ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the power of music as it is exerted in each of these different domains and examines a remarkable new insight into the power of music on the brain that has come to light in recent years. There are many aspects to the political power of music, and they involve questions of nationalism, class and identity. Perhaps the most popular perception of music's power is as a force acting upon or representing emotions such as love, hate, fear, joy and sadness. An investigation into the changing uses and meanings of the British National Anthem over the past three centuries reveals the various ways in which the power of music can be harnessed to politics. The chapter focuses on music's moral power as it was perceived in the nineteenth century, in the light of what are often referred to as 'Victorian values'. Holman Hunt's painting The Awakening Conscience illustrates the spiritually transforming effect of music.
