piano” by Paganini. Although a few modern biographical accounts provide an overview of her life and career, there has been no critical examination of her virtuosity within the context of early nineteenth-century performance culture. Drawing on periodicals, magazines, correspondence, memoirs, and contemporary writings, this article reconstructs Belleville’s early career and illustrates her significance by examining her strategic programming, pianism, and reception. I argue that Belleville’s reorientation of her public concert repertory in the mid-1830s, particularly her incorporation of works considered “classical” or “serious,” enabled her to mediate the conflicting musical tastes of her critics and audiences, and to reinvent herself as a pianist renowned not for a bravura style but for a versatile, eclectic virtuosity centering on the faithful interpretation of “serious” works. This course of action marked Belleville as a significant forerunner to the interpreter-performer pianists who came to dominate the virtuoso scene from the mid-nineteenth century onward.
Constructing a Versatile Virtuoso Persona: Anna Caroline de Belleville and Mediating the Competing Tastes of Critics and Audiences
Peng Liu is a lecturer in musicology at the University of Texas at Austin. His writings have appeared in Notes, Journal of Central Conservatory of Music, Journal of Tianjin Conservatory of Music, and Music Culture Studies. Liu’s research interests include piano music and performance culture, women musicians, Asian American music and identity politics, and music and meaning. His research has been supported by grants and fellowships from UT-Austin, the American Musicological Society, and Music & Letters.
Peng Liu; Constructing a Versatile Virtuoso Persona: Anna Caroline de Belleville and Mediating the Competing Tastes of Critics and Audiences. Journal of Musicology 1 January 2023; 40 (1): 73–102. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/jm.2023.40.1.73
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