Page 21 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2024. Glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes ▪︎ Music Criticism – Yesterday and Today. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 7
P. 21
music criticism – yesterday and today
sical culture. The articles by Slovene and foreign contributors alike clearly
demonstrate the extremely important role played by music criticism in the
past in practically all areas of musical life. The present discussion also looks
at the current state of music criticism and its survival or opportunities for
development in the future. It is an undeniable fact, given the increasing
prevalence of the “tabloid” approach, that the space previously dedicated
to music criticism in the media has shrunk. The predominance of brief in-
formation and pictorial material from the broader field of pop culture has,
in most media, completely replaced more detailed consideration of more
complex creative and performing phenomena in the field of serious mu-
sic. A more in-depth analytical approach is still maintained to a limited ex-
tent by some mainstream media outlets and to a greater extent by certain
specialised media, in particular those few national radio stations with arts
programming that continue to operate. Yet the audience for these media is
limited, while music criticism in the mainstream media is for the most part
restricted to coverage of only the most prominent cultural events.
In the face of the growing absence of music criticism, a question of
great or indeed crucial importance inevitably raises itself for the field of
music historiography: how will those who come after us be able to create a
complete picture of the musical life of our present age or, to put it another
way, what consequences will the absence of critical thought have on the de-
velopment of art music in the future? One of the chief purposes of the pres-
ent study is, then, to voice an appeal to preserve music criticism, along with
criticism of other fields of art. The survival of artistic criticism is essential,
not only for the insight it provides into individual artistic events, but above
all for the critical reflection it offers on the life of society at large – some-
thing that is increasingly necessary in the present age.
21
sical culture. The articles by Slovene and foreign contributors alike clearly
demonstrate the extremely important role played by music criticism in the
past in practically all areas of musical life. The present discussion also looks
at the current state of music criticism and its survival or opportunities for
development in the future. It is an undeniable fact, given the increasing
prevalence of the “tabloid” approach, that the space previously dedicated
to music criticism in the media has shrunk. The predominance of brief in-
formation and pictorial material from the broader field of pop culture has,
in most media, completely replaced more detailed consideration of more
complex creative and performing phenomena in the field of serious mu-
sic. A more in-depth analytical approach is still maintained to a limited ex-
tent by some mainstream media outlets and to a greater extent by certain
specialised media, in particular those few national radio stations with arts
programming that continue to operate. Yet the audience for these media is
limited, while music criticism in the mainstream media is for the most part
restricted to coverage of only the most prominent cultural events.
In the face of the growing absence of music criticism, a question of
great or indeed crucial importance inevitably raises itself for the field of
music historiography: how will those who come after us be able to create a
complete picture of the musical life of our present age or, to put it another
way, what consequences will the absence of critical thought have on the de-
velopment of art music in the future? One of the chief purposes of the pres-
ent study is, then, to voice an appeal to preserve music criticism, along with
criticism of other fields of art. The survival of artistic criticism is essential,
not only for the insight it provides into individual artistic events, but above
all for the critical reflection it offers on the life of society at large – some-
thing that is increasingly necessary in the present age.
21
