CONCERT LIFE IS BORN
The word “concert,” originally, was merely the French form of the word “concerto.” And it was in France—in 1725, to be exact—that the word was first used in its modern sense. It was in France, then, the cradle of Enlightenment and “civilized” taste, that the modern vogue for public instrumental music—“concert music”—was born. That first French usage was associated with the earliest significant and lasting European concert series, the Concert Spirituel (literally, “sacred concert”), organized in Paris by the minor court composer Anne Danican Philidor (1681–1728), son and brother to several other Parisian musicians, including François-André Philidor, who although a successful composer of operas was (and remains) much better known as one of the greatest chess players of all time.
- Citation (MLA):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 10 Instrumental Music Lifts Off." The Oxford History of Western Music. Oxford University Press. New York, USA. n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2025. <https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume2/actrade-9780195384826-div1-10002.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Taruskin, R. (n.d.). Chapter 10 Instrumental Music Lifts Off. In Oxford University Press, Music In The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries. New York, USA. Retrieved 27 Apr. 2025, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume2/actrade-9780195384826-div1-10002.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Richard Taruskin. "Chapter 10 Instrumental Music Lifts Off." In Music In The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries, Oxford University Press. (New York, USA, n.d.). Retrieved 27 Apr. 2025, from https://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume2/actrade-9780195384826-div1-10002.xml
