The Legacy of Genius: Improvisation, Romantic Imagination, and the Western Musical Canon — University of California, Los Angeles

Claims

1. causes-of-decline
   The nineteenth-century decline of improvisation involved nationalism, changing social and economic contexts for public music-making, shifting intellectual climates, and changes in aesthetic ideas, not a single command from authorities.

   "The nineteenth century process was a much more complex one that involved not only a strong nationalistic impulse, but also changing social and economic contexts for public music-making, a shift in intellectual and philosophical climates, and—in tension with these developments but not reducible to them—changes in aesthetic ideas."

   Locator: page: 227 · Quote language: en
2. decline-mid-19th-century
   Improvisation remained an important part of Western classical music well into the nineteenth century, and disappeared almost completely from public performance around the middle of the century, as the Western musical canon became firmly established.

   "Nineteenth-century improvisation, on the contrary, disappeared almost completely from public performance at the time the Western musical canon became firmly established."

   Locator: page: 226–227 · Quote language: en
3. liszt-hanslick
   Eduard Hanslick (1854) contrasted lawful composition with improvised 'haphazard ramblings'; Franz Liszt gave up his career as a piano virtuoso in 1848 and thereafter improvised only privately.

   "Liszt only gave up his career as piano virtuoso in 1848 when, in the wake of his “conversion” to the Werktreue ideal and his appointment at the Weimar court, he gave a new turn to his career, becoming mainly a conductor and composer. After this point Liszt, who never lost his skill and love for improvising, continued to do so privately."

   Locator: page: 247 · Quote language: en