At present, scientists who deal with musical art do not have a suitable conceptual device nor a classification with an empirical base, yet. Attempts from different fields –musicological, ethnomusicological, anthropological, philosophical– to try and give a solution to this problem are well known. Unfortunately, none of these attempts has managed to have enough diffusion or reach the level of agreement needed to become the paradigmatic proposal of the contemporary scientific community. Thus, today we still keep the tripartite division “of ‘classical’, ‘traditional’ and ‘popular music’ (modern), which not by chance corresponds to two of the main forces which have moved our society forward in the last few centuries: the class struggle and nationalisms” (Martí, 2015: 9, my translation)Martí i Pérez(2015).

Having seen and analyzed this situation, in previous works we considered this dilemma (Mas i Sempere, 2017)Mas i Sempere(2017). We presented there a new division and a new terminology based upon communicative situations, power relations and permission to compose and play music. The communication theory and the works of Jesús Ibáñez – especially, those devoted to power theory (1997)Ibáñez(1997) and to thermodynamic processes of capitalism (1986)Ibáñez(1986)– are key to our theoretical development. The conceptual work showed us the existence of the binomial depersonalized music and participatory music –open and closed–. A proposal which will have to be discussed and submitted to the relevant empirical tests. This current work continues that line of thought: so, we will therefore seek to test the historical validity of these concepts. Due to reasons of space and academic interest, we shall deal in depth with the branch of music which we have called depersonalized.

With this article we aim to help to propose a new way of approaching the study of Music focused on its social context and dissociated from the autonomy of art principle. Based on the new conceptual paradigm, we would like to overcome the conception and study of Music as a series of opuses, products of the minds of geniuses and individuals. The history of music has always been represented, in the Western Academic tradition, as a series of great works signed by geniuses. From this corpus, the necessary cuts were planned, and the terminology was provided which would end up configurating the history of musical styles. Currently, this chronology represents an obstacle to add to and to contextualize contemporary creations. Furthermore, this isolates Music as an artistic form disconnected from Dance, Theatre and Literature.

This chronological sketch, fully in force in Conservatoires and Universities, is an obstacle for contemporary artistic and scientific contributions. It perpetuates, even more, the isolation of the different forms of art, finally fossilizing esoteric and unscientific prejudices. In recent times, scientific and pedagogical approaches have introduced a new holistic and interdependent vision of music: for example, Social History of Music and History of Music Styles. Nonetheless, the curriculum for Spanish competitive examination for History of Music teachers –Order ECD/1753/2015– still includes certain sections involving the Western culture genius as: Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, Joseph Haydn or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Our methodology uses the historiographic review as a first element. By including historical texts and mythological, philosophical and sociological references, we try to identify music core elements from the distant past. Working with these sources will help us establish a contextual outline in which we include musical uses and functions. From this proceeding, we will provide a synchronic reflection with elements from general Sociology and the Sociology of Music –or Sociomusicology–. With the combination of all these elements, we shall be in a position to establish a historical matrix, the main axes of which will be the term stream of Philip Ennis (1992)Ennis(1992) and the concepts of field of Pierre Bourdieu (1990)Bourdieu(1990) and musical scene of Will Straw (1991)Straw(1991).

The abstract materiality of Music transforms any journey into its origins in a pointless and fantasizing hobby. Trying to follow its prints on the stone or under the many geological strata is a journey which only leads to more questions. It must be approached from within the hypothesis which other disciplines have opened and knowing that we are dealing with practically an unequivocal affirmation: it is almost impossible to never be able to answer, with certainty, the key question of how music appeared.

A large number of theories concerning origin of music have reached us today. Although they are difficult to justify, they show us the point of view about this topic in the past. Johann Gottfried Herder (1982)Herder(1982) associated music –singing– with the origin of language in humans, Charles Darwin understood music as a “second stage of the «half-human ancestors» proto-music [unlinked] from the obvious evolutive function in the case of animals” (Menninghaus, 2013: 249, my translation)Menninghaus(2013) and Herbert Spencer explained music as a human voice modulation “under the influence of feelings” (Spencer quoted in Menninghaus, 2013: 263, my translation)Menninghaus(2013).

Georg Simmel (2003)Simmel(2003) states that the human being used music to sing, to perform with instruments and to dance. It is completely impossible to establish to what an extent and at what moment each one of these appeared, but it seems plausible that all of them played an important role in the evolution of the species. Firstly, because music is movement –and the rhythm, the pulse, is present in us from our first heartbeat–. Secondly, because music is communication. And language, in its diverse forms, is at the basis of our rationality. And, thirdly, due to the emotional charge and the link with the emotions the sound expression elicits in all cultures.

Although, in the first stages of the human species, all individuals could do any type of activity for the group, with the division of labour and the establishment of social hierarchies, specific actions could be relegated for specific people. The figure of the artist-magician, the witch-doctor that Hauser (1978)Hauser(1978) proposes, would take on this side as the first specialized practitioner in the Fine Arts.

[…] the artist-magician seems to have been the first representative of the specialization and of the division of labour […] the witch-doctor, distinguished from the homogenous mass, and, as the possessor of special gifts, is the forerunner of the priest per se. He will stand out from the others for his attempt to have special skills and knowledge, for a certain charisma, and will evade all type of ordinary work (Hauser, 1978: 35, my translation)Hauser(1978).

From this moment onwards, it is not implausible to imagine that the split between that music produced by the group and that for the group will not take long to take place. This division, blurry and always with blurred limits in the case of music, is more notable in some of the other fine arts –in the case of architecture or sculpture– where the technical dominance needed for its execution forces the establishment of a body of professionals and another of amateurs. The humanistic concept of culture has kept to this duality. That is why it reserves for the geniuses –people with remarkable skills– the ability to elaborate woks of notable quality.

Historically, several researchers and philosophers have dealt with the question of the functions of music. Plato deals with them in his Republic (1970: 70)Platón(1970) and Tinctoris enumerates them –already in the mist of the Renaissance– under the epigraph of “the effects of Music” (cited in Fubini, 2005: 27)Fubini(2005). Contemporary Sociology has left us as the starting point the decalogue of Alan Merriam (2001)Merriam(2001), the first edition of his work, in 1964, proposes the following functional items: emotional expression, aesthetic enjoyment, entertainment, communication, symbolic representation, physical response, enforcement of conformity to social norms, validation of social institutions, contribution to the stability of culture, contribution to the integration of society (2001: 286-295)Merriam(2001). Later on, Adrian North and David Hargreaves (1999)Hargreaves and North(1999) and Susan Hallam (2006)Hallam(2006) will focus this decalogue on three macrocontainers: emotional, cognitive and social function and individual, group and social function, respectively (cited in Flores, 2010: 13)Flores(2010).

From our historical position, we can identify two big blocks of functional allocation. A first group of hedonistic and idle character, and a second group of transcendental character and linked to spirituality, healing and metaphysical elements. Both backgrounds which have been reproduced and discussed for centuries before our time.

In this case, some approaches of the thinking of the classical Greek culture can also be used as examples. On the one hand, the hedonistic vision which includes, from the epicurean, Aristotle for whom music “has the aim of pleasure, even if it has firmly become a part of the subjects typical of the didactic tradition” (Fubini, 2008: 69, my translation)Fubini(2008). On the other hand, the Pythagorean doctrine which gathers, from the metaphysical aspect of the harmony of the spheres to the moral and political sides (Fubini, 2008: 62)Fubini(2008). Obviously, the basic differences between one aspect and the other will lead to a different development based on the social identification of each element and its subsequent hierarchization.

Linked to this functional differentiation, we present our conceptual and qualifying proposal: depersonalized music and participatory music. Depersonalized music can be understood as a cultural manifestation, occasionally enshrouded in certain mystery and esoterism, in order to hide the elements of social struggle. Our definition indicates that

Depersonalized music is music produced by the social elite, the central value of which is production. It focuses on the message, with prestige as the valuation mechanism and which has, as the ideal situation, the transcendental communication to a soul which is devoid of the subject as a physical object. (Mas i Sempere, 2017: 119, my translation)Mas i Sempere(2017).

And on the other hand, reproduced by the subordinated classes, participatory music

Can be produced by the elite or by the subordinated classes themselves. The former focuses on consumption and has money as valuation mechanism. The later focuses on circulation and has pleasure as the valuation mechanism. In both cases it links with a more corporeal approach to music and where art is an element closer to social experience. (ibidem)Mas i Sempere(2017).

Classical Greece and the contemporary Hebrew territories are geographical spaces where we will see the emergence, in an institutionalized manner, of the division between depersonalized music and participatory music. In both societies, centuries before the beginning of the Christian era, the two fundamental milestones which will mark the evolution of depersonalized music are established.

In the first one, a polytheistic society, we will see the birth of theatre. A communicative and artistic manifestation which, in fact, includes music: “six are, of necessity, the constituting elements of all tragedies: the plot, the characters, language, thinking, the show and music” (Aristotle, 1998: 30, my translation)Aristóteles(1998) –from which, by the way, concepts which will form part of modern musical terminology are absorbed, although with a different meaning, such as the orchestra and the choir–. We are, in effect, in front of the theatrical trend of depersonalized music.

In the second case, regarding the first big monotheistic religion, its main holy text –the Tora– refers to these same magic properties of music in episodes such as the demolition of the walls of Jerico (Josué VI: 12-20) –“As soon as the people heard the sound of the horn, all the people gave a loud scream of war. The walls collapsed and the army started the attack on the city, each one from the place they had in front of them; and they conquered it”– or the healing of Saul with the sound of the zither (I Samuel XVI: 14-23) –“And when the spirit of God came on Saul, David would take the zither and would strum it with his hand. Saul would calm down, relax and the bad spirit would come out of him”–. In the Greek case, mentioned above, music also was normally used in religious rituals and was supposed to be useful to “cure diseases, purify the body and mind, work miracles in the reign of nature” (Grout and Palisca, 2001: 19, my translation)Grout and Palisca(2001).

Hebrew liturgy, which includes among its parts the studied reading, by a member of the community, of a fragment of the Tora, is presided by the rabbis, people who are specially regarded in the community and who constitute a renewed version of the witch-doctor which Christianity will also incorporate in the figure of the priest. In spite of this consideration of spiritual guide –and the fact that any adult Jew has this right– it tends to be a professional signer, Jazán o Hassan in Hebrew terminology, who does the public reading which presents notable difficulties of intonation and diction. The prayer itself, then, is the singing.

The rest of the community, in specific situations, intervenes in a guided manner with psalms sang by the whole group. The Christian and Muslim tradition, in the same monotheistic logic, will inherit this disposition for the celebration of its rituals. In the development of the Judeo-Christian liturgy, then, we witness the emergence of the liturgical trend of the depersonalized music.

In both cases, we see collective rituals where divinity is present. Adonaí, Jehova, in the case of the Hebrew liturgy, and the different actors of classical mythology, in the case of theatre. In the former, the community celebrates the Word of God and shows signs of abiding by a sacred law which will provide an ethical basis for their terrestrial behaviour. In the latter, as Aristotle indicates in his Poetica –“with piety and terror, he manages to expunge such passions” (1998: 29, my translation)Aristóteles(1998)–, the representation of an invention –imitating daily life– implies the obtaining the collective catharsis. The public attends the drama, with which they empathize and of which they will end up being emotional participants, and their experience provides the purified liberation from their emotions. The presence of sacred idols will be later maintained, with the emergence of the concert; in this case, and as we shall mention later, around the figures of the performer, the conductor and the composers –respectively–.

Before we continue with or historical narration it is important that we explain the way in which the chronological axis we present here is organized. This is a theoretical approach which will follow the postulates of Bourdieu, Ennis and Straw.

Figure 1. Typology, trends and relations of Music

Source: created by the autor.

On the Y-axis (vertical axis) we represent the binary division already explained of participatory music and depersonalized music. This socio-artistic division can be understood based on the concept of the field, of Bourdieu (1990)Bourdieu(1990), and of musical scene of Straw. “The field, then, is a structured place of possible positions and trajectories, a social topology constituted through the competitive yet complementary position-taking of rival actors” (Born, 2010: 177)Born(2010). This way, as we have already explained, each typology of music represents a position within the collective imagination. Always a provisional position and a result of the constant struggle within a field. Future research, which could go deeper into the more previous stages, could deal with the link between depersonalized and participatory music and the sub-field of the restricted production and the symbolic great production, respectively.

Straw’s musical scene, in turn, allows us to consider “a cultural space in which a series of musical practices coexist, interacting with one another through a series of differentiation processes” (Straw cited in del Val, 2015: 43, my translation)Del Val(2015). Furthermore, this proposal allows us to analyze in more detail the idea of the close connection and feedback of the musical practices developed within practice and depersonalization.

Even though we have put forward a hypothesis about the origin of this musical duality –associating it, firstly, to the division of labour and, secondly, to the central function which, as the ideal type, would develop– we could also consider the constant relationship between both compartments. From the premise that, initially, there was no division, we must assume that there has existed, throughout history, a diffuse and permeable frontier which would give feedback and allow access to both spaces. This meeting point would extend as the distance between one department and the other increased and would serve to maintain a continuity in the social space –as they are elements which take place within the same society, they must be necessarily linked–.

Furthermore, considering that constantly elements which come from a space have developed and passed to the adjacent space under a new form or with a different function, we have called this dialogue space between both exaptation suture. This term combines the idea of the union of an accidental gap and imports the concept of exaptation from the natural sciences –“characters, evolved for other usages (or for no function at all), and later «coopted» for their current role” (Gould and Vrba, 1982: 6)Gould and Vrba(1982)– as an example of this transfer of elements between departments which was mentioned above.

The X-axis (horizontal), a continuity which shows the passing of time, can be used to observe in what way the different artistic manifestations have intertwined and in what way they intertwine between themselves. To consider the unit of each flow we borrow the concept of stream proposed by Ennis (1992)Ennis(1992), where appropriate, for 20th century American popular music. Each stream presents its own artistic system, a defining economic logic and it is associated to different social movements. In our case we identify 4 different streams: theatrical, liturgical –in the field of depersonalized music– and, in the field of participatory music, sound kinetics and dance kinetics.

Although “corporal experience and movement are natural elements inherent to music” (Vicente, 2012: 74, my translation)Vicente(2012), we have specified the kinetic element, exclusively, in the case of participatory music. With this nomenclature we try to recognize the evident link –socially accepted– among these practices and corporeality. At the same time, we would also like to mention the reverse process to which depersonalized music has been subjected: a rationalist and elitist exercise which has reserved it –in the same way as musica reservata–, especially since the classical-romantic age, for the above-mentioned spiritual state and dissociated from corporeality.

Figure 2 shows where the different musical genres are placed within the –theatrical and liturgical– trend of depersonalized music. Furthermore, through the arrows, we indicate their diachronic evolution and their constant hyperlink between the theatrical and liturgical fields and with some elements which come from the Trends on the other side of the exaptation suture.

Figure 2. Location of musical genres within the trend of depersonalized music

Source: created by the autor.

With this graphical representation, we can perceive the history of music as a continuum in constant feedback. Some genres give rise to others, they combine to create musical products in fusion and receive and give contributions towards the different kinds of music of the participatory sphere. In the graphic, there are three transition moments. The first, already indicated, is the institutionalization of depersonalized music in Western societies –classical Greece and the Hebrew territories–. The second, takes place in the ninth century of our age and is the creation of the first written form of music which will give rise to our present musical language. An important step which, assimilated to the general history of humankind means a change from prehistoric times to music history. Finally, and already at the end of the seventeenth century, we have the birth of the concert. A fact which takes place in the industrially advanced United Kingdom and which institutionalized a new ritual.

The concert, as a new ritual form, will drink directly from the Judeo-Christian liturgy. The hierarchical location of the performer –in front of the holy scriptures, now the musical scores– and the disposition of the listeners are some of the more evident elements. This relocalization process of depersonalized music, between the temple and the concert halls, has an intermediary milestone in aristocratic palaces. There the sonatas and concerts were performed: chamber music which could be conjugated without the essential need for a public. The emergence of symphonic music and its potent social message changed all this.

Throughout the historical process we can consider the development of two different social but synchronic phenomena. On the one hand, the demystification and, on the other, the change in social locus. The concert, in the auditorium, holds its own liturgy in spite of its dissociation from the religious ritual. That is why, today we still find certain analogies between the temple and the auditorium. Progressively, as we get closer to Romanticism –and cultural anthropocentricism is established– the idea of the sacred divinity is passed from one of the social actors of music to the other. First, the figure of the interpreter, for example, in the exemplary cases of Beethoven the pianist (1770-1827), Paganini the violinist (1782-1840) and Liszt the pianist (1811-1886). Later on, some decades later, it passes to the figure of the director.

There we find the paradigmatic cases of Toscanini (1867-1957), Furtwängler (1886-1954), Karajan (1908-1989) or Bernstein (1918-1990). Finally, at present, even though it is true that the music companies emulate participatory music with the most attractive –and hypersexualized– images of its performers in their cover sheets with commercial purposes, the notion of the sacred divinity is related to the composer. They are the catalysts of much of the referential musical offer –Bayreuth Festival (Wagner), Salzburg Festival (Mozart), Verdi Festival in Palma, Puccini Festival in Lucca or Rossini Festival in Pesaro– and the concept of authenticity stems from them. A lot of research has been carried out and a lot has been written about how the different kinds of music should be performed and the logic of the cult chases this central value of the authentic of the purity of the message, the same way in which a sacred text would allow us to get closer to God.

With a process similar to that of cinema and television, music enters the homes through the radio and ends up establishing itself with music reproduction devices: tapes, compact disks and digital records. It will get out onto the street, even more, through mobile devices and it will become transit music (Ariño and Llopis, 2017)Ariño Villarroya and Llopis Goig(2017). An operation which, on the contrary, does not imply that the place of reference and the cultural container for which these pieces are written, is still today at the concert halls.

The programmes and habitual cannon of the auditoriums are based on all this music of a depersonalized artistic ritual tradition. There it is usual to hear Renaissance polyphony or Masses. Occasionally, part of this music goes back to the church in spite of the current music of the temple being mainly participatory music –with a clear popular character–. The participatory trend has recently accessed concert halls. An operation which tries to get socially legitimized through the occupancy of artistically distinguished spaces.

In this article we have presented a new approach for the study of sociohistorical music that seeks to overcome the based-upon-composers History of Music and build a new chronology focused on social changes and social dynamics. Starting from our proposal for the conceptualization and classification of depersonalized and participatory music, we have presented a double articulation from the terms stream, field and scene, respectively of Philip Ennis, Pierre Bourdieu and Will Straw. Each stream allows us to understand music as a continuum in which every musical expression change and are transformed according with demands of society. Fields and scenes, in addition, help us to depict social struggles –intrinsic attribute of the human being–. For the Sociomusicology, these circumstances are very useful for articulating and explaining the different music spaces, the positions taken by every musical typology and the historical performed exchanges among social actors.

We believe that this proposal may be useful for the study of any musical tradition in any human society. Since we deny the humanistic perspective of culture –build upon the greatest geniuses and essential works– and we focus on social elements, methodology may apply in different contexts properly. This article opens a new line of study and we hope that future empirical works will focus deeper on its development and will be able to show its methodological value.