Musical Offerings In The Renaissance Summary

Critique of “Musical Offerings in the Renaissance”

Rob Wegman’s article “Musical offerings in the Renaissance” discusses how the concept of gifts became a monumental aspect that defined the musical paradigm of the 14th-17th centuries. Gift exchange is one of the most common practices in our society. It is the primary method by which a majority of goods are circulated throughout communities. When communities openly share and receive from one another, anthropologists define them as gift economies. This perception differs from market economies, their mode of exchange being commercial transactions that involve a set monetary amount. Wegman makes modern day comparisons to help one better understand the Renaissance method of gift exchange that he is trying to convey in this article. He speaks of a musical paradigm shift that occurred
toward the end of the Renaissance.
Music was no longer something that was simply appreciated, but a musical ‘work’ that was considered an object to be produced and sold as a marketable good. Before composers published and advertised their work as a marketable good, what were their principal modes of circulation? The idea of gifts is a cultural phenomenon that is a mode of exchange that aided in the cultivation of bonds between worker and employer, made way for gift societies, and helped create a shift in which composers began to branch off and establish music as a marketable commodity rather than a gift. Wegman argues that during the Renaissance music was distributed through gift exchange. Composers/musicians presented their music as gifts to nobility, and they often received gifts and hospitality in return for their work. As musicians and composers began to engage in this mode of exchange with their overseer, both parties began to build a bond of mutual loyalty. If either side were to encounter difficulties
regarding wages or production, neither would terminate the relationship based purely on self interest. That being said there were still musicians who left benevolent patrons if they were unable to pay their wages for a short amount of time. Wegman refers to these patrons as ingrates. Yet if an employer dropped a loyal musician/composer who for some reason could not serve them to the fullest, they to, would be considered an ingrate. The mutual bond is formed when both parties are willing to give to one another without calculating the difference. One of Wegmans various examples occurred in 1496 and describes the Guild of Our Lady in Bergen decided that one of their musicians who faithfully served for well over 15 years would receive an annual bonus. He did not receive that because he was the best or the most talented, but for all of the dedication and loyalty expressed over the course of his 15 years. Another gift relationship portrayed quite beautifully is about Jean Mouton. He composed psalms and secular songs not for money or to fulfill prior contractual obligations, but as a token of goodwill and gratitude towards the King of France for all the honor and acknowledgement he bestowed upon him. These examples allowed Wegmans concept of gift exchange to be more convincing to the reader because he was able to clearly state how the distribution and circulation of music created bonds while effectively engaging this particular mode of exchange. Wegman also argues that gift societies are dynamic. He explains how the dynamism can be observed in the chains of gift exchanges that are typical in gift societies. The example he presented includes Jacob Obrecht, a composer and musician employed by the church of St donation. Wegman wrote “God bestowed wealth on private benefactors; these donated their wealth to the church in the form of benefices; the church awarded such benefices to Obrecht; and Obrecht , as a priest and musician in their service, worshipped God with prayer, music and ritual” (Pg. 7, Par. 2). We are undoubtedly able to see how a chain of various gift exchanges not only ties back to composers/musicians, but helped create a very generous and giving type of society in the Renaissance. Towards the end of the Renaissance Wegman expresses the shift in how composers and musicians treated their own works and music in the general sense. At this point in time everyone owned the music, there was no one person who could monopolize it. However that did not stop some composers from demanding and seeking recompense for their work. They began addressing their new compositions as a business deal instead of a gift, which is strikingly similar to how transactions are handled in market economies mentioned earlier. A composer mentioned was Heinrich Isaac, who accepted a commission from Constance Cathedral to make a new cycle of Mass Proper settings. That was nothing more than a business deal. There was no mutual bond or give and take, just a composition for an unknown sum of money. This example helps portray Wegman’s point of the paradigm shift because up until the late 15th/early 16th century composer, musicians, and employers engaged in just a gift mode of exchange. Wegman’s article takes modern day comparisons to help us better understand his view of gift exchange, especially of music, in the Renaissance. The idea of gifts is a cultural phenomenon that was used as the principal mode of exchange, helped to cultivate gift societies, and made way for a paradigm shift in how music was not just given as a gift, but seen as a commodity.