Musical Crossroads.Transatlantic Cultural Exchange 1800-1950

As it is already known, artists (except mechanical) are among the people [in the USA] who are least in demand, and in recent times have even been cautioned against immigration. That is how critical a journalist of the German Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in 1820 still viewed career opportunities for European musicians in the New World, the United States of America. The author, who was positioned in the European music culture system, which was sponsored by courtly, bourgeois, and sacred institutions, could hardly imagine that European artists would be able to find a place in society and financial subsistence in this young nation. A glance at the development of North American music institutions, of which the starting point was predominantly situated in the second half of the nineteenth century, would seem to vindicate this assertion in the German periodical. The establishment of North American music culture did not take place at Carnegie Hall nor at New England Conservatory, but rather in pre-institutional spaces that were previously granted little consideration, whereby immigration from as well as cultural exchange with the old world, played a prominent role. If one changes the spatial focus, then even at the beginning of the nineteenth century, an awakening music culture, where musicians could indeed gain economic success, comes to light. For many years the exploration of cultural exchange has experienced an upsurge in the fields of the humanities and cultural studies. With transatlantic spaces, the research project will forge paths into previously unexplored territory in terms of geopolitical space, and thereby turn the focus on pre-institutional spaces and the agents of music-cultural practices. In particular, two pre-institutional spaces, which had particular relevance as hubs of communication, exchange, and cultural transfers, come to the fore: music stores (with regard to the period 1800-1850) and music salons (with regard to the period 1880-1950). The project proceeds under the assumption that the two selected spaces virtually represent prototypical spaces of music-related cultural transfer in the periods under consideration. Both the music trade and socializing in salons provided impetus for the musical culture of North American cities, and they were central points of contact for incoming musicians. Here, music- related knowledge was informally exchanged, as were concrete artifacts (e.g. sheet music, instruments, etc.), and networks were also established. These focal points close gaps in the history of music: although it can be regarded as one of the most important prerequisites for the musical life there, the music trade in the US as a space of cultural transfer has not been considered in a research setting until now, and the North American music salon, despite active research of European salon culture in general, has so far not been a subject of academic examination.

From the contemporary perspective of a globalized world, it seems self-evident that cultural exchange is permanently taking place around the globe. Today, for example, we assume that there is a global music industry, as well as a widely ramified network of musical styles and, above all, a network of musicians. Even when we look back to the time around 1800 with this global perspective, we can see that musical life was more strongly interconnected across continents than has been taken into account by music historiography to date. The goal of the project was to research these early music-related transfer processes between Europe and the USA. The reason that little attention has been paid to these processes is partly due to the fact that for a long time, music historiography tended to focus on institutional musical life. However, in contrast to Europe, permanent music-related institutions such as conservatories, concert halls, or opera houses were only partially established in the United States at that time. Consequently, the research project had to start at other types of spaces where music-cultural exchange took place. The focus therefore fell on music stores and music salons, wherein both spaces the exchange of music and information about music was accessible, and, at the same time, the formation of professional networks was possible. With this approach, the project showed that, especially in the U.S., it was pre-institutional spaces that significantly contributed to the establishment of various forms of musical culture. The project focused on objects and practices that were brought from Europe to the United States, where they were adapted to the conditions of cultural life and social structures. The following main findings were obtained in the first subproject: (1) the music trade in the U.S. was particularly characterized by concrete transfer movements, not only concerning the exchange of goods, but also the transfer of music-related knowledge. (2) The project demonstrated to what extent music-related practices (e.g., music printing, domestic music making, or canonization processes) were adopted or adapted, and (3) it became apparent that music dealers also acted as cultural brokers between professional musicians in the transatlantic space (e.g., as concert agents). The second subproject on salon culture proved that (1) a lively salon culture could also be observed in the American southern states (a phenomenon that had hitherto remained largely unnoticed in U.S. research). (2) It became apparent that, especially for bourgeois society (practices in the "parlor"), the orientation towards European etiquette books was relevant, which in Europe, however, was strongly influenced by the aristocracy. (3) Lastly, the project also revealed that the salon in the 20th century was particularly suitable as a place of memory for exile biographies.