In the beginning was the rhythm. 165 million ago, in a Jurassic forest, a cricket rubbed its wings rhythmically. Then, the melody: 66 million years ago, a Cretaceous bird “sang”. Unlike the birds, the whales, these pop artists who have been present for 50 million years, regularly renew their repertoire. It remained for man to condense his three aptitudes, adding to them the social intelligence of monkeys (hardly music lovers as far as they are concerned). And the music was…
With the dazzling A fantastic symphonyMichael Spitzer offers a Sapiens music, from its origins to the present day. Combining musicology, archaeology, anthropology, biology or cognitive sciences, this professor at the University of Liverpool, an accomplished pianist, manages a virtuoso sum that is teeming with astonishing anecdotes and analyses. A journey through time all the more admirable since there is no music recorded before 1877 (invention of the phonograph by Edison), and since the oldest scores, Greek, date from only 500 years before our era.
But as with Yuval Noah Harari, there are in this generous fresco, where we go from Hildegarde de Bingen to BTS, some strong guiding ideas. Michael Spitzer recalls in particular that the environment, technical developments and civilizations have had a great influence on the history of music. The oldest instrument discovered, a vulture bone flute, dates from the Upper Palaeolithic. Made of animal guts, the strings were made possible by the sedentarization of the Neolithic, an object like the lyre could not be transported over long distances.
The Bronze Age permitted bells and gongs. But beware of overly simplistic visions of supposedly linear progress. In the West, the genre was long believed to have evolved from simple melody to the complex structures of polyphony. Hence the astonishment of James Cook when, in 1773 in Tahiti, he discovered the art of counterpoint among the Polynesians. The Aka pygmies, one of the oldest ethnic groups in Africa, also practice polyphonic songs, corresponding well to their nomadic society without hierarchy.
How Western Music Conquered the Planet
While Islamic music is distinguished by its ornaments, while that of China is characterized by its attention to timbre (gongs, etc.), the West develops notes and notations. In the 11th century, an Italian monk, Guido d’Arezzo, developed the musical staff, a system much more intuitive and easy to read than the old alphabetic notations. Driven by this technical advantage, but also by colonization which eradicated local traditions (like the conquistadors massacring the Aztec musicians…), Western music conquered the planet. Another particularity: an incessant questioning of its own past with innumerable stylistic breaks (Renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic…), where everywhere else, it is first a question of imitating and transmitting a tradition.
Rock pushes logic to the limit: associated with adolescent ardor, an approximate mastery of two chords on the guitar can take you into stadiums. But this sound globalization, under the aegis of the West, has also been marked by geopolitical reflux movements with blues, jazz or reggae, currents with African roots. Ironically, classical music, in decline here, has found sanctuary in Southeast Asia. Forty million Chinese children are learning the piano. In Japan, which venerates Beethoven as a demigod, Ode to Joy serves as the anthem of the end of the year.
Headphones, speakers, streaming… Now ubiquitous, music is indeed the soundtrack of our lives. But Michael Spitzer worries about a growing passivity. In other cultures, such as the Venda, a Bantu people of southern Africa, music represents a common language, a participatory activity. With us, it is perceived as a divine inspiration of a handful of individuals, of which Mozart has become the caricature. The West has also imposed a strict separation between musicians, who perform on stage, and the public who listen to them religiously. In Germany, the homeland of European musical genius, 90% of amateur musicians interrupt their practice between the ages of 20 and 60, for family or professional reasons. The end of “homo musicus”? According to this work, it would also be the end of our humanity.
A fantastic symphony. The history of music from its origins to the present day, by Michael Spitzer. Saint-Simon, 440 pages, €24.95.