Kurt Blaukopf - musiksoziologische Aufsätze

The planned anthology contains seven texts by Kurt Blaukopf (1914-1999), which have already been published over the last 40 years, mostly in German. These texts are exemplary of the sociological and epistemological position of this pioneer of Austrian music sociology. Blaukopf`s efforts were aimed at a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach and analysis of music as a cultural phenomenon and as social practice. He recognised that music sociology often rather concerned itself with the general conditions of music, but at the same time warned that one should not lose sight of music as the subject. This commitment is understandable from Blaukopf`s biography. Although in the 1930s on his father`s wish he started studying jurisprudence - as a result of the Nazi march into Austria in 1938 and his subsequent flight to Paris and Jerusalem, he never finished his course - his passion and intellectual attention was for music. His devotion to this was varied, for music history and, at the same time, contemporary and sociological, music-analytical as well as music-critical. This breadth was also expressed in his published oeuvre. This text selection reveals both the sources of inspiration as well as Kurt Blaukopf`s individual contribution to music sociology. His analysis of Max Weber`s thoughts about music and his response to the epistemological position of the Vienna Circle were determining for his own view of the task of music sociology, namely, the "collection of all the social facts relevant to musical practice, the ordering of these facts according to their significance for musical practice and the recording of the changes of facts that decide practice" - according to Blaukopf in his contribution to the key word "music" for a "Dictionary of Sociology" published in 1955. The ideal of positivism, namely the possibility of a neutral science, distinguishes both Blaukopf`s writing style as well as his intentions. "The taste judgements and preferences of the sociologist must remain separate ... for him, what counts is the proud motto of Spinoza: I do not condemn nor praise; I merely study." In line with this "neutrality", Blaukopf exercised a remarkable openness and an interest in different forms of music from different cultural circles and epochs, which extended to contemporary phenomena such as pop music and advanced experimental music. Blaukopf devoted particular attention to the importance of media and technological development for the production and reception of music. All these aspects are taken into account through the careful selection of texts for this anthology. Blaukopf`s scientific commitment, however, was not effective only within the walls of academia. He also committed himself both as a member of the executive council of Unesco and as an expert in Austrian cultural policy, and demanded the achievement of two central aims: the democratisation of culture through the improvement of access to it and the participation of the population in cultural life, as well as the safeguarding and improvement of the position of artists. The effects and social relevance of art sociology is a theme of this anthology. Kurt Blaukopf was a man who had first-hand experience of the historical developments that had a formative influence on central Europe in the 20th century. His scientific work often indirectly reflects these processes. He searches for the innumerable and multifold relations between music and society, constantly with the awareness that in a situation of progressive societal differentiation, music is not determined by societal effects in the narrow sense. One of the primary aims of this planned anthology is to make Blaukopf`s work better known in the English- speaking world.