Page 36 - 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. 36
glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes | music criticism – yesterday and today
lic debates appear to be generally in decline. Thus, the problematic situa-
tion of music criticism seems to correspond with a broader crisis of critical
thinking and Western culture. Taking this view as a point of departure, I
will first illuminate the socio-political dimensions inherent in music criti-
cism with the help of historical and topical examples. Second, I will discuss
which role music criticism might play and which forms it might adopt in
our days and in the future.
Historical Deliberations
What is the innovation that critics fight about? If it were about musical
structures and purely musical and artistic ideas only, it would not be made
so much fuss about, we might suspect. Indeed, as different studies show, the
organization of art has always been related to the social organization of life.
A very illuminating example amongst others is the connection between the
quarrel of the Buffonists in the 18th century and the French Revolution.
Even if the debate concerned the primacy of melody or harmony, it can
be traced back to ideas regarding how people should live together. Where-
as harmony can be connected to a social model that involves many voices
fitting together in a sort of democratic order, the idea of melody as an ac-
companied leading voice is connected to the idea of an origin which consti-
tutes the basis of one unique voice commanding the whole society. In 1767
Rousseau published an article entitled “Unité de Melodie” where the term
unité is used in this sense. His idea of regaining an ideal origin is bound to
the idea of society as one collective body with many limbs, as he stated in
Contrat social. According to Rousseau all members speak one original lan-
guage.3 The songs of the French Revolution represent this unitedness musi-
cally. The Marseillaise is the most famous of them. Its melody prepared the
soldiers to follow one original inner voice that should at the same time be
the shared basis of the new state.
In 1840, Robert Schuman cited the hymn in his song Die beiden Gren-
adiere op. 94 no.1, which is based on a text by Heinrich Heine. The melody
which originally should represent the strength and the loyalty of the French
soldiers, is ironized through a grotesque combination with Heine’s words.4
3 Cf. Hans Georg Nicklaus, “Rousseau und die Verurteilung der Mehrstimmigkeit,” in
Zwischen Rauschen und Offenbarung. Zur Kultur- und Mediengeschichte der Stimme,
ed. Friedrich Kittler et al. (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2002), 161.
4 Cf. amongst others: Markus Winkler, “‘Die Grenadiere’. Heine und Schumann,” in
Übergänge: zwischen Künsten und Kulturen. Internationaler Kongress zum 150. To-
desjahr von Heinrich Heine und Robert Schumann, ed. Henriette Herwig (Stuttgart:
36
lic debates appear to be generally in decline. Thus, the problematic situa-
tion of music criticism seems to correspond with a broader crisis of critical
thinking and Western culture. Taking this view as a point of departure, I
will first illuminate the socio-political dimensions inherent in music criti-
cism with the help of historical and topical examples. Second, I will discuss
which role music criticism might play and which forms it might adopt in
our days and in the future.
Historical Deliberations
What is the innovation that critics fight about? If it were about musical
structures and purely musical and artistic ideas only, it would not be made
so much fuss about, we might suspect. Indeed, as different studies show, the
organization of art has always been related to the social organization of life.
A very illuminating example amongst others is the connection between the
quarrel of the Buffonists in the 18th century and the French Revolution.
Even if the debate concerned the primacy of melody or harmony, it can
be traced back to ideas regarding how people should live together. Where-
as harmony can be connected to a social model that involves many voices
fitting together in a sort of democratic order, the idea of melody as an ac-
companied leading voice is connected to the idea of an origin which consti-
tutes the basis of one unique voice commanding the whole society. In 1767
Rousseau published an article entitled “Unité de Melodie” where the term
unité is used in this sense. His idea of regaining an ideal origin is bound to
the idea of society as one collective body with many limbs, as he stated in
Contrat social. According to Rousseau all members speak one original lan-
guage.3 The songs of the French Revolution represent this unitedness musi-
cally. The Marseillaise is the most famous of them. Its melody prepared the
soldiers to follow one original inner voice that should at the same time be
the shared basis of the new state.
In 1840, Robert Schuman cited the hymn in his song Die beiden Gren-
adiere op. 94 no.1, which is based on a text by Heinrich Heine. The melody
which originally should represent the strength and the loyalty of the French
soldiers, is ironized through a grotesque combination with Heine’s words.4
3 Cf. Hans Georg Nicklaus, “Rousseau und die Verurteilung der Mehrstimmigkeit,” in
Zwischen Rauschen und Offenbarung. Zur Kultur- und Mediengeschichte der Stimme,
ed. Friedrich Kittler et al. (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2002), 161.
4 Cf. amongst others: Markus Winkler, “‘Die Grenadiere’. Heine und Schumann,” in
Übergänge: zwischen Künsten und Kulturen. Internationaler Kongress zum 150. To-
desjahr von Heinrich Heine und Robert Schumann, ed. Henriette Herwig (Stuttgart:
36
