From Home Practice to Institutionalization

Type: Short paper · Article nº 939

Authors: Rosane Pletsch¹; John Kennedy Pereira de Castro²; Salete Maria Chiamulera Böhler³; Vânia Malagutti Fialho²

Presenter: John Kennedy Pereira de Castro

Institutions: ¹ IECLB — Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana no Brasil; ² Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM); ³ UNESPAR/EMBAP

Abstract

This article presents the social musical design of HausMusik (literally “home music” in German) throughout the centuries. Initially a restricted domestic practice, in contemporary times it has transformed into an exogenous practice—a system of connections among distinct social nuclei, families, and institutions, each with their own protocols, systematically organized in cycles of pre-planned events. In the studies of Omonsky and Philipsen (2016), over nearly two centuries the family musical practice of HausMusik establishes parameters for an integral formation (musikalische Bildung). The term, first appearing in a collection of scores (Standen, 1623), confirms domestic musical practice as a family heritage of craft and continuity across generations.

During the Protestant Reformation, HausMusik integrated into domestic spirituality as an instrument of faith (Leaver, 2007). In the Bach family, it played a central role in preserving family repertoires and in their daily creative life (Wollny, 2014). In the Mozart family, it was used methodically by Leopold Mozart as a pedagogical tool (Solomon, 1995). The Breuning family provided Beethoven with emotional and intellectual support (Lockwood, 2003). In the 19th century, the Schubertiades became alternative spaces for artistic and political debate (Youens, 1997; Solie, 2004). The Biedermeier Era (1815–1848) reinforced the intimate character of HausMusik (Hansen, 1985). The Sonntagsmusiken of Fanny Hensel identified leadership roles within an emerging community (Todd, 2010). Within the Schumann family, it evolved into a compositional style (Davies, 2007). For Chopin, in exile, it represented affective memory and identity (Eigeldinger, 1986). In the 20th century, Paul Hindemith’s Gebrauchsmusik reframed the practice as functional and communal (Hindemith, 1952); under the Third Reich, it was instrumentalized as an ideological tool (Kater, 1997).

In the 21st century, projects such as HausMusik Brasil Project reinterpret the practice, structuring it around three pillars: family as the core social cell, art and artists as cultural mediators, and institutional coordination integrating universities, volunteers, and community. Thus, the home becomes a controlled public stage, redefined as an exogenous action that re-signifies HausMusik as a specific space for social musical and spiritual experience, reinforcing family identity and functioning as a form of university extension.

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