Musical Taste Research Paper

Stupid Fucking Title for Stupid Fucking Paper
Liz Rutter

Liz Rutter

As public music became common in the eighteenth century, the concept of musical taste began its literal development. There were new ideas that music should be universal and appeal to all tastes, connoisseur or untutored. These ideas represent the Enlightenment; a time when people favored a more natural take on art however, the idea of musical taste was not brand new in the eighteenth century. Though musical taste was said to appeal to everyone in the eighteenth century, educated or not, this does not represent the previous centuries. Period specific movements effected the development of musical taste from ancient music to Romantic music. The concept of musical taste, though not known as a word until 1700s, existed in nearly the entire existence of music itself. There is evidence of instruments dating back to 40000 BCE, and even music competitions between performers
Due to the Industrial Revolution, music was mass produced, instruments were cheaper and faster to make than before. Due to the rise of the middle class, philharmonics were formed in many major cities. Nationalism was a feature that stood out in many composers works and it is easy to tell a composer by the national style which was performed. The nationalistic style was also fused with other styles. For example, Chopin was Polish and had featured a piece which used a Polish polka with the popular French overture. Another style featured in the Romantic period was exoticism, which allowed for extreme dynamics, new harmonies, and techniques to paint realistic, yet intriguing images in the listeners heads. Musical taste from ancient times until the Romantic period changed drastically due to economic, religious, and social movements. Movements included in the drastic change include the ideas of Christianity, humanitarianism, and even