In the fourth lecture of the Commerce and Culture podcast, Paul Cantor discusses how composers produced better music when there were more market options, instead of relying on just patrons.
- Composers relied heavily on patrons for employment
- The first operas were developed in Italy in the same centers of commerce
- There were many smaller, decentralized courts and therefore more competition between courts to get talent
- Paris began imposing and centralizing culture
- Louis XIV brought all the feudal lords under his rule
-Less diversity because there was only one court who decided art - Fewer patrons meant less variety of styles
- The French homogenizing effect on culture limited experimentation in culture
- Bach’s best works were produced under the patronage of different lords instead of the church
- Bach’s work improved after discovering Vivaldi
- After sheet music was mass printed, Vivaldi became more popular
- Sheet music helped composers gain another source of income