The project aims to understand essential aspects of music as a prerequisite for societal change by focusing on the three key concepts of secularization, commercialization and mass culture and by tracking these back to their development within the cultural evolution of the eighteenth century. The project focuses on the dominant cultural phenomenon of eighteenth-century French opéra-comique. The highly influential opéra-comique tradition was for a long time considered unworthy of academic scrutiny although, in its own time, it was an immensely influential medium that spread to the entire European continent. Its impact has therefore not been taken in account in approaches to general questions of the importance of music in society, even though opéra-comique was a leading pan-European popular musical tradition that led to fundamental changes in music culture. These changes are still noteworthy because they introduced new conditions for music making and music culture, whose full potential was first realized in the twentieth century with the invention of electronic reproduction of music. The project will examine the role of opéra-comique in the development of a new music culture in the eighteenth century through secularization, commercialization and the introduction of mass-culture communication (in the public space and in the private space with the invention of multimedia novels). By strengthening our understanding of the features that underlie the most recent developments that characterize music in society and by close collaboration with independent institutions acting in society development and governance, the project will provide knowledge for developing policies within key areas in the years to come.
