Presence of the popular repertory and (or) representation of the folk in music, literature and the arts: 1770-1870

Abstract

In consideration of possible meanings of the topic "learned and popular" for the period 1770-1870, two contradictory attitudes corne to the fore. On the one band, the popular of classicism, reinforcing the clarity and the readability of this essentially tonal style; on the other band the popular of romanticism as reinforcing the marginality of the composers confronted to the aca­demism and their tendency toward extended tonality. The analysis of this evolution through cho­sen examples helps understand how the integration of popular music into learned music illustrates a deep change in the perception of music itself. This attitude, amounting to a growing social consciousness, prepares the emergence of ethnomusicology.