Negotiated authority, shared creativity: Cooperation models among conductors and performers

Drawing on fieldwork – a set of observations carried out over several years in the presence of conductors and musicians during rehearsals, concerts, and recording sessions, and in-depth interviews with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Laurence Equilbey, and Claire Gibault – this article seeks to answer, from a sociomusicological perspective, the following question: How is a musical interpretation constructed within a collective body made up of a conductor and musicians? The central hypothesis leading to observation of music-being-made is that it is a collective creative activity. This is what we shall discover in two stages: first, by examining how the authority of the conductor is negotiated in the course of such a collective effort; then, by setting forth various facets by which it is possible to comprehend a process of shared creativity. We shall then approach the role of relays in the orchestra, phenomena of self-regulation, spontaneous interventions of musicians, as well as the process of cooperation. At least, the observation shows how the conductor plays a crucial but not solitary role. This is indeed a collaborative sort of work in multiple dimensions, in which the participation and role of each player is incessantly renegotiated, and in which in fine the meaning given to the musical entity is knit together. Creativity abounds in the heart of initiatives borne by each of the participants and takes form in their synergy.