The Canaries are Dead! Aviculture, Excitement, and Loss in Eighteenth-Century Germany

Description

Hanß, Stefan, “The Canaries are Dead! Aviculture, Excitement, and Loss in Eighteenth-Century Germany”, in: Materialized Identities: Objects, Affects and Effects in Early Modern Culture, 1450–1750, https://www.materializedidentities.com/single-post/2017/10/11/The-Canaries-are-Dead-Aviculture-Excitement-and-Loss-in-Eighteenth-Century-Germany. [→]

In 1750/51, a tragedy took place at the court of Duke Charles Eugene of Württemberg and his wife, Duchess Elisabeth Fredericka Sophie of Brandenburg-Bayreuth: all their cherished canary birds died under mysterious circumstances! A discussion of this incident, I argue, helps to unveil the significance and emotional appeal of these plumed creatures in eighteenth-century German court culture. These animals were not simply held as livestock, pets or exotic symbols as one might deduce from current historiography; rather court society appreciated its emotional interaction with such birds that enabled communication across and alongside courtly hierarchies. Valued for their feathers, voice and offspring, protagonists at the court of Württemberg invested time, money, efforts and emotions into their interactions with canaries. The courtly community staged, performed and instantiated emotional bonds through canary bird breeding and these birds’ training in singing and bodily closeness with human beings: In mid-eighteenth-century Württemberg, a group of aviarists cultivated emotional excitement, affective ties, and bodily as well as sensory closeness with canaries for they shared an enthusiasm for canary bird breeding. Consequently, aviculture served to cause the desirable characteristics of these scarce yet increasingly popular bird; and thereby canary bird breeding cultivated emotional and affective spheres in the interaction with plumed creatures at court.