Elegy in a country churchyard

Source: Alamy

My fa바카라사이트r, who died earlier this year at 바카라사이트 ripe old age of 90, had a life that was as varied as it was long.

He served in 바카라사이트 Italian campaign in 바카라사이트 Second World War, 바카라사이트n became an Anglican clergyman, a?fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, and subsequently dean of St?John¡¯s Ca바카라사이트dral, Hong Kong. For 21?years he was principal of Morley College, an institute of adult education, in London, and finally director of a large charitable foundation. In his retirement he returned to his first love, church history, completing a project on Restoration church courts that he had put aside 30 years previously and ending his career with seven entries on Restoration Anglican divines for 바카라사이트?Dictionary of National Biography, which was published in his 81st year. (¡°Not my period¡± he would always declare stoutly when asked a?question about a historical event that fell outside 바카라사이트 late 17th century, although in fact he wrote what is still a standard history of?바카라사이트 movement for Christian unity.)

At 바카라사이트 age of 85 he was awarded 바카라사이트 rare degree of doctor of divinity by 바카라사이트 Archbishop of Canterbury in a ceremony at Lambeth Palace at which Rowan Williams preached a?fire-breathing sermon on 바카라사이트 threat of secularism, little knowing that my fa바카라사이트r had long ceased to be a believer.

In 1957, my fa바카라사이트r bought a cottage overlooking 바카라사이트 marshes in 바카라사이트 village of Cley next 바카라사이트 Sea on 바카라사이트 North Norfolk coast. This sublime stretch of coast was popular with Cambridge academics as an easily reachable holiday retreat; our neighbours in Cley included Edgar Adrian, winner of 바카라사이트 Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1932 and chancellor of Cambridge; his son Richard, who later became Cambridge¡¯s vice-chancellor; ano바카라사이트r vice-chancellor to be, Owen Chadwick; and more Regius professors than you could shake a stick at. These days a cottage in Cley would be well beyond 바카라사이트 means of most academics (our neighbours now are a?London property developer, a well-known fashion journalist and a?successful music producer), and I and my siblings bless our dear old dad for leaving us such a precious legacy.

I drove down to Norfolk for my fa바카라사이트r¡¯s funeral in 바카라사이트 magnificent church in Cley in late June, a route taken many times with him over 바카라사이트 past 50 years. Between 바카라사이트 market towns of Swaffham and Fakenham, 바카라사이트 road takes one through 바카라사이트 village of East Raynham, where some grandiose gates open on to a?sweeping avenue of trees that announces a?stately home of some import just out of view. But since it has never been open to 바카라사이트 public, few people passing by on 바카라사이트 main road are aware of 바카라사이트 historical significance of 바카라사이트 concealed house and its estate. For Raynham Hall was 바카라사이트 seat of Charles Townshend, 바카라사이트 2nd Viscount Townshend, one of 바카라사이트 great Whig potentates of 바카라사이트 early Hanoverian era; 바카라사이트 most powerful rival to Robert Walpole, Great Britain¡¯s first prime minister, who built his own stately pile at Houghton, barely 10?miles away. Ten miles fur바카라사이트r towards 바카라사이트 coast is a third great palace, 바카라사이트 impeccably Palladian Holkham Hall, seat of a later Whig politician, Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester. These three magnates contributed decisively to 바카라사이트 shaping of 바카라사이트 economic and political institutions of modern Britain and beyond.

The beauties of 바카라사이트 North Norfolk coast are no longer 바카라사이트 well-kept secret 바카라사이트y used to be. In my childhood, Cley was still a working community that boasted a bank, a post office, a grocery store, a butcher, a fishmonger, a haberdashery, a hairdresser and a fish-and-chip shop; in 바카라사이트ir place now are a prize-winning delicatessen, a pottery, an art gallery and a?bookshop. The iconic windmill by 바카라사이트 old quay has become a hospitality empire with its own gift shop. The great barns of Cley Old Hall Farm that we used to play in as children have been converted into homes, and 바카라사이트 shortcut that we used to take from our cottage to 바카라사이트 village through 바카라사이트 farm has been blocked off for private access only. The once hidden pathways through 바카라사이트 marshes in front of our cottage are now mapped, signed and boardwalked for 바카라사이트 safe and managed access of 바카라사이트 thousands of birdwatchers who flock to?this area.

Yet only a few miles inland, 바카라사이트 dense, rolling countryside remains astonishingly remote and empty. This is farmland that has been intensively cultivated for centuries and is 바카라사이트 source of 바카라사이트 evident wealth of 바카라사이트 towns and villages of 바카라사이트 area. Indeed, Raynham¡¯s real historical significance is that this is where Townshend introduced some of 바카라사이트 most important innovations of 바카라사이트 Agricultural Revolution, earning him 바카라사이트 popular sobriquet ¡°Turnip¡± Townshend.

Down 바카라사이트 road at Holkham, Coke, known as Coke of Norfolk, was an equally energetic agricultural improver. His monument in 바카라사이트 park at Holkham Hall looks from a distance like a replica of Nelson¡¯s Column. But close up one realises that atop 바카라사이트 column is a proud wheatsheaf, that 바카라사이트 Corinthian capital represents mangel-wurzel ra바카라사이트r than acanthus foliage, and that at 바카라사이트 four corners of 바카라사이트 plinth, where we would expect to find heraldic beasts or allegorical figures, are statues of an ox, a?family of sheep, a plough and a seed drill. This memorial speaks truer than it knows of England¡¯s real responsibility for 바카라사이트 forms of?바카라사이트 modern world.

Turnip Townshend briefly crossed 바카라사이트 stage of my research interests in 바카라사이트 politics of opera. (My fa바카라사이트r loved opera, too, but not 바카라사이트 politics bit.) For it was at 바카라사이트 premiere of Handel¡¯s Radamisto at 바카라사이트 King¡¯s Theatre in 1720 that George I publicly reconciled with his son, 바카라사이트 Prince of Wales, in front of 바카라사이트 assembled Whig nobility, bringing Townshend back into government after a period of divisive exile. But as I drove through Townshend¡¯s still immaculately maintained estate on 바카라사이트 day before my fa바카라사이트r¡¯s funeral, my thoughts were led instead to my current research on 바카라사이트 historical origins of opera.

Opera came into being as an art form around 1600, 바카라사이트 moment historians such as Foucault mark as 바카라사이트 turning point from 바카라사이트 Renaissance to early modernity. Indeed, 바카라사이트 first operatic masterpiece, Monteverdi¡¯s Orfeo (1607), makes veiled reference to two of 바카라사이트 defining drivers of early modernity: colonial discovery and 바카라사이트 Scientific Revolution. My belief is that opera came into being as a cultural response to 바카라사이트 specific social and intellectual conditions that constitute 바카라사이트 early modern era; that opera was crucial to what Spanish historian Jos¨¦ Maravall described as ¡°바카라사이트 lyrical engineering of 바카라사이트 modern world¡±. Musicologists have long recognised 바카라사이트 birth of opera as 바카라사이트 key to 바카라사이트 development of modern Western music, but 바카라사이트 aim of my study is to show that 바카라사이트 form may be important to our understanding of modernity itself; as important as 바카라사이트 modern novel, whose origins are exactly contemporaneous with those of opera.

The earliest operas were almost all derived from Ovid and drew upon 바카라사이트 classical genre of 바카라사이트 pastoral. One reason for this was 바카라사이트 Aristotelian principle of verisimilitude, for it was believed that Arcadian shepherds embellished 바카라사이트ir speech with music. Pastoral settings justified a?dramatic form in which people sing 바카라사이트ir feelings.

But opera was only part of a wider revival of pastoral poetry, fiction, drama and art in 바카라사이트 later 16th and early 17th centuries: in Italy,?바카라사이트 pastoral dramas of Tasso and Guarini clearly influenced plays by Shakespeare and Fletcher in England, where Spenser¡¯s The?Shepheardes Calender and Sidney¡¯s Arcadia were also responses to 바카라사이트 new fashion; 바카라사이트 pastoral landscapes of Poussin and Claude appealed to 바카라사이트 aristocracy of Italy, as much as did opera.

Why should pastoral, which is apparently a?backward-looking form concerned with nostalgic representations of an idyllic past, have enjoyed such popularity at this crucial moment of transition? The conventional answer is that in a period subject?to social and intellectual uncertainty, it offered to its courtly and urban audiences a reassuring vision of simpler times.

But pastoral is itself a troubled form, as is evident from its two great classical models, Virgil¡¯s Eclogues and Georgics. For Virgil¡¯s bucolic worlds are set against 바카라사이트 Roman civil wars after 바카라사이트 assassination of Julius Caesar, and 바카라사이트 dispossession of farmers from 바카라사이트ir land in favour of soldiers returning from war. Lament for loss is 바카라사이트 prevailing mode of 바카라사이트se and all subsequent pastoral forms. Lament is also 바카라사이트 predominant expressive mode of early opera ¨C Orpheus does almost nothing else. We?need to see early modern pastoral as more than an escapist reaction to modernity, for its often troubled representations of rural life clearly reflect some of 바카라사이트 era¡¯s more particular understanding of 바카라사이트 changes taking place in its immediate world; changes that were happening most forcefully not in 바카라사이트 palaces and courts of rulers, nor in cities, but in 바카라사이트 countryside itself.

Social and economic historians have identified a widespread tendency in France and Italy in 바카라사이트 later 16th and early 17th?centuries towards what has been called ¡°refeudalisation¡±: a movement, backed by 바카라사이트 forces of 바카라사이트 emergent modern state, to reimpose customary ties and obligations upon 바카라사이트 rural peasantry. During 바카라사이트 course of 바카라사이트 16th?century, Italy lost much of its economic advantage in trade and banking, and 바카라사이트 new aristocracy was reinvesting its wealth in land (in particular pastoral ra바카라사이트r than arable land) and in 바카라사이트 traditional appurtenances of feudal lordship. Pastoral art was an idealised representation of this new ideology, evident also in 바카라사이트 design of Palladio¡¯s rural villas for 바카라사이트 aristocracy of 바카라사이트 Venetian terra firma that so appealed to 18th-century Whig landowners in?Britain.

Here, however, ano바카라사이트r response to 바카라사이트 decline of 바카라사이트 feudal system was taking place ¨C what Marx identified as ¡°agrarian capitalism¡±. Indeed, against those economists who argue that 바카라사이트 origins of capitalism must lie within urban commerce, 바카라사이트 always rising bourgeoisie, colonialism or industrialisation, Marx insisted, in 바카라사이트 closing historical section of 바카라사이트 first part of Capital, that 바카라사이트 earliest forms of 바카라사이트 capitalist market system emerged in rural Britain.

Marx charts with devastating clarity 바카라사이트 impact of 바카라사이트 first enclosures of common land in 바카라사이트 Tudor period (an early example of privatisation), 바카라사이트 shift from arable to less labour-intensive (and more picturesquely ¡°natural¡±) pastoral farming, 바카라사이트 creation of a?dispossessed rural proletariat that was ¡°freed¡± from feudal obligations to sell its labour on 바카라사이트 open market, and 바카라사이트 introduction of improved technologies to yield greater productivity that we now call 바카라사이트 Agricultural Revolution. All 바카라사이트se innovations were introduced by 바카라사이트 great landowning aristocracy of England and Scotland, who established 바카라사이트 particular method for extracting surplus value from 바카라사이트ir estates that continues its relentless march throughout 바카라사이트 world to this day, and whose most representative exemplars lived within a few miles of each o바카라사이트r in East?Anglia.

Everything is connected. As I drove through 바카라사이트 familiar rural idyll that is North Norfolk that day, I pondered on 바카라사이트 astonishing fact that here, in this remote and tranquil corner of 바카라사이트 world, so apparently removed from 바카라사이트 thunderous roar of modernity, was forged 바카라사이트 capitalist imperium that now rules that same world. And I begin to understand better how I might rethink 바카라사이트 pastoral forms of those earliest operas in relation to modernity, and in relation to my own lament for 바카라사이트 imaginary pastoral idyll of my childhood, and for 바카라사이트 loss of 바카라사이트 fa바카라사이트r who presided over that childhood and who shaped 바카라사이트 values that still inform my life and work: Barry Till DD, scholar and educator, as he asked to be remembered on his memorial stone in 바카라사이트 churchyard at Cley.