Appealing to the Muse and Connecting the Dots.

Writing a History of Post-World War II Swedish Art Music* *) An earlier version of this essay was read at the Annual Meeting of the Royal Musical Association, at the University of Cardiff, on September 13, 2003. I am grateful for comments I received during that occasion, as well as for comments from Nora Engebretsen, Bowling Green State University, and Joakim Tillman, Stockholm University, who read the entire manuscript. Dedicated to the memory of Bo Wallner (1923–2004)

Abstract

In his Narration and Knowledge, Arthur C. Danto has convincingly demonstrated that the notion of narrative constitutes the fundament in the writing of histories, and that there is nothing one can call a description as opposed to an interpretation. But what is a historical narrative? How does one choose the historical bits and pieces that would make up a historical narrative, and then which events to select and interpret? In this essay, I will address a few historiographical problems, previously outlined by Danto and others, in relation to my chapter “New Music of Sweden” in New Music of the Nordic Countries. I argue for a historical account that incorporates a greater variety of narratives than previously given in Swedish historiography: Individual composers and stylistic developments are not seen as the main elements, but rather as complements to the main stories of societal development and cultural policies. I also argue in favor of the characterization of musical development in terms of genres and discourses rather than works, of limited use of teleological modes of description, such as casting history as the history and development of compositional technique, and of less dependence on individual composers’ own accounts.