8/30/2023 0 Comments Frederic chopin composition![]() ![]() Drawing on insider experience and secondary source material, this paper examines nostalgia for WOW’s soundtrack through the concepts of immersive engagement and diaspora. Though the current number of users (the population) is just over 5 million, the number of former users exceeds 100 million. World of Warcraft (WOW) is the most successful virtual world to date. Here musical soundscape plays an integral role - referencing ‘real world’ precedent, and informing ‘authentic’ fantasy experience. Vital to the success of any virtual world (game or not) is an immersive experience for the user. Despite their historic displacement and continued marginalisation, you are empowered and compelled to resist and mobilise with the other ‘heroes’ of your faction’s races to collectively avoid subjugation and ultimately conquer this immersive, dynamic and brutal world. Here, you quickly become aware of the plight of your chosen people – Orcs. ![]() ![]() Through your personalised avatar you are then thrust into the world of Azeroth, just one of several ‘worlds’ in the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, World of Warcraft (WOW). You sign-in to your new account and are prompted to create an avatar from a limited choice of factionalised humanoid ‘races’ and the associated genders, fighting classes, visual features, and name options. That such sentiments may still be heard to this day makes one question whether a body of work may ever be separated from the body that produced it. In particular, the apparent divisions between the Classical and Romantic schools of music. Alongside this core theme, the article considers some of the other preoccupations that may have played a part in the construction of Chopin’s reception. Taken as a whole, this image encapsulates a sense of masculinity itself, pronounced and projected within nineteenth century music criticism. It surveys a selection of press reviews and testimonies, alongside early Chopin biographies, in order to establish how the image of Chopin developed relative to physical weaknesses and (an apparent lack of) masculinity. This article considers how Chopin’s masculinity was constructed during his life and following his death. The reception of one composer, however, seems unique in this regard observations about Frédéric Chopin's physical identity, and perceptions about his masculinity, significantly impacted upon the appreciation and understanding of his music, ultimately colouring the ways in which his works have been viewed. In the world of classical music, a composer’s body rarely figures in the reception of their compositions. ![]()
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