Musical Culture of Europe
MUSI 3721Y
University of Lethbridge, Calgary Campus
John Anderson
Music and History
• Urbanization was on the increase during this period
• “The folk” represented an earlier, more innocent era
viewed through the fuzzy light of nostalgia by displaced
city dwellers.
• In the city, there was an increasing tendency toward
specialization of musicians
• Hereditary musical castes (Gypsies) and ascribed
outsiders (Jewish musicians) were assigned the low
status task of providing entertainment music to order
National Styles
• More the result of politics
than of a consistent and
unified history, “national
music” may combine
disparate styles and
repertoires from different
parts of a country,
symbolizing a modern
kind of unity
Concerts and the Virtuoso
• Another legacy of the 19th
century was the rise of
virtuosity
• The virtuoso became a
celebrity for whom normal
social mores were suspended
• In many ways, the “Great Artist”
was as much of a marginal
person as the professional
specialist, for whom normal
mores were also relaxed
• They were troublemakers,
attractive lovers, and had the
freedom to move around
Individual and Society
• The idealized form of folk
music is an aesthetic
metaphor for community
• In art music, the string
quartet and chamber
ensemble fill a similar
role –egalitarian– in
contrast to the symphony
orchestra with its “urban”
hierarchical structure and
division of labor
Instruments
• Compare the piano with
the violin
• The piano is the product
of an industrial age which,
during the colonial era in
particular, became a
symbol of the hegemony
of European music
• The violin is now
considered “indigenous”
in many parts of the world,
e.g., South India
The Eurovision Song Contest as a Metaphor
for Modern Europe
• The contest receives
continent-wide coverage,
although it includes some
countries (such as Turkey,
Egypt, Cyprus, and Israel)
that are not European
• Many different styles are
offered, but the winner is
always the blandest, most
compromised sound,
something felt to be
generically “European”
Discussion Questions
• How can we compare a multicultural urban musical
environment such as Vancouver, Toronto, or Montreal to
Vienna?
• What can we classify as the folk music of our country, and
how have nationalist composers incorporated it into their
compositions?
• What types of music might we find in our society which
are communal and egalitarian, as are folk music types of
Europe?