The Musical Cannon
The Musical Canon
The musical canon put simply, is a form of disciplining music. As Augustine once suggested “Music is the art of measuring well”. “The canon is a list of composers or works that are assigned value and greatness by consensus” 1 However, the canon will always call into question the nature of its exclusions and which composers make it in and which composers do not. “The Canon, promotes proper decorum, and ensures proper conduct”2 Authors such as Adorno and Horkheimer, members of the Frankfurt School during the twentieth century, recognised that music and the canon does not stand on its own, but in fact it was socially situated with people of dominant countries, class and society such as Germany. They believed that the audience were passive and never called into question why and how these particular composers deserved their place in the canon. Author Joseph Kerman, a leading figure from the American musicologists urged a change from positivistic to critical thinking and searched for the meaning of music. New trends, constant critical thinking and questioning of the meaning of music, have caused this re-view of the dominance of the canon which brings us to look at its advantages and disadvantages.
To understand the canon thoroughly we first must look at why it had become so popular and given such significance in the late eighteenth century. One of its main sources for its development is the rise of the bourgeois class in society. They can be described as culturally the man or woman who is a member of the wealthiest social class of a given society, and their materialistic values. They began to identify themselves artistically and institutionalized a musical life. This new musical prestige was separate to their sacred and courtly life. Music’s sudden popularity gave rise to the public concert in England, France and central Europe and commissioned work. The advantages of this growth of the canon and its repertoires were the fast spread of stunning
The musical canon put simply, is a form of disciplining music. As Augustine once suggested “Music is the art of measuring well”. “The canon is a list of composers or works that are assigned value and greatness by consensus” 1 However, the canon will always call into question the nature of its exclusions and which composers make it in and which composers do not. “The Canon, promotes proper decorum, and ensures proper conduct”2 Authors such as Adorno and Horkheimer, members of the Frankfurt School during the twentieth century, recognised that music and the canon does not stand on its own, but in fact it was socially situated with people of dominant countries, class and society such as Germany. They believed that the audience were passive and never called into question why and how these particular composers deserved their place in the canon. Author Joseph Kerman, a leading figure from the American musicologists urged a change from positivistic to critical thinking and searched for the meaning of music. New trends, constant critical thinking and questioning of the meaning of music, have caused this re-view of the dominance of the canon which brings us to look at its advantages and disadvantages.
To understand the canon thoroughly we first must look at why it had become so popular and given such significance in the late eighteenth century. One of its main sources for its development is the rise of the bourgeois class in society. They can be described as culturally the man or woman who is a member of the wealthiest social class of a given society, and their materialistic values. They began to identify themselves artistically and institutionalized a musical life. This new musical prestige was separate to their sacred and courtly life. Music’s sudden popularity gave rise to the public concert in England, France and central Europe and commissioned work. The advantages of this growth of the canon and its repertoires were the fast spread of stunning
References: Bodley, Byrne Lorraine Dr, MU212 Introduction to Musicology. Lecture Notes. Moodle. 2013. Bergeron, Katherine and Bohlman, V. Philip, Disciplining Music, Musicology and its Canon. Chicago, the University of Chicago Press, 1992. Goehr, Lydia, The Musical Quarterly Vol 86 No. 2, London, Oxford University Press, 2002. Robinson, S. Lillian, Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature Vol 2 No. 1, Oklahoma, University of Tulsa, 1983. Kerman, Joseph, A few Canonic Variations, Critical Enquiry Vol 10 No. , Chicago, University of Chicago, 1983. Adorno, W. Theodor, Philosophy of Modern Music, New York, The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004.