What Makes a Great Composer? An Economist’s Answer based on a Millennium of Data

11:00 | Wednesday, November 8, 2023

KKL301, KKL Building, HKU Campus

English

SPEAKER
Karol Jan Borowiecki
Professor of Economics
University of Southern Denmark

ABSTRACT
In this monograph, I address the age-old question of what makes a great composer by using a big data approach. This involves assembling and analyzing data on thousands of famous and not-so-famous western classical composers who lived between 1100 and the present day. The data for this project, collected from compilations of musical themes, bibliographies, biographies, dictionaries and encyclopedias of musicians and their teachers, the personal correspondence of composers, and a variety of other sources, is used to systematically uncover the myriad factors that influenced composers’ output and creativity. To motivate and interpret the findings, I use theories drawn from economics and other (social) sciences that have been advanced to explain composer productivity. In my talk I will cover topics related to agglomeration (geographic clusters), migration, well-being (and whether negative emotions are conducive towards creativity), education (role of teacher), and war. In doing this, I also shed light on how to identify, measure and enhance creativity, which is a key ingredient of innovation, and therefore fundamental to economic growth, welfare, and well-being.

ABOUT ECONOMIC HISTORY SEMINARS
The Economic History Seminars are jointly organized with the Centre for Quantitative History and are partly supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project Reference Number: AoE/B-704/22-R).

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