On Progress in Music
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/mz.14.1.5-12Abstract
The question of progress in music was at least implicitly present long before it found expression explicitly in different theories. Until the 17th century, musicians spontaneously felt that music was progressing: it was the music of their own time which was the most widely performed and the most appreciated. In the 17th century, the idea of progress in music expressed itself in the disputes between the »Ancients« and the »Moderns«, especially in French music. The music of the past was often regarded as obsolete, and during this and the following century, a more or less clearly defined theory of progress was formulated, according to which only new music was good music. S. Calvisius, P. Maillart, W. C. Printz, S. de Brossard, Ch. Burney and many others believed in the progress of music. Even Johann Sebastian Bach found himself, in the eyes of the younger generation (e.g. Scheibe), considered to be a retrograde composer. But as early as the 18th century, it was remarked that music had also passed through periods of degeneration and decadence. Thus Hawkins pointed to the decline of polyphony and counterpoint after Bach and Handel. At the time of Romanticism, the idea of progress had not been completely abandoned; however, Romanticism brought a new outlook, one which attached a high value to the music of the past. On the other hand, romantic music led to views which were divided in the evaluation of that music itself. The polemics concerning Wagner contributed greatly to this, though he himself was deeply convinced that music progresses and that, of course, it was his own music which had reached the highest point in the whole history of music. In the 20th century, the theory of progress has been revived again. No epoch has been so thoroughly penetrated by tendencies towards novelty and innovation, no epoch has made such a break with traditional (or past) music as has contemporary music. Nevertheless, no period in the history of music has been so well informed about the music of the past and no age has appreciated traditional music so fully as has our own. The progress of music on the level of technique, language and style is not in question. What is in question are only those conceptions which would evaluate the artistic and aesthetic values of music in the sense of »progress« by considering that old music is less valuable than new music, that there is »progress« of artistic and aesthetic values in time, chronologically. Accordingly, Schütz's music would be of more value than that of Palestrina, Mozart's than that of Bach, or Chopin's than that of Haydn and Stravinsky's than that of Wagner. Progress which a musical work may embody on the technical or stylistic level, for instance, or on the level of its specific language or expression, should not be identified with its artistic and aesthetic values. These values are independent of progress on that level. The progress achieved on the level of extra-musical functions or the adequateness of a musical work in a given social milieu should also be distinguished from them. Progress in music and progress of music are not quite the same thing.Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Downloads
Published
01.12.1978
How to Cite
Supičić, I. (1978). On Progress in Music. Musicological Annual, 14(1), 5–12. https://doi.org/10.4312/mz.14.1.5-12
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Copyright (c) 1978 Ivo Supičić

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors are confirming that they are the authors of the submitting article, which will be published (print and online) in journal Musicological Annual by Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Aškerčeva 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia). Author’s name will be evident in the article in journal. All decisions regarding layout and distribution of the work are in hands of the publisher.
- Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit their self to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.