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→Classical vs. Popular (redux): improved
While the "popular vs. classic" dichotomy is real today, it's a stretch to say that it holds true for any time period before 1850 -- there's a very good reason for this date, which I'll get to in a moment. It is especially not accurately applied to the Renaissance or the Baroque.
While the "popular vs. classic" dichotomy is real today, it's a stretch to say that it holds true for any time period before 1850 -- there's a very good reason for this date, which I'll get to in a moment. It is especially not accurately applied to the Renaissance or the Baroque.
A more useful distinction which definitely existed from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and beyond is "sacred vs. secular." The Baroque terms "sonata da camera" and "sonata da chiesa" illustrate this dichotomy well (see discussion in [[chamber music]]). Bach's cantatas are divided between sacred and secular as well. And as other editors have challenged before, no one considered a concert to be a serious affair until the canonization process took hold after 1850. Beethoven related gleefully in a letter after the performance of the 9th symphony that the Viennese audience burst into spontaneous applause after the surprise entrance of the timpani in the second movement, implying that it was nothing unusual for the Viennese public. It's also worth mentioning that the majority of music in those days was written for private performances or salons. I'd add to that the Italian opera tradition, which was never an elitist affair: Google the term "cognoscenti" to get an idea of what I mean.
The first difficulty with this model is that the designation 'popular music' can mean so many things. In today's sense, it seems to imply both the audience (almost anybody, with no musical education necessary to appreciate it) and the performer (invariably a 'star' who has a formidable presence in the culture). It also sometimes carries the implication of dancing. In the first sense, popular music exists, and presumably has existed, in all cultures at all times; but to say that the duality between high and low culture has always come with this is problematic. In the second sense, the problems multiply when talking about music from the Renaissance to the Classic, because if there were superstars, they were the 'classical' composer-peformers such as Mozart and Liszt. To talk about dance music also carries a related difficulty, as all historical indications we know of show its presence in a wide variety of world cultures; but in the Western classical tradition, dance music as it has come down to us is that rarified form such as in Couperin or Bach, which was debatably never danced to. They certainly sprang from an older tradition of dance-music, but we simply don't know enough about this improvisation-based tradition to make meaningful judgments that we can relate to today's experience.
A more useful distinction which definitely existed from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and beyond is "sacred vs. secular." The Baroque terms "sonata da camera" and "sonata da chiesa" illustrate this dichotomy well (see discussion in [[chamber music]]). Bach's cantatas are divided between sacred and secular as well. And as other editors have challenged before, no one considered a concert to be a serious affair until the canonization process took hold after 1850. Beethoven related gleefully in a letter after the performance of the 9th symphony that the Viennese audience burst into spontaneous applause after the surprise entrance of the timpani in the second movement, implying that it was nothing unusual for the Viennese public. Your mention of the performances in salons is one piece of evidence that, like today, much of the music was intended for elite audiences, but this was also a venue where highbrow dance-music was played. I'd counter that the Italian opera tradition, which was never an elitist affair: Google the term "cognoscenti" to get an idea of what I mean.
A third stream which fits somewhere outside of this duality of sacred vs. secular is the music intended for home or pedagogical use, of which Bach's entire keyboard output is a typical example.
The reason I use the cutoff date of 1850 is because the revolutions of 1848 and 1849, while failures, had the effect of freeing up public expression. A colleague of mine did research into Viennese newspapers, and discovered that in the week after the revolution, there was literally a tenfold increase in the number of public concerts. Populist-oriented "revolution" music was part of that explosion, and included elements that set the stage for a real popular music tradition in Germany and Austria. The other thing that happened in the decade after the revolution was the establishment of a Germanic musical canon. In the decade of the 1850's many of the great orchestras and conservatories were founded in Europe, and their repertoire/curriculum started to resemble the classical canon we have today.
The reason I use the cutoff date of 1850 is because the revolutions of 1848 and 1849, while failures, had the effect of freeing up public expression. A colleague of mine did research into Viennese newspapers, and discovered that in the week after the revolution, there was literally a tenfold increase in the number of public concerts. Populist-oriented "revolution" music was part of that explosion, and included elements that set the stage for a real popular music tradition in Germany and Austria. The other thing that happened in the decade after the revolution was the establishment of a Germanic musical canon. In the decade of the 1850's many of the great orchestras and conservatories were founded in Europe, and their repertoire/curriculum started to resemble the classical canon we have today.
It is possible that some of the seeds for popular music were sown earlier, but with the political repressions in the early half of the 19th-century, there were severe restrictions on public gatherings, which included concerts. Thus, a complete picture is hard to come by.
It is possible that some of the seeds for popular music were sown earlier, but with the political repressions in the early half of the 19th-century, there were severe restrictions on public gatherings, which included concerts. Thus, a complete picture is hard to come by.
That being said, there were always of course "songs," like the "Twinkle, Twinkle" example you used. Of course they've always influenced composers, but it's a bit odd to call them "popular music" as such. Did they feed into the eventual pop music genre? Certainly, but it's not the most reliable historical model for talking about earlier music. [[User:JDWpianist|JDWpianist]] 19:18, 7 April 2009 (EDT)
That being said, there were always of course "songs," like the "Twinkle, Twinkle" example you used. Of course they've always influenced composers, but it's a bit odd to call them "popular music" as such. Did they feed into the eventual pop music genre? Certainly, but it's not the most reliable historical model for talking about earlier music. [[User:JDWpianist|JDWpianist]] 19:18, 7 April 2009 (EDT) [edited 8 April for clarity and more detail]