Did mainstream/commercial music exist before the 20th century?

[Triton4]

Did music exist way back then? Any ideas?

[NJK]

sure it did - during the time guys like bach and beethoven lived their music was "mainstream" music in that time.

In the ages of the "wild west" a fiddle and guitar was "mainstream" music.

Mainstream music just means that it's the music that the majority likes at that certain moment-
it's a general style.

[Cylob]

What a peculiar thought Triton.

I know one thing, there was no New Wave back in the 1800's. No Sir!

[corkhead0]

There wasn't much for recording technology. And what was recorded was nursery rhymes. Commercial music was basically non-existant because there was no way to spread it.

[marvinbarcelona]

corkhead0, I believe you'll find they sold sheet music instead of recordings....proved quite popular, so not non-existant, just anohter format.

[corkhead0]

I stand corrected.

[Xerxes]

I think I should have something to say about this -

I would say it has and it hasn't - I don't believe there was an equivalent of what is considered "mainstream" today for certain periods of history.

In the Baroque era, the place most people would hear music was the Church. Bach was a commissoned church composer - music was an aid for worship. (And a way to draw people to a certain church) We should not forget however that coexisting with high baroque stylings of Bach and Vivaldi were dances that originated in the countrysides - generally spirited numbers performed by small ensebles. We know they existed because Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi would write "dance suites" that would be a collection of pieces inspired by these different regional dances - minuets, sarabandes, etc. These country dances would be part of the musical reality until the 1900's, always concurrent with whatever was happening in the cities.

In the Baroque era, we must remember that other than sacred music and dances (and some operas), music was the province of the rich. Music was... performed in one's salon for a priviledged audience of 20 dinner guests. Because this was the uppercrust of society, a majority of music written in that era was not "mainstream" if we consider the entire population.

It is in the classic era which followed where Symphonies moved out of the salons and performed in concert halls accessible by most. The melodies of Mozart and Brahms were accessible by everyone. People still went to church to listen to music. As well, opera began to flower and this was also a popular entertainment. Really, most of the music in this era was mainstream - there were lots of choices for middle class citizens to listen to music. Also, advances in printing in the Netherlands really allowed sheet music at this time to spread quickly.

Afterwards, in the Romantic era of Mendelsohhn, Wagner and the like, this sort of music remained mainstream - and Opera peaked in popularity with Rosinni, Puccini, and Verdi. Johann Strauss with his Waltzes traveled the world, and the first "Pop Star" of music, Paganini, had a giant mob of followers and groupies around him wherever he went.

But as the 20th century drew close, Orchestral music began to ebb in popularity and give way to the ancestral forms of jazz.

Really what I'm trying to say through all of this is "Mainstream Music" existed, but the relationship to music was different pre-recording era. The only distinction pre-1900's people would have made was music of the city and music of the countryside.

Music was not just on all the time, it was an occassion. There has always been a type of music listened to by the majority of ********but before recordings this was highly dependent on one's economic class because music always had to be listened to a venue, and different classes had different access to different venues - be it a dance in a tavern, a requiem mass in a cathedral, a symphony in a concert hall, and opera in a theatre.

[Triton4]

That is a very good explanation - very well compiled and very informative.

Kudos to Xerxes

[Xerxes]

Yay! Someone actually read my novella of a post!