With the bicentennial of Hans Christian Andersen's birth in 2005, there is still much about the writer that is not yet common knowledge. This book explores a single aspect of that void - his interest in and relationship to the musical culture of nineteenth-century Europe.Why look to Andersen as a barometer of musical taste? He enjoyed a brief career as an opera singer and dancer at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen and in later years went on to produce opera libretti for the Danish and German stage. Andersen also made thirty European tours during his seventy years, and on each of these trips he regularly attended opera and concert performances, recording his impressions in a series of travel diaries. In short, Andersen was a well-informed listener and, as this book reveals, his reflections on the music of his age serve as valuable sources for the study of music reception in the nineteenth century.

Anna Harwell Celenza is Associate Professor at the School of Music, Michigan State University, USA.