22 - Les mondes de la musique
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Sophie Maisonneuve
The phonographic industry and the patrimonialisation of the music in the first half of the XXth century
Le Temps des médias n°22, Printemps 2014, p. 77-91.
Contrary to an idea widespread by the critical theories of mass culture and the culture industries, the growth of the phonographic industry led to an unprecedented patrimonialization of music. Studying how « classical » music was treated by this industry and its consumers in the first half of the XXth century leads to highlighting three intertwinned components of this patrimonialization : first, the formation of a monument of music through a repertoire making it materially available ; second, the valorization of the past through various set ups (« rediscoveries », discursive and material mediations such as collections and commemorations) ; last but not least, the advent of a patrimony being at the same time an object of use and material possession, and of pleasure and aesthetic enjoyment. This case study leads us to question our representation of a «patrimony» and the mechanisms of its construction in more recent periods and for other music genres.