The Transformation of Virtuosity in Classical Western Music in the Context of Pierre Bourdieu's Concept of Cultural Capital

Abstract

This study aims to examine the transformation of classical Western music virtuosity throughout the Baroque period and the 20th century from the perspective of Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital. Virtuosity, defined as mastery and high technical skill in instrumental performance, is discussed in this research as a phenomenon shaped by historical processes due to social taste and cultural values. Conducted using the document analysis approach, one of the qualitative research methods, the study evaluates and interprets data obtained from books, articles, and postgraduate theses on the subject. Based on Bourdieu's approach to cultural capital, which encompasses embodied, objectified, and institutionalised forms, the relationship between virtuosity and these forms of capital throughout periods of music history is discussed. The findings of the research indicate that virtuosity was used as a means of gaining prestige and as a status symbol for the aristocratic class during the Baroque period, directly producing a status and representation sphere for the nobility within the social hierarchy. It emerges that, starting from the Romantic period, the social hierarchy underwent a distinct transformation with the prestige dynamics of the bourgeoisie, and in the 20th century, it was reshaped by art movements, experimental music productions, and institution-based structures. Consequently, virtuosity has been evaluated as a sociological phenomenon that transcends mere mastery of instrumental techniques in classical Western music, evolving alongside processes of social status acquisition and cultural capital accumulation.