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PawełMajewski
Itisthereforedesirablethatouranthropologically-orientedGhistory
oftheChopinCompetition’shouldfollowthedirectionmappedoutbythe
socialsciencesratherthanbyartstudiesorbythevariousnowfashionable
studiesofbodies,emotionsandsensualexperience.Apromisingcognitive
perspectiveisonethatlooksatthesuccessiveeditionsoftheChCasasta-
tusstrugglebetweengroupsofperformers,jurors,critics,andGordinary’
listeners,takingplaceinchangingpolitical,social,cultural,technical,and
civilizationalconditions.Asolidbasisforthiskindofstudieshasbeenpro-
posedbyLisaMcCormickandPierreBourdieu;italsoseemsworthwhile
todrawonearlierauthorssuchasRogerCailloisandevenJohanHuizinga.
Onecouldalsomakeuseoftheoldclassicsofanthropologyforatongue-in-
cheekattempttoviewtheCompetitionasakindofalienandexoticreligious
ritualinwhichcrowdsofworshippersgatheraroundtheirdeitieswhilethe
latterproducespellbindingsounds.Mostofall,thepublicstatementsofper-
sonswhopersonallywitnessedthesuccessiveeditionsneedtobecarefully
examinedsince,thoughtheaestheticqualitiesoftheChCperformances
themselvesmaybehardtocompare,acriticalcomparisonofstatements
concerningthosequalitiesmaywellbeattempted.Whatemergesfromsuch
acomparativestudyisanimageoftheCompetitionasafieldofsymbolic
strugglecentredontheideaofanidealChopininterpretation.
III.TheChopinCompetitionasaDemocratic
AgonoftheModernEra3
Agonismisoneofthemostlong-lastingfeaturesofhumancommunities,con-
firmedsincethebeginningsofhumankindinallthedocumentsofourpast,
fromarchaeologicalfindsandtheoldesthistoricalrecords,totheinfinite
wealthofinformationfrommodernandmostrecenthistory.Thevastcat-
egoryofGagonism’comprisesallthosesocialpracticeswhoseaimitisto
provethatsomepeoplearebetterthanothers,forinstance,becausethey
arestronger,prettier,richer,moregiftedorbetterskilledatvariousactivi-
ties.Mostlikelythepredilectionforrivalryandforconstantlytestingone’s
worthagainstthatofothersispartofGhumannature’(howeverwemight
understandthisterm),derivedfromourbiologicalevolution.Atitsdeepest,
mostprimevallevelitmayhavetodowiththelawsofnaturalselection,
whichfavourthoseindividualswhoarebestfittedtotheconditionsofthe
externalenvironment.
3Thissectionoftheintroductionhasbeenadoptedandrevisedfromthe1stissueofthe
periodicalChopinReviewof2018,whereitappearedasareviewofLisaMcCormick’sbook
PerformingCivility(seenextfootnote).
