Learning and Patronizing the Science of Music among the Elite of Medieval Baghdad

Scholarly writings on music during the medieval period were often composed at the request of private patrons or were otherwise dedicated to members of the Baghdadi elite (e.g., caliphs and other rulers) who were not professional musicians. The existence of such treatises suggests that this Baghdadi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Abbasid Studies
Main Author: Ansari, Mohammad Sadegh (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill [2019]
In: Journal of Abbasid Studies
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Bagdad / Patronage
IxTheo Classification:BJ Islam
Further subjects:B elite culture
B Music
B Science
B Baghdad
B Patronage
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:Scholarly writings on music during the medieval period were often composed at the request of private patrons or were otherwise dedicated to members of the Baghdadi elite (e.g., caliphs and other rulers) who were not professional musicians. The existence of such treatises suggests that this Baghdadi elite had an interest in learning and/or patronizing the science of music. In this article, I examine the various functions which learning the science of music fulfilled for the elite of medieval Baghdad (third/ninth-seventh/thirteenth century), and which in turn prompted their interest in the patronage thereof. The two most important of these functions were to enhance the appreciation of performed music and to evince a status marker in a culture that celebrated mastery of the Greek-inspired sciences as a sign of one having socially arrived.
ISSN:2214-2371
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of Abbasid Studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/22142371-12340048