Musician: from Craftsman to Artist

Kleberson Calanca
kleberson@andrews.edu
Currently the musician is seen as someone special: an idol. They have millions of
followers on social networks, are always in the spotlight, and earn lots of money.
However, the way we see the artist today is not the same as a few centuries ago. The
rise of musician from craftsman to artist was given as a result of various historical facts
such as the creation of musical conservatories in the 19th century and the change of the
master-learner relationship, the role of art critics and the overvaluation of virtuosic
technique, and work "musicologists" who write treated totally disconnected socially and
historically.
In his book Mozart: Portrait of a Genius (1993), Norbert Elias shows the trajectory
of this composer and clarifies how the transition from the position of the artist as simple
music craftsman to a position of artist as conceived today was being built up over time.
According to Elias, the musician's vision as "genius" has been establishing throughout
history due to a change in the relationship between producers and consumers of art due
to the expansion of the market for this activity. At the time of Mozart, the musicians
were still heavily dependent on the favor of employers and therefore the court taste.
These had the same status as any other servant. In fact, even in the generation of
Mozart, a musician who wanted to be socially recognized as a serious artist and at the
same time, wanted to provide for himself and his family, had to get a place in the
network of the court institutions or their branches. He had no choice (Elias, 1993). There
was not the idea of genius or originality and court dictate how far the artist should go
on their innovations. The musician who stood out as a composer or as a virtuoso had
fame recognized in other courts and was treated almost as an equal by the highest levels
of society. However, they still belonged to the circle of middle-level employees.
Mozart was one of the first composers artisans who sought to break these social
barriers, decide to leave the court, and trust their future to the good graces of Viennese
high bourgeoisie and this decision changed the style and character of his music. The
attempt to achieve an "independent" musician status, at a time when social
development allowed (to a certain extent) such practices, but it was not institutionally
prepared for it, it was empty. This kind of independence was effectively achieved only
after his death and triggered the process of creating the kind of next artist we conceive
today.
The nineteenth century arrives and makes room for musical scholarship, changes
the status and the role of music and rises to the top of the arts hierarchy, values the

instrumental music and seeks a return to early music. In nineteenth century, music
becomes the revelation of the absolute, in the form of feeling. Its characteristics
exacerbated individualism and technical mastery of the instrument, the virtuosity, in the
field of both composition and interpretation.
However, the element that contributed to a change of design artisan musician,
common in the eighteenth century, raising it to an artist was the new form of musical
education that had just consolidate in Europe then. The nineteenth century saw the
emergence of the first private schools, the Conservatories. Until then, the composition
of teaching had a practical character and occurred in direct relationship between pupil
and teacher (Harnoncourt, 1998). The relationship between master to learner was
ruptured, but now with the new education through teacher and student, the search for
virtuosity demonstrates some growth. Consequently, comes the musician figure
equipped with a "genial" talent and all the romantic myths mentioned above that lingers
in the common sense until the present. The acclaimed "genius" (Paganini, Liszt, Chopin
and others) had their high made the most of with so-called "music critics," intellectuals
who proposed the "launch" artists, report their technical and musical skills and decide
who had or not the much sought "talent." The opinion of these critics now considered
absolute truth and influenced the views and thoughts of the public, including the
musicologists and biographers.
The musicologist's work was also performed by a broader category called
intellectuals 'men of letters' or even dilettantes journalists, which makes it clear that
they were little worried about the social and historical relevance of its publications. They
super valued the works and biography (completely decontextualized historically) of the
artist creating a mytho-poetic justification for his talent. The predominance of this work
is a narrative that emphasizes the great deeds of the protagonists and thus tends not to
consider the dialogue between the musical practices, their environment and their time.
It becomes clear that the concept "musical genius" which we now commonly
associate with few, was built mainly in Romantic music period, and remains up to the
present day as an absolute truth and accepted without question. The musicological
studies increasingly need to pay attention to an understanding of music history that
casts out the anachronistic view of time. Every period, every event, every phenomenon
should be seen and understood in a vision that seeks to understand the social, political,
economic of his time. It is starting from an accurate and historical study that seeks not
only "beautiful words" and a false romanticism that we move towards progress, either
in our musicological context or in our educational practices of music.

References
Elias, N. (1993). Mozart: Portrait of a Genius. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Harnonccourt, N. O discurso dos sons: Caminhos para uma nova compreenso musical.
(1998). Rio de Janeiro: ZAHAR Editor.