Performing Antiquity

Dorf considers carefully the first Delphic hymn and the way Théodore Reinach edited it... this book sheds light on a particular small world of scientists and artists, who shared a passion for Antiquity and who regularly met in the Parisian salons... well documented and stimulating analyses. * Sylvain Perrot, CNRS, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Recommended. * K.J. Wetmore Jr., CHOICE *
His book assembles an archive and lends it voice, allowing a history to sing. This performance shocks me — to action, to activism, and to repair. * Campbell Shiflett, Notes *
The past cannot be revived. Lost works are lost, which is a good thing, Samuel Dorf argues, because they can only live again in the imagination. New performances feed on the fears, the hopes, and the love of musicians, dancers, and scholars alike. Dorf's conclusion is sublime, his chapter on Greek music and dance in queer salons deeply affecting. Plus his reflections on the history of musicology and the nature and purpose of archival research prove unsettling. A provocative, unique, and essential read. * Simon Morrison, Professor of Music and Slavic Languages and Literatures, Princeton University *
Deeply engaged, fascinating portrait of the Belle Epoque attraction to the ancient world. Here the star is not Isadora Duncan, a shadowy presence, but an interconnected group of enthusiasts linked by a similar passion for modern reenactments. Framed by the scholarly interests and agendas of the Reinach brothers, Salomon and Théodore, the book explores their collaborations with composers Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Emmanuel, Natalie Barney's backyard, Sapphic performances for tout Paris, and the first Delphic Festivals in Greece (late 1920s). One can't help but sense a little of the author in these charming, empathetic stories of archival 'voyeurism.' As insightful and sophisticated as pleasurable to read with its rare, period photographs. * Jann Pasler, Distinguished Professor of Music, University of California, San Diego *
Like a sudden aerolith alighting in some historian's surprised garden, Dorf's glowing book gives us an alternative history of turn-of-the-century Europe filled with earnest lesbians and archaeologists, hidden pianos in neo-Delian villas, visionary dancers, and an exuberant arc of musical and artistic fantasy about ancient Greece that returns us to the wonder of a period a hundred years behind us, yet which still invites us to ask who we are and what we love. * Carlo Caballero, Associate Professor of Music, Erma Mantey Faculty Fellow *