The Triumph Of Music

Tim Blanning

The creation of music and the standing of musicians has changed completely over the last few centuries. Tim Blanning traces this transformation in fortunes; from lowly balladeers to Masters of Music employed by patrons to the Great Composers and the idolised musicians of today.

The path to fame and independence began when new instruments allowed musicians to show their creativity and music publishing allowed a composer's work to be played across the continent. Specially-built concert halls replaced taverns or rooms within palaces. Performances became a fashionable outing and an act of pilgrimage: the Wagners built Bayreuth on a hill for that purpose.

Music was celebrated in the new public sphere of coffee houses journals and critics. Composers and performers began to be seen as romantic heroes. There was a 'rage for music' and a revolution in Europe's taste and attitude to culture. In symphonies composers tackled historical and philosophical subjects. Subsequently the work of Wagner Shostakovich and others was used as a political tool.

The gramophone and radio made popular composers' work the sound-track of everyday life. While the act of reading or looking at a picture has changed little listening to music has been transformed. Technological innovation is moving the process on. A writer today may make a few million pounds but musicians can make hundreds of millions. Rock concerts draw more people than political rallies and John Lennon ranks with JFK.

Tim Blanning's conclusion is that the musician has come a long way since he was put in the stocks by his aristocratic patron for a bad performance. Society has taken music (classical and popular) to its heart and privileged its performers. The progress of the art illustrates the development of modern society. Through the lives of its creators and performers music is shown to embody the modern age.

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