Regula Burckhardt Qureshi compiles ten essays by contributing authors ranging from musicologists, ethnomusicologists, political scientists, and historians, all providing prospective for studying music through a Marxist lens. In Music and Marx: Ideas, Practice, Politics, the chapters highlight the place of music in society by engaging Marxist theories on society. The book provides “music-directed approaches to Marx,” which express the issues of musical thinking and theorizing as it relates to commodification, the control of musical form by capitalism, the connection between music-making and economic processes, and the issues of Marxist state policies as they relate to musical practices (xv).
Qureshi began this work as a collection of conference …show more content…
He argues that the act of listening by the musicologist has made all other aspects of musical practice insignificant. Gramit utilizes the works of Karl Marx in his analysis of commodities as veils over social relations to provide perspective on how musicologists have divorced all aspects of the music making process from the music. The second chapter, “Commodity-Form, Disavowal, and Practices of Music Theory,” Henry Klumpenhouwer argues that “fetishism” is expressed in music theory, in that the value of music arises from its material characteristics, and not the societal connections that are needed to produce the music. He utilizes Karl Marx’s Capital, largely, in an effort to explain the “use-value” of commodities and the value inherent in the commodity as it is produced. He also discusses the idea of “fetishism,” the innate value of a commodity granted it either by the individual or by its value from the commodities natural features (28-29). According to Klumpenhouwer, fetishism does not only apply to the discipline of economics and can apply to music theory. Music theory critically analyzes the material characteristics of music, therefore it is connected to fetishism in that music is given or innately contains value beyond societal connections …show more content…
His experiences as a Soviet musicologist allows for a fuller picture of how he and other Soviet scholars utilized Marxism as a motivation for other scholarly achievements. Zemtsovsky also discusses the difficulty of being subjective in his work in an ideologically driven society. He discusses his connection to the sociological approach to music as an art more so than an economic analysis, which places musicology as the study of art as a commodity (181). In “Making Marxist-Leninist Music in Uzbekistan,” Theodore Levin expresses a different situation from the Soviet Union. He discusses how Marxist-Leninist state ideology transformed music culture in Uzbekistan. According to Levin, the diatonic melodies, chromatic harmonies, and regular intervals of Russian songs were fused with the embellished modal scales, homophonic textures, and microtonal intervals of Uzbeck music, keeping it “nationalist in form, socialist in context” (190). Levin argues that through the creation of the position of Soviet cultural commissar, first held by Anatoly Lunacharsky, there was a push for nationalist music, which incorporated the folk music of Uzbekistan, but according to state policy and approved musical forms. In the final chapter, “Central American Revolutionary Music,” Fred Judson contends that it is important to hold a Marxist view to understand and appreciate Central American
Qureshi began this work as a collection of conference …show more content…
He argues that the act of listening by the musicologist has made all other aspects of musical practice insignificant. Gramit utilizes the works of Karl Marx in his analysis of commodities as veils over social relations to provide perspective on how musicologists have divorced all aspects of the music making process from the music. The second chapter, “Commodity-Form, Disavowal, and Practices of Music Theory,” Henry Klumpenhouwer argues that “fetishism” is expressed in music theory, in that the value of music arises from its material characteristics, and not the societal connections that are needed to produce the music. He utilizes Karl Marx’s Capital, largely, in an effort to explain the “use-value” of commodities and the value inherent in the commodity as it is produced. He also discusses the idea of “fetishism,” the innate value of a commodity granted it either by the individual or by its value from the commodities natural features (28-29). According to Klumpenhouwer, fetishism does not only apply to the discipline of economics and can apply to music theory. Music theory critically analyzes the material characteristics of music, therefore it is connected to fetishism in that music is given or innately contains value beyond societal connections …show more content…
His experiences as a Soviet musicologist allows for a fuller picture of how he and other Soviet scholars utilized Marxism as a motivation for other scholarly achievements. Zemtsovsky also discusses the difficulty of being subjective in his work in an ideologically driven society. He discusses his connection to the sociological approach to music as an art more so than an economic analysis, which places musicology as the study of art as a commodity (181). In “Making Marxist-Leninist Music in Uzbekistan,” Theodore Levin expresses a different situation from the Soviet Union. He discusses how Marxist-Leninist state ideology transformed music culture in Uzbekistan. According to Levin, the diatonic melodies, chromatic harmonies, and regular intervals of Russian songs were fused with the embellished modal scales, homophonic textures, and microtonal intervals of Uzbeck music, keeping it “nationalist in form, socialist in context” (190). Levin argues that through the creation of the position of Soviet cultural commissar, first held by Anatoly Lunacharsky, there was a push for nationalist music, which incorporated the folk music of Uzbekistan, but according to state policy and approved musical forms. In the final chapter, “Central American Revolutionary Music,” Fred Judson contends that it is important to hold a Marxist view to understand and appreciate Central American