A Historical Perspective on the Artification and Popularization of Music

Art that presupposes the concept of beauty is realized through the artist’s original form and logic, as well as high-level technique. Art (in its traditional concept) must be beautiful and communicate with the audience through the message the artist intends to convey. The artification of music is considered to have begun in earnest from the Baroque period, the era of so-called ‘Musical Arts,’ when instruments developed, equal temperament became common, and an academic system was established. As music became academically and artistically systematized, it was divided from an aesthetic perspective into ‘excellence of form’ and ‘factual representation (or imitation).’ The Baroque and Classical periods, which advocated absolute music, and the Neoclassicism and Serialism of the 20th century, have ‘excellence of form’ as their aesthetic foundation, while the program music of the Romantic era and the Impressionism and Expressionism of the 20th century are based on ‘factual representation (or imitation).’ The aesthetics of formal excellence involve the intervention of an absolute being, God, and the criteria of concepts are metaphysics, namely truth, goodness, and beauty, with harmony, balance, and dignity being absolute standards. The aesthetics of factual representation (imitation) were based on the metaphysical (or empirical) elements of personal taste and pleasure. In music history, popularization has been realized through compositional techniques incorporating popular elements, composition for practical purposes, social phenomena, the direct participation of the public in musical activities, and through minimal music and electronic music. The expansion of the aesthetic spectrum from metaphysics to physics did not lead to the dichotomy of music but rather a dynamic of balance throughout history.