Reception history

The term reception history refers to the historical progression of responses to a person, cultural object, or event over time. It has been applied to classical music, literature, and the Bible.

In classical music

In classical music, the reception history of a work of music, or the body of work created by a composer, is the history of how listeners and performers have reacted to the work over time: how it was heard, performed, and evaluated.

Reception history is studied by musicologists using various sources of evidence, such as the writings of critics and other composers, both during the composer's lifetime and later on. It is also possible, in many cases, to assess esteem by consulting old concert programs, or (for later work) commercial recordings. In the days before copyright law, a clear indicator of esteem was the proliferation of unauthorized editions issued by other than the original publishers. Prior to the 19th century, many works circulated in manuscript, and the monasteries of Europe often included music libraries filled with such works, kept both for use in worship and in some cases for the monks' entertainment (e.g., Haydn symphonies). Some of these collections have survived to the present day and can be consulted.

A theme of reception history is the changes over time in the degree to which the work of a composer is valued. For example, the composer Johann Adolph Hasse was very popular in his own time, but his work eventually largely disappeared from the musical scene.