What question did this study set out to answer?

The aim is to explore the relationship between music and contemporary social-political themes.

April 3, 2026twentieth-century music0 citationsOpen Access

What Can Music Say about the World in Which We Live?

Key Points

The aim is to explore the relationship between music and contemporary social-political themes.
Analyzes contemporary art music and popular music in social contexts.
Uses examples from musical works Kein Licht and Lab.Oratorium.
Considers the evolution of traditional music genres.
Popular music is more comfortable addressing social and political themes.
Art music grapples with maintaining its abstraction while engaging with these subjects.
Both works highlight significant contemporary issues through musical expression.

Abstract

Abstract The social and political upheavals that rock our world are rarely treated in the world of contemporary ‘art music’ composition. Popular music reaches a larger public and seems more at ease in addressing these themes. But is it intrinsically linked with such content in its musical expression, or only through its lyrics? Would art music, for its part, lose its ‘purity’ by abandoning its stance of abstraction in approaching these subjects? This article draws on examples from my works Kein Licht (2017) and Lab.Oratorium (2019). Kein Licht , a ‘Thinkspiel’, imagines a future in which humankind’s appetite for energy consumption has led our species to the verge of extinction. The semi-staged Lab.Oratorium addresses the humanitarian crisis of immigration into Europe. Both works reflect the evolution of traditional genres (opera, oratorio) with theatrical elements.

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