Toward a Materialist Conception of Music History

Toward a Materialist Conception of Music History makes a convincing case for the relevance, appropriateness, and usefulness of historical materialism to the musicological project.

The book interrogates the history of encounters between Marxism and music studies — both within and outside of the Soviet sphere — before staging the missed encounter between classical musicology and Second International Marxism. It concludes by constructing a new framework for understanding the history of style in terms of changes in the forces and relations of musical production.

ISBN: 9798888905425

Publication date: September 2, 2025

Introduction 1

1 The Realist Conception of Art 9
1 The Realist Conception of Art 12
2 The Materialist Conception of Music History 24

2 The Cultural Phase of Industry 32

3 Disenchantment and Musicological Method 46
1 Either History or Aesthetic Experience 47
2 Against Marxism 52
3 Against Positivism 56
4 Classical Musicology 61

4 Democratic Formalism 65
1 Failed Revolution and Liberalisation 67
2 Discursivity and the Authority of Musical Norms 72
3 Against the Rule of Sentiment 78

5 Style Criticism and Historical Materialism 83
1 Style and Its Discontents 84
2 Style and Spirit 88
3 Style and Technique 94
4 Style and Historical Materialism 100

6 Forces and Relations of Musical Production 105
1 Forces and Relations 106
2 Primitive Musical Communism 107
3 Minstrel and Chapel Singer 109
4 Thoroughbass and the Opera Industry 114
5 The Musician Entrepreneur 120
6 Organised Musical Labor 123

7 After Capitalism 127

Appendix: The Harmonic Ideology 131

Bibliography 145

Index 155