Linkage between high-art music and social classes explained

Schrödinger's Hepcat Number of posts: 4489 Registration date: 2008-04-28

Just fooling around here. It's raw, but you never know, I might be onto something. It could be a thesis for somebody:

Dark ages (up to about 1350)
-- composers: Catholic clergy
-- performers: monks
-- patron: Catholic church
-- audience: Catholics
-- representative music form: The Mass

Renaissance period (1350 to 1550)
-- composers: servant-class professionals and their aristocrat pupils
-- performers: royal and aristocratic amateurs and their servants
-- patron: same as performers
-- audience: same as performers
-- representative music form: dances and fantasia-like pieces

Baroque period (1550 to 1750)
-- composers: servant-class professionals
-- performers: the composer and his hirelings
-- patrons: aristocracy
-- audience: aristocracy
-- representative music form: concerto and concerto grosso

Classical, including Romantic and all that (1750 to 1950)
-- composers: independent, with patron or teaching job
-- performers: professional orchestras and ensembles
-- patrons: aristocracy and beurgeoisie
-- audience: same as patron
-- representative music form: symphony and other sonata-form works

Era of mass entertainment (1950 to present)
-- composers: whoever
-- performers: whoever
-- patrons: capitalists
-- audience: the masses
-- representative music form: same as folk music

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I don't do it for the money, babe. I do it to entertain people.-- Susan Boyle

King of Pop Gender: Number of posts: 3131 Registration date: 2008-05-05

I make a distinction between the western folk song and the pop song, the western folk song being typified by verse-refrain repeat and the pop song typified by intro verse chorus verse chorus bridge verse chorus instrumental solo verse chorus outro or a variation thereof.

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The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.

Schrödinger's Hepcat Number of posts: 4489 Registration date: 2008-04-28

Uzi wrote:

I make a distinction between the western folk song and the pop song, the western folk song being typified by verse-refrain repeat and the pop song typified by intro verse chorus verse chorus bridge verse chorus instrumental solo verse chorus outro or a variation thereof.

Yeahbut--the pop song has been in decline since the '60s.

_________________
I don't do it for the money, babe. I do it to entertain people.-- Susan Boyle

King of Pop Gender: Number of posts: 3131 Registration date: 2008-05-05

Hmm, well a lot of songs on the Latvian Idol TV show seem to follow the pop structure.

_________________
The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.

Schrödinger's Hepcat Number of posts: 4489 Registration date: 2008-04-28

Uzi wrote:

Hmm, well a lot of songs on the Latvian Idol TV show seem to follow the pop structure.

Latvia is not exactly at the cutting edge.

_________________
I don't do it for the money, babe. I do it to entertain people.-- Susan Boyle

Closed 3:00-3:15pm Gender: Number of posts: 3998 Registration date: 2008-04-28

How dare you!

Schrödinger's Hepcat Number of posts: 4489 Registration date: 2008-04-28

They're good, don't get me wrong, but somewhat retro. Blame the Soviets. geek

_________________
I don't do it for the money, babe. I do it to entertain people.-- Susan Boyle

Schrödinger's Hepcat Number of posts: 4489 Registration date: 2008-04-28

My topic here says "high-art" music, but that's not quite on target.

My main observation here has to do with big-money support for music.

800 years ago the big money was in the hands of the Catholic church, so church music got major backing. Later, it was royalty who had all the money, so their favorite music ruled. Gradually, patronage moved down the social ladder to the lesser aristocracy and bourgoisie.

The latest development is that the big money is coming from the masses, for the first time in history. That means that what used to be folk elements are now integrated into big-money music projects.

_________________
I don't do it for the money, babe. I do it to entertain people.-- Susan Boyle

King of Pop Gender: Number of posts: 3131 Registration date: 2008-05-05

So we should consider ourselves truly blessed to have the likes of :

_________________
The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.