How Universal is Beethoven? Music, Culture, and Democracy

Shared Heritage Revisited

“…Both are central elements in Barenboim's musical argumentation, according to which a symphony is realized through listening, interacting, and the state of interdependence (Wakeling 2010). Characteristics of the classical symphony that the orchestra has to elaborate are its dramatic density, its motifs, and its intense contrast; recognizing and deciphering these characteristics is the responsibility of the listener (Whale 2015). Transferring Barenboim's considerations to orchestral work, it becomes obvious that the realization of a symphony concerns the aesthetic and the human togetherness in the orchestra, with the rehearsal process intertwining the dynamics.…”

A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review Regarding Musical Universality in Academic Literature.

“…In an immediate sense, the drama does not challenge us to rethink what is involved in freedom and equality so much as it reinforces a set of thoughts already there." (Whale, 2015) "We are drawn to music we have strong associations with and often fail to understand that our preference for the affect that it has is not felt by everyone-it is not universal-but has to do with where we have grown up, our social biases, and our self-images." (Whale, 2015) Among these five themes discussed in this paper, the Transcendence of Culture/Language theme was the most prevalent theme that appeared in this review, and these arguments generally examined how musical idioms transcend language and cultural context to transmit generally understood aesthetic information.…”

“…However, justifications for this phenomenon were extremely divisive. For instance, as quoted from McKimm-Vorderwinkler (2010) in figure 7, some scholars posited that individuals are "biologically conditioned" to interpret idioms uniformly such that it encourages homogeneity rather than distinction of cultural meaning and aesthetics, yet others, as indicated from Whale's (2015) quotation, directly contradicted this perspective by arguing that associations of musical idioms only reinforce one's cultural identity and values, not a universal, ambiguous ideal of cultural transitivity. Therefore, despite this theme's frequent discussion within the review, there is little unified conclusion that can be presented for this specific.…”

“…However, the macro-cultural view of music's capacity for progressivism seems to argue that music is a tool that can be just as divisive as religious differences and can go further to exacerbate political turmoil. These scholars (Dave, 2015;Hirsch 2010;Matsunobu, 2011) ascertain that music is intrinsically linked to politics in a way that implies any musical gesture is a political statement attributable to a specific group's identity, yet some still argue that, on an individual level, any form of music can represent an aesthetic that resonates with any individual, such as the argument presented by Whale (2015). To reconcile this disparity, it could be argued that, since the environment of cultural turmoil does not facilitate cross-cultural communication and peace building, music does not necessarily drive the wedge between groups but the group's intent of division in its musical context does.…”