Musical Offerings In The Renaissance Summary

Critique of “Musical Offerings in the Renaissance”

Rob Wegman’s article “Musical offerings in the Renaissance” discusses how the concept of gifts became a monumental aspect that defined the musical paradigm of the 14th-17th centuries. Gift exchange is one of the most common practices in our society. It is the primary method by which a majority of goods are circulated throughout communities. When communities openly share and receive from one another, anthropologists define them as gift economies. This perception differs from market economies, their mode of exchange being commercial transactions that involve a set monetary amount. Wegman makes modern day comparisons to help one better understand the Renaissance method of gift exchange that he is trying to convey in this article. He speaks of a musical paradigm shift that occurred
Music was no longer something that was simply appreciated, but a musical ‘work’ that was considered an object to be produced and sold as a marketable good. Before composers published and advertised their work as a marketable good, what were their principal modes of circulation? The idea of gifts is a cultural phenomenon that is a mode of exchange that aided in the cultivation of bonds between worker and employer, made way for gift societies, and helped create a shift in which composers began to branch off and establish music as a marketable commodity rather than a gift. Wegman argues that during the Renaissance music was distributed through gift exchange. Composers/musicians presented their music as gifts to nobility, and they often received gifts and hospitality in return for their work. As musicians and composers began to engage in this mode of exchange with their overseer, both parties began to build a bond of mutual loyalty. If either side were to encounter difficulties