Gebrauchsmusik

Gebrauchsmusik, music intended, by virtue of its simplicity of technique and style, primarily for performance by the talented amateur rather than the virtuoso. Gebrauchsmusik is, in fact, a modern reaction against the intellectual and technical complexities of much 19th- and 20th-century music, complexities that exalt the professional virtuoso and exclude the amateur from active participation. The purpose of Gebrauchsmusik, then, is to provide the nonprofessional musician with a composition suitable for impromptu, nonvirtuoso performance.

In a sense, Gebrauchsmusik can be traced back to the simple keyboard and lute pieces of the Renaissance, as well as to the chamber music of the Baroque and Classical eras. The term itself is a child of the 20th century, however, and most Gebrauchsmusik represents a species of neoclassicism (the use of old genres, but with contemporary techniques). The leading exponent of the Gebrauchsmusik movement was Paul Hindemith, who probably coined the term but later disavowed it. Johann Sebastian Bach’s church music was cited as the earliest example, and later practitioners included Kurt Weill.