Not so long ago, the music industry was a "closed club". It was hard to get into it, and public taste was controlled by a small group."enlightenedΒ» experts.
But every year the opinion of the elites becomes less and less valuable, and playlists and algorithms have replaced the critics. Let's tell how it happened.
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Music industry before the 19th century
In the European music world for a long time there were no rules, hierarchy and division into professions that we are used to. There was not even a model of musical education familiar to us. The role of music schools was often played by churches, where children studied under the guidance of an organist - this is how the ten-year-old Bach received his education.
The word "conservatory" appeared in the 16th century and meant where pupils were taught music. Conservatories that correspond to the modern definition of the term - with an entrance competition, a clear educational program and career prospects - spread throughout Europe only in the 19th century.
Composer activity for a long time was also not particularly prestigious. Many of the now popular classics made a living as performers, conductors and teachers.
Before Bach's music was popularized by Mendelssohn, the composer was remembered primarily as an outstanding teacher.
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The biggest customers of music were the church and the nobility. The first needed spiritual works, the second - in entertainment. It was they who controlled what kind of music the world listened to - even if they themselves were superficial about music.
Moreover, at that time the life cycle of each composition was, by modern standards, very short. "Rock stars" then were virtuosos - touring musicians who demonstrated outstanding technical abilities. They updated their repertoire every year - new works were expected from them in the new season.
That is why, as Cambridge professor and pianist John Rink (John Rink) in his essay from the collection "The Cambridge History of Music", composers often divided their work into short-lived "hits" for the repertoire of concert performers and long-playing "imperishable". The production of music in such a context got up on the conveyor.
The birth of academic music
The established order began to change at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, when the very attitude of educated Europeans towards music changed. Thanks to romantic trends, the concept of . The elites began to see in the European culture of instrumental works something absolute, different from the trends of changeable fashion.
Now we call this approach to music academic.
Like any noble pursuit, "high" music needed systems to maintain and protect its purity. This was taken up by wealthy patrons of the arts (from nobles and industrialists to kings), whose became more prestigious than ever.
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It was with their money that educational institutions and cultural institutions were built, which are now the core of the classical musical world. Thus, the elite not only defended its place in European musical culture, but also took its development under its control.
Music criticism and journalism
The first newspapers that published reviews of musical works also began to be published at the end of the 18th century - at about the same time as the conservatories, philharmonics and music schools familiar to us appeared. If educational institutions set the bar for performing and composing quality, then critics questioned it.
Their task - to distinguish the eternal from the transitory - emphasized the timelessness of high music in the academic tradition. Already in the twentieth century, guitarist Frank Zappa caustically remarked that "talking about music is like dancing about architecture." And quite justifiably.
Music criticism originates in musicology, aesthetics and philosophy. In order to write a good review, you need to have knowledge in all three areas. The critic must understand the technical aspects of the work of a musician and composer, make aesthetic judgments and feel the connection of the work with the "absolute" - beyond the specifics. All this makes music criticism a very specific genre.
Soon after its appearance, music criticism flowed from specialized publications to the pages of the popular press - music critics managed to establish themselves as an integral part of journalistic culture. Prior to the spread of sound recordings, music journalists reviewed performances, particularly premieres.
The reaction of critics to the premiere of the composition could determine its further fate. For example, after Rachmaninov's first symphony on the pages of the St. Petersburg edition of Novosti i Birzhevaya Gazeta, the work was not performed until the composer's death.
Given the need to understand the technical side of composing, the role of critics was often played by the composers themselves. The review mentioned above was written by - Member of the Mighty Bunch. Also famous for their reviews were and Schumann.
Music journalism became an important element in the new musical ecosystem of the 19th century. And, like other aspects of this fledgling "industry," it too was controlled by an educated, privileged elite with academic standards.
In the twentieth century, the situation will change dramatically: technology will replace the elites, replacing composers-critics with professional music journalists and DJs.
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We will tell about what interesting things happened to music criticism during this period in our next article. We will try to prepare it as soon as possible.
PS Our recent material series "Β».
Source: habr.com