Abstract
Is classical musical culture a purely sonic and aural culture, or is there more to this culture than music? Drawing upon Harold Innis’s media theory, this chapter examines classical musical culture as one that is inseparable from media, and in particular the concert hall and print media. Using the example of nineteenth century Amsterdam to explore this claim, this chapter begins by examining how ideas about listening and musical meaning were disseminated through print media as a means to both educate and discipline Amsterdammers to listen attentively and appreciate the inherent beauty and meaning of secular instrumental music. This edifying mission was complemented by the construction of the Concertgebouw in 1888, the first purpose-built concert hall in Amsterdam. The balance between these two media forms (print and architecture), enabled the classical music tradition to take hold in Amsterdam and endure across both time and space.
The century of revolutions was also the century of museums.
- Carl Dahlhaus
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
These theories are for the concert hall, a specific building for music that is materially and culturally distinct from other buildings for music like opera houses, churches, and theatres. For similar approaches to other venues see Friedrich Kittler (1993) and Jonathan Crary (1999), both of whom examine Wagner’s Bayreuth as a musical medium, Georgina Born’s (1995) study of IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) recognizes the role of this venue in mediating ideas of the musical avant-garde, and James H. Johnson’s (1995) history of music listening in pre- and post-revolutionary Paris identifies the behavioral and aesthetic pre-suppositions of the aristocracy instantiated in opera houses.
- 3.
In the essay Minerva’s Owl, Innis uses this history of decline to emphasize a quasi-Hegelian theory wherein empires flourish culturally only upon the precipice of destruction.
- 4.
There are, of course, obvious problems with Innis’s thesis of durability and temporality. As we shall see, buildings can be destroyed while other ostensibly less durable media, like paper records, can endure. A stone tablet that was intended to last for millennia may be destroyed, but a digital photograph of that stone tablet, a perfect example of a space biased medium, is multiply shared and stored, and may actually endure longer than the original stone artifact.
- 5.
Hoffmann’s Beethoven review was originally published in the AmZ 1810. In this paper I refer to the abridged version that was published in 1813 and can be found in Strunk (1950). Hoffmann’s musical writings, in English, are collected in Schafer (1975). On Hoffmann as an epoch-making romantic critic, see Bonds (2006), Taruskin (2005a), and Dahlhaus (1989 [1978]).
- 6.
The first Dutch journal dedicated to music was published in 1756 and existed for only 1 year.
Samenspraaken over muzikaale beginselen (Dialogues about Musical Principles) was modeled on the Hamburg-based journal Critica Musica (1722–1725) and contained information about musical literature, short reports on musical events, and translations of articles that had appeared in German music journals. Between the last issue of Samenspaaken over muzikaale beginselen (1756) and the first issue of Amphion (1818), there was little written about musical culture in the Netherlands (van den Hull 1988).
- 7.
Amphion 1, no.1 (1818): 119.
- 8.
Amphion 1, no.1 (1818): 80.
- 9.
Amphion 3, no.3 (1820): 154.
- 10.
“De muzikale pijnbank van den kapelmeester Johannes Kreisler (The Musical Sufferings of Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler),” Amphion 1, no.2 (1818): 136–149; “De Ridder Gluck, een herinnering uit het jaar 1809 (Ritter Gluck: A Recollection from the year 1809),” Amphion 2, no.1 (1819): 66–72. Steinmetz also translated Hoffmann’s collection of short stories, Nachstücke (Night Pieces [1817]), which was published in the Netherlands in 1826.
- 11.
Amphion 3, no.1 (1820):48–80.
- 12.
Caecilia 1 (1844): 1–3, quoted in Hoedemaeker “Caecilia: Algemeen Muzikaal Tijdschrift van Nederland,” Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (RIPM), www.ripm.Org/pdf/Introductions/CAEintroor.pdf.
- 13.
On Caecilia see, L. Hoedemaeker “Caecilia: Algemeen Muzikaal Tijdschrift van Nederland” in Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (RIPM), www.ripm.Org/pdf/Introductions/CAEintroor.pdf; Reeser (1986), pp. 64–65.
- 14.
Between 1841 and 1856, J.B. van Bree conducted 33 Caecilia concerts, most of which were orchestral works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Weber, with occasional works by Haydn, Schumann, and Bach (Reeser 1986, p. 59). Johannes Verhulst was appointed director of the Caecilia concerts in 1865 and between his appointment and his retirement in 1886, he maintained an adherence to German composers. First was Beethoven with 45 performances, followed by Schumann with (23), Mendelssohn (16), Weber (16), Gade (15), Schubert (13), Haydn (11), Cherubini (11), Bach (9), Mozart (8), and Brahms (8) (Reeser 1986, p. 107).
- 15.
“Ingezonden Stukken: Het Concertgebouw,” Algemeen Handelsblad, Friday November 9, 1888.
- 16.
G.C.C.W. Hayward, “Concertzaal” in De Amsterdammer:Weekblad voor Nederland (June 26, 1881).
- 17.
Gemeente Archief Amsterdam (GAA [Amsterdam City Archives]) 1089 no. 73, circular no. 1.
- 18.
Grieg’s comments would naturally derive from his experience performing in cities in France and Germany and not his homeland.
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Cressman, D. (2016). Innis in the Concertgebouw: Media and Musical Culture in Nineteenth-Century Amsterdam. In: Friesen, N. (eds) Media Transatlantic: Developments in Media and Communication Studies between North American and German-speaking Europe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28489-7_8
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