Description
Book SynopsisDid you know that Bach invested in mines? That Rossini improved his income by running casinos in the opera houses which on weekends performed his operas? Or that Puccini composed shorter arias to make them fit the length of gramophone disks as they reported him huge revenues? Or who was, in financial terms, the most successful classical composer in history? This book —the first of its kind— studies and compares the finances of twenty classical composers in their historical and economical context. Each chapter details and quantifies the sources of income of these musicians (wages, royalties, subsidies, percentages over the number of performances, arrangements, investments in the musical sector, etc), thus allowing to estimate the income they obtained due to their artistic — primarily compositional, but also related— activities. In addition, it also estimates the composer’s expenditures, thus drawing a relatively complete image of their personal finances. This not only allows to conclude to create a ranking of composers according to their economic success, but —more importantly— for the first time gives an accurate image of the financial situation of a broad set of composers. This allows to correct many false believes while also giving new insights on the relation between economics and music history.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: On the Economics of Music and the Finances of Great Composers.- Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel: The Economics of Late Baroque Market for Music.- Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Collusive Friendship.- Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert: The Economic Conscious- and Unconsciousness of the Artist.- Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti: The Economics of Belcanto I.- Vincenzo Bellini and Giacomo Meyerbeer: The Economics of Belcanto II.- Felix Mendelssohn-Bartoldy and Robert Schumann: Parallel Lives, Liberal Delusions.
