Institutions

Abstract

The chapter offers reflections on combining an institutional viewpoint with biographical research. Individual life stories are replaced by histories of musical groups and organizations, which are studied within an institutional frame. The case study is the Helsinki Orchestra, the first professional orchestra in the Finnish capital city. The consolidation of orchestral culture in late nineteenth-century Helsinki is examined through the interaction of two institutions, the orchestra and the concert—a musical organization and a social practice. Stages of institutional change are mainly examined from the perspective of discursive institutionalism. The formation of both institutions was a long-lasting process in which universal models were translated from European musical centers to the periphery and domesticated to align with local circumstances. The key actors in this process were the conductors, whose work often reflected the musical idealism of the era.