Abstract

Musical performance was a regular feature of nineteenth-century magic shows, its role in some ways resembling the music accompanying melodramas and stage plays. But it also functioned as the magician’s secret yet audible accomplice, at once entertaining and distracting the spectator. In this talk, I examine music in stage magic, focusing on its structural, affective, and misdirectional functions and linking nineteenth-century methods to contemporary practices.

Short bio

Jessie Fillerup is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Richmond and an AIAS fellow from 2018–2020. Her research focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century music, opera, and musical temporality. She is completing a book on French composer Maurice Ravel titled Magician of Sound: Ravel and the Aesthetics of Illusion and writing the first narrative account of music in theatrical magic shows.

See Jessie Fillerup's project at AIAS

What is a Fellows' Seminar?

The AIAS Fellows' Seminar is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellow or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, one fellow will present and discuss his/her current research and research project, closing off with a question and discussion session.

All seminars are held in English and open to the public. Registration to the seminar is not necessary.