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Forbes Posted 18 years ago
Vocabulary

Contemporary

The other day I was in the classical department of a large CD store. I was looking to see what they had by Alban Berg. A large section is arranged by composer in alphabetical order. There was no Berg under the "B's", which I thought odd given the size of the department. Later I found the "Contemporary" section and there was Berg. Now Berg died in 1935. Clearly there has to be some leeway when using the word "contemporary", but more than 70 years seems to be stretching it. Is there are any justification for using the word as a synonym for "modernist"?
  

Top answer

I'm certain that musicologists would have a great time discussing this term. I had a text for a music appreciation class in 1966 that more or less used the term 'contemporary' to mean 20th Century, even late 19th Century. That clearly isn't working here.

— Philip

  • I'm certain that musicologists would have a great time discussing this term.
  • I had a text for a music appreciation class in 1966 that more or less used the term 'contemporary' to mean 20th Century, even late 19th Century.
  • That clearly isn't working here.
  • In non-technical terms , I think that modern and contemporary could be used as synonyms.
  • You might check with the staff at the CD store, although I realize that many of them may not be 'musicologists'.
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3 Answers
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I'm certain that musicologists would have a great time discussing this term. I had a text for a music appreciation class in 1966 that more or less used the term 'contemporary' to mean 20th Century, even late 19th Century. That clearly isn't working here. In non-technical terms, I think that modern and contemporary could be used as synonyms. You might check with the staff at the CD store,
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ForbesIs there are any justification for using the word as a synonym for "modernist"?
Probably not, but "Contemporary" music (as a period designator like "Baroque" music) begins in 1907, with the third movement of Schoenberg's second string quartet.
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Similar borrowings have already happened with "classic" and "romantic", which have very different meanings in everyday language than they do in musicology.


Exactly. The generic "classical" music is used to identify a genre, making it different from "popular". Then within that genre, we have periods: classic, barroque, romantic, impressionist....on and on.
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