MUSEUM CULTURE
The last thing Naumann expected was the “symphonic revival” that was by then already well under way, although (like anyone committed to a theory of history) he failed to notice what was going on all around him. The reasons for this massive infusion of new creative energy into what had been considered a moribund genre are notoriously complex. Of course they include the appearance of a new generation of highly capable musicians; but that has to be considered not so much a cause as a contingency. Without “new symphonists,” to be sure, there could never have been a “new symphony.” But the talent and renewed dynamism that went into the symphony beginning in the 1870s could have gone elsewhere. Something had to revive the genre's prestige and renew its prospects in order to attract the talent. That something was a volatile compound of contradictory historical and social factors that transformed concert life, producing the powerful notion of a “classical tradition” in music that is still with us today.
- Citation (MLA):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 13 The Return of the Symphony." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 16 Aug. 2018. <http://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-013002.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 13 The Return of the Symphony. In Oxford University Press, Music in the Nineteenth Century. New York, USA. Retrieved 16 Aug. 2018, from http://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-013002.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 13 The Return of the Symphony." In Music in the Nineteenth Century, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 16 Aug. 2018, from http://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume3/actrade-9780195384833-div1-013002.xml
