The Political Economy of Classical Music
The story of classical music is inseparable from the rise of capitalism. The new system made a musical revolution possible, but its crisis-ridden development then drove a wedge between musicians and their audience, leaving behind a frozen tradition.
German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), circa 1810. (Bettmann / Getty Images)
Over the last century, classical music has grown increasingly estranged from a mass audience or popular musical forms, retreating into an elitist silo. This is not the fault of individual musicians: the development of their art is inseparable from wider social and political trends. Capitalism first created the space in which such music could flourish, and then took it away, leaving behind a frozen, formalized tradition.
What Is Classical Music?
One of the problems in discussing what has happened to classical music is identifying what we mean by the term. What distinguishes it from jazz, rock, hip hop, or any other genre?
It is not that it is a uniquely serious music. Plenty of “classical music” is humorous or even downright silly, from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s A Musical Joke (1787) to György Ligeti’s Aventures (1962–63). By the same token, there are many pieces from other genres that are very serious. I can think of songs by the Beatles that match up to Franz Schubert’s work in their intensity and complexity of emotion and style.
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