Past Music, Future Music: Technology and Music Institutions in the 20th Century

Abstract

In his text "Technology and the Composer" Pierre Boulez writes about new technologies that emerged in the 20th century, primarily created for the purposes of music recording and reproduction, but also established as means of innovation in electronic and electro-acoustic music practice. Boulez points to two directions where technology and music are in question: conservative historicism and progressive technology, enabling the development of new music material and innovation. By using Boulez’s text(s) as a point of departure, the author considers the roles those new technologies had in the development of some musical institutions and questions how institutionalized discourse moulds ideas on the roles of music technology should have. The aim of the paper is to discuss how the music of the past was ’conserved’ and how the music of the future was created in particular types of music institutions thanks to new technological possibilities.