-On the Formation of the Concept of "Work" in Western Music

Introduction: the phenomenon of "literati" in the history of Chinese and western music and the unique concept of "work" in the history of western music

In the study of the history of ancient Chinese literature, "literati" is a concept that is often mentioned. As the creative subject of China literature, it has attracted special attention from Chinese and foreign literary historians. Although the specific living conditions of these writers are different in different historical periods due to the changes of social forms, during the nearly two thousand years from the Han and Wei Dynasties to the late Qing Dynasty (from the Han, Wei and North Dynasties to the huge group of writers in the Qing Dynasty, Wang Shizhen and Huang Zunxian), their basic characteristics remained a relatively stable form: that is, they engaged in this kind of literary activity with clear literary thoughts and stylistic awareness without taking literary creation as a profession. This unprofessional writer's lifestyle is not unique to China. Many important representatives of western literature in different periods before the 20th century (such as Sophocles, Cicero and Caesar in the classical period, Dante in the late middle ages, Montaigne, Montesquieu and Goethe after the Renaissance) all had this social attribute to varying degrees, but they were far less typical and stable than the lifestyles of ancient China literati.

This literati group, which is mainly active in the field of literature, has also profoundly influenced other art categories. In the history of ancient music in China, "literati musicians" is an important phenomenon, and they are often homogeneous with the aforementioned "literati". While having a large number of slaves, craftsmen or freelancers, writers are also important creators of ancient music culture in China, especially in guqin and music genres closely related to poetry.

As far as the development of western music is concerned, it is much more complicated for writers or intellectuals with "literati" characteristics, unprofessional and clear artistic creation ideas to concurrently serve as creators of music culture. For a long time after the beginning of the Middle Ages, due to the great destruction of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations by barbarians, the western music culture from the 5th century to 1 1 century was in a spontaneous primitive state for a long time, and folk artists once again became the main carrier of secular music culture in addition to Christian church music with no aesthetic purpose and artistic concept. Since the late Middle Ages (14th century), the deepening of professionalism has become the mainstream of western musicians' lifestyle evolution [1]. In the history of China, a group of literati with a long history, who are both musicians and writers, have had a great influence on the history of music, but there are few traces in the history of western literature and music.

However, if we carefully examine the development of medieval music history, especially the living conditions of musicians in the late Middle Ages, we can find that there are still a group of French-centered "Art Nouveau" musicians, who are very similar to the literati musicians in China, that is, the so-called "poets-musicians", especially Guillaume de Machut, the most important composer in the Art Nouveau period. Compared with the literati musicians who existed for a long time in ancient China, but did not dominate the evolution of music art, the literati musicians in the late Middle Ages have the following characteristics: Although they were only a flash in the pan in the long development of western music, they occupied the mainstream position in a certain period, and had a far-reaching impact on some important cultural characteristics in the history of western music, especially directly leading to the formation of the concept of "works" in western music. That is to say, the concept of artworks, which originally existed in the concept of literature, was introduced into music/literary works integrating poetry and music, and then extended to complete musical works without literary (poetic) forms through the creation of literati musicians. This process is accompanied by the high complexity of western music language and the sudden evolution of the theory of composition technology during the "Art Nouveau Movement", which is of great significance to the concept and cultural characteristics of western music creation from the Middle Ages to today with the gradual decline of feudal society in western Europe and the beginning of modern society.

The study of western music history focuses on the representative composers and works in different historical periods, which is not different from the situation in the field of literature history and art history (whether in China or in the west), but it is very different from the situation that the ancient music history of China focuses on music rules, notation, music culture and related documents. In the field of China studies, the differences in the core contents of Chinese and western music history disciplines also lead to the differences in the concepts of Chinese and western music history, that is, the history of ancient music in China mostly focuses on social and cultural factors other than music itself, while China scholars still follow the existing framework of western academic circles, taking the era-style-writer-work as the basic clue.

However, as far as the development of western music is concerned, this seemingly unique basic core in the history of western music and the idea that music texts are regarded as "works" created by specific artists (that is, "composers") with a specific artistic style have not existed since ancient times, but have emerged in the long historical process under the historical conditions containing specific economic, social and cultural factors; The formation process of the concept of "musical works" is to a great extent consistent with the self-identification process of "musicians" or "composers" as creators of artistic works with aesthetic effects and carriers of specific artistic styles. From the perspective of music history, the medieval period is the main historical stage in which this unique concept of works and writers in western music gradually formed from scratch, and the late Middle Ages (mainly in the14th century) was the key hub for its final establishment, while the literati musicians in the late Middle Ages were composers who directly endowed this concept to their works. Therefore, by combing relevant historical facts and theoretical thinking, it is of great significance to dialectically analyze the lifestyle and self-identity of literati musicians in the late Middle Ages and the resulting concept of "musical works" in the sense of western culture, and try to further explore its historical causes.

1. Three kinds of musicians in the Middle Ages

The word "musician" (if the letter of the mind refers to the composer and performer of music) has different cultural connotations in different periods in the history of western music, meaning people with different lifestyles and social status. Due to the differences in economic base and social system, the social identity of medieval musicians is essentially different from that of modern musicians, which also deeply restricts the existence and acceptance mechanism of musical works. Although the development of music forms has its own laws and logics that are not restricted by external factors, the historical connotation and expression acceptance mode carried by music forms are almost determined by the social environment in which music is produced and existed. Many times in history, musicians have to accept the support of some politically and economically advantageous classes. The demand and response of these classes to music often becomes the direction of musicians' efforts. In different historical periods, musicians' social status and lifestyle are very different, and this social status and lifestyle will often react to the content and form of musical works. This feature can be especially reflected in the changes of musicians' lifestyles in ancient French-speaking areas, where the feudal economic, political and social structure was the most typical in the Middle Ages.

In the heyday of the Middle Ages, composers and performers of music were mainly composed of three kinds of people with completely different traditions: one was the creator and singer of Christian church music, who were first priests and then musicians, and received strict religious and cultural education in church schools since childhood. Most of them, as junior monks and priests, perform their duties in monasteries and local churches and become music undertakers in day classes and worship services; A few highly cultivated master scholars inherited the academic tradition since ancient Greece and discussed music as a philosophical object with ontological significance, thus gaining a high reputation. [2] In the conceptual structure of the Middle Ages, even among this kind of people, only scholars engaged in speculative activities were real musicians. Boathius (about 580-624), a pioneer of medieval music theory and a philosopher at the beginning of the 6th century, wrote in his far-reaching "Principles of Music" (De Institutione Miaoruika):

"People related to music can be divided into three categories. Playing musical instruments of the first kind; The second category is composition; The third kind of judges' performances and songs. People who are completely addicted to musical instruments are divorced from their understanding of music. They tried their best to show their skills on musical instruments. They are irrational and thoughtless, just like slaves. The second category is composers. They write songs not by thought and reason, but by some nature. They are also separated from music. The third kind of person has the ability to judge. They can usually think carefully about rhythm, melody and songs. It is these people who are completely committed to reason and thought, so they are naturally considered musicians. " [3]

According to Poitius' viewpoint and the thinking habit of scholasticism, only those who are engaged in philosophy and mathematics and preach Pythagoras' theory are "musicus", while composition and performance are only secondary skills, and teaching composers and performers is no different from artisans. Leoland and Perotin are just called "organista" (Olga farmers) and "Discantrors". [4]

The second and third kinds of people are secular singers who are active in folk and court respectively, and most of them are illiterate. [5] Compared with church musicians, the composition of secular musicians is quite complicated, including bards ("Trow Baddour" and "Trowell") from the aristocratic class, including kings, earl and knights. [6] In addition, there are "Jungler" (jonglor or jongleur) with the nature of wandering artists, who are generally born in free civilians. These two kinds of secular musicians represent two classes in the stable social structure in the Middle Ages, and the boundary between them is very clear. Trot Baddour and Rohwer's occupation is fighting and killing. After hundreds of battles, they regard music as a comfort:

"Singing poets (leaders press: bards) mainly sing gentle court love, an abstract feeling that ordinary people can hardly understand. The art of these court musicians and poets is extremely pedantic and obscure ... but the materials used for special family treatment still maintain the freshness and vividness of popular sources. This highly developed artistic quality shows that the theme of these love songs is actually an imaginary figure, and her beautiful body beats a noble and proud soul. It is not easy for her to condescend to accept the poet's courtship. " [7]

On the other hand, wandering artists make a living by walking the streets and providing entertainment for people. Their music has no fixed form, but it is the inheritor of unrecorded instrumental music in the Middle Ages:

"They appear in court festivals and the most prestigious castles; However, there is evidence that they also appear in noisy festivals of the citizen class, in competitions and martial arts gatherings; In addition, they are also willing to provide music for country weddings. They take an active part in the performance of religious dramas. In addition to singing and playing the piano, they also recite legends and perform acrobatic stunts and magic. " [8]

As far as lifestyle is concerned, church musicians, like ordinary clergy, are supported by believers, and music is their daily homework; Secular singers from noble backgrounds are feudal lords with territories and serfs. For them, music represents the hidden feelings in their hearts, but it is just a hobby or fashion. Only Jungler traveled from this small town to another fortress to provide entertainment for the lords during the feast, which can be regarded as the earliest professional artist who made a living by performing arts. The prosperous period of their existence was also between 12 and 13 centuries. [9] Due to the different living environments and ways, the musical traditions they created have different cultural attributes: church music represents the religious nature of medieval music, court songs represent the lyricism of medieval music, while vagabond music is not bound by any fixed form and emotional connotation, but pursues superb and charming skills, representing the entertainment of medieval music. As far as the influence of these three different lifestyles on the music culture in the late Middle Ages is concerned, the church musicians provided a rigorous theoretical system and practical basis, aristocratic music created aristocratic forms with the characteristics of the times (especially various music and poetry genres), and the jungle people who were active in the lower classes continued their professional survival mechanism. The musical culture and musicians' living conditions in the whole "Art Nouveau" period were produced in the blending of these three medieval forms. Under such historical conditions, the concept of music and musicians, which dominated in the Middle Ages and was based on theological thoughts, was not essentially different from the practice platform based on Confucianism and carried by elegant music in ancient China, and "musical works" in the sense of artistic works did not appear. Although the medieval secular music attached to poetry realized the close combination of music and literature in form, the whole history of western literature was basically in a spontaneous state before the13rd century (this is highlighted in epic literature and love poems, such as Song of Roland and Tristan and isolde, which originated from the folk and was collected by court literati). However, as the main body of intellectuals, church people seldom participate in literary creation. [10] We can't regard it as the direct predecessor of musical works in the artistic sense after the Renaissance.

It is worth mentioning that in the heyday of the Middle Ages, a small number of church members not only wrote theological works, but also created some beautiful Latin songs to entertain themselves, such as Peter Abelard (1080? - 1 142? ), Hildegard von Bingen (1098- 1 179), Walter de Chatillon (1 190), etc. [1 1] These musical practices, which are divorced from religious practice but closely related to theological thought and poetry creation, are extremely special exceptions. Except for a few authors who are famous for their special experiences (such as the legendary love between Abelard and eloy), most of these works are anonymous. However, in the late Middle Ages (after13rd century), this type of music activity was endowed with brand-new significance and value under the new historical conditions, and became the originator of prosperous literati musicians.