Quarter notes and banknotes
the economics of music composition in the eightenth and nineteenth centuries
- ISBN: 9780691116211
- Editorial: Princeton University Press
- Fecha de la edición: 2004
- Lugar de la edición: Princeton. None
- Colección: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World
- Encuadernación: Cartoné
- Medidas: 24 cm
- Nº Pág.: 264
- Idiomas: Inglés
In 1700, most composers were employees of noble courts or the church. But by the nineteenth century, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Verdi, and many others functioned as freelance artists teaching, performing, and selling their compositions in the private marketplace. While some believe that Mozart's career marks a clean break between these two periods, this new book tells the story of a more complex and interesting transition. F. M. Scherer first examines the political, intellectual, and economic roots of the shift from patronage to a freelance market. He describes the eighteenth-century cultural "arms race" among noble courts, the spread of private concert halls and opera houses, the increasing attendance of middle-class music lovers, and the founding of conservatories. He analyzes changing trends in how composers acquired their skills and earned their living, examining such impacts as demographic developments and new modes of transportation. The book offers insight into the diversity of composers' economic aspirations, the strategies through which they pursued success, the burgeoning music publishing industry, and the emergence of copyright protection. Scherer concludes by drawing some parallels to the economic state of music composition in our own times