Musical historicism

Musical historicism signifies the use of historical materials, structures, styles, techniques, media, conceptual content, etc., whether by a single composer or those associated with a particular school, movement, or period.

Musical historicism also denotes a theory, doctrine, or aesthetic that emphasizes the importance of music history or in which history is seen as a standard of value or determining factor (as in performance practice).

The term "historicism" has acquired various, sometimes confusing meanings over a wide range of disciplines. The British philosopher Karl Popper, who disliked modern music and strongly preferred the works of Bach, Mozart, and Schubert, spoke of "the failure of the historicist propaganda for the modern in music." He opposed the socioscientific doctrine of historicism that discoverable laws of historical change make it possible to predict future developments. Repudiating the claim that Schoenberg was "an inevitable historical force", Popper dismissed the idea of wishing to do work "ahead of its time" as "nothing but historicist propaganda" (Gopnik 2002).

When referring to the arts, however, the term "historicism" generally denotes something distinctly different from the historicism targeted by Popper's critique. It designates "a style (as in architecture) characterized by the use of traditional forms and elements" (Merriam-Webster 2003a), or a style or movement characterized by "regard for or preoccupation with the styles or values of the past", frequently used pejoratively (OED 2012). Modernism is, on the other hand, "a self-conscious break with the past and a search for new forms of expression" (Merriam-Webster 2003b). The two concepts come together in what is called "historicist modernism", represented compositionally by Max Reger and Ferruccio Busoni. It is neither nostalgic nor conservative, but rather attempts to bridge perceived historical gaps without denying, collapsing, or attempting to retreat over them to return to the past. In historicist modernism, "musical techniques from the remote past are used prominently and vigorously as a way of achieving a distance from late Romantic styles" (Frisch 2005, 139).

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