Conservatory musicians as titular recipients of high culture in Mexico. The case of the Conservatory Symphonic Orchestra (1882-1917)

Abstract

The main purpose of this article is to analyze the musicians of the Conservatory as "titular recipients" of "high culture", who configured an artistic "field" with elements of identity and specific properties within a complex historical context permeated by Porfirio Díaz’ long-lasting presidency and the irruption of the Mexican Revolution. The Music Conservatory became an instance of legitimization, and its symphonic orchestra became the vehicle for the dissemination of national and international musical works; all this within a social space with cultural practices that educated not only its performers, but also the audience, in an interesting process of bringing high culture closer to the new urban middle classes and, later, to the popular classes, where, in addition, some spaces of social interaction encouraged musical life. From the perspective of cultural history, a link between the disciplines of history and sociology is created as a methodological resource, in order to sustain a diachronic and critical approach to a subject that is being studied with greater emphasis in our country.