Le compositeur en tant qu'intellectuel : l'homme et la musique dans la société du 18e siècle

Abstract

Larissa Kirillina : The composer as intellectual : men and music in 18th-century society. The greatest composers of the Enlightenment period — Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven — are often not regarded as intellectual because they did not discuss the problems of their art. Their silence poses the problem of the self-identification and self-appreciation of music and musicians in Enlightenment society. In the second half of the 18th Century, music became only a 'fine art' and tried to become independent of science and poetry in order to find its own place among the highest spiritual values. Writings by Haydn and Beethoven show that they avoided using the technical term 'composer' to refer to esteemed colleagues or to themselves, preferring words such as 'master' or 'artist'. Towards the end of the classical era, music became not only a 'language of feeling' but also a 'language of ideas' and regained its honourable position.