Talk:Light music

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 * I've edited the image page ro correct the old PD tremplate, and I've notified the bot's owner that the warning addressed the wrong kind of use. This image is in the public domain, not fair use.  --Parsifal Hello 00:56, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

"Dubious" tag
Um, this "dubious-discuss" tag was added by User:Kintetsubuffalo, but without explaining why. I'm assuming the problem is that there are lots of other countries which have "light music" traditions, but as far as I know they're not referred to as "light music" - i.e. on the continent, they're known as "salonmusic" or in the U.S. they're often called "Pops music". As far as I know, the UK is the only country which has the distinct type of music discussed at length in the rest of the article, i.e. the Coates tradition. So, because it wasn't added with discussion, I'm going to remove it, but I'd be interested to hear other points of view. It would be easy to change. Rob (talk) 23:41, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * It might not be dubious, but it would perhaps be good to add a ref to it. ♫ Melodia Chaconne ♫ (talk) 00:07, 15 April 2011 (UTC)
 * No-no-no, "Pops music" can be confused with "pop" genre. 81.89.66.133 (talk) 09:33, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

"Mainly British"?
I love everything UK—but how can this be considered "mainly British" music [lead paragraph]? It was tremendously popular and influential in the U.S. as well, where American light-music artists were seen and heard everywhere. This music practically created the basis of American culture of the late '40s and early '50s, subsequent to the Big Band era.

Celebrity pianists (e.g. Eddie Duchin, Carmen Cavallaro, Liberace) held particular sway in U.S. light music, yet the word "piano" doesn't appear once in this article. (BTW, I found this page by following the "light music" link in the Carmen Cavallaro page.)

Does this genre have another WP article under a different name, where it's given more than an Anglo focus? – AndyFielding (talk) 09:14, 19 January 2015 (UTC)
 * You're right that this article could easily be called "British Light music" or "Light orchestral music", but each country has a particular name for similar genres of music, for example in Germany it's called "salonmusick", which really is mostly piano music. I suppose the catch-all term Easy listening applies to pianists like Liberace, in the same way it does to Richard Clayderman in Europe. At least retrospectively, though, "Light music" as a genre seems to be applied to original compositions rather than arrangements (so similar to arrangers like Mantovani, Percy Faith etc) Rob (talk) 19:16, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Pasting that discussion below, since it's got lost in that link:
 * See current (related) discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Classical music. --Francis Schonken (talk) 14:21, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

Leichte Musik
How do I translate the general genre Leichte Musik which obviously is not Light music. It summarizes the lighter sides of classical music, such as operettas, dance music etc. Another German term is U-Musik, Unterhaltungsmusik, which would be entertaining music. Help? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:43, 25 November 2017 (UTC)


 * Hmm... we're talking Vienna, New Year's Day, clink of champagne glasses, right? There are American orchestras with similar repertoire, such as the Boston Pops and the Cincinnati Pops,.  Probably no translation exists but perhaps "light classics" is term occasionally used.


 * I'm also not sure why Light music isn't close enough -- I looked at this article and it sounds like the Anglo-Saxon counterpart of the German/Austrian tradition, insofar as I have any knowledge of either type. Opus33 (talk) 19:46, 25 November 2017 (UTC)


 * "Light music" seems fairly OK (here is how the Light Music Society (LMS) defines it), but I agree there wouldn't be a one-on-one translation: too context-dependent. Leonard Bernstein avoids the terminology, writing "Some of his works, especially his score for West Side Story, helped bridge the gap between classical and popular music" (emphasis added) – well, according to the LMS "Light Music bridges the gap between classical and popular music" (emphasis added). Other sources are more direct in saying that Bernstein composed "... in lighter genres ..." . The concept has somewhat vague boundaries (see LMS definition), and so should be used sparingly in the context of encyclopedic articles (per Manual of Style/Words to watch).
 * could you provide the context where you need the translation? E.g. I can imagine contexts where Leichte Musik would rather be translated by, for instance, easy listening or another closely related concept. --Francis Schonken (talk) 11:02, 27 November 2017 (UTC)
 * It's for a broadcaster's department (Abteilung), distinguishing serious vs. light, or E/U (Ernst/Unterhaltung). Light music seems a good translation, but our article of that name describes something very British. Could we perhaps broaden the scope of that article? - Thank you for all responses. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:26, 27 November 2017 (UTC)
 * Which broadcaster? What is the German name of the department? The E/U distinction is very contentious (see e.g. de:E- und U-Musik). The distinctions made in English terminology are anyway different, and probably no less contentious. So if you are translating an article on a German broadcaster to English I'd rather list the genres mostly programmed than trying to translate a German umbrella term with vague boundaries to an English umbrella term which has different, no less vague, boundaries.
 * As for the light music article: surely in need of some updating (has a British POV to start with, afaics, which could be remedied or at least tagged until resolved), see e.g. the external sources given in the LMS definition page which I linked to above. --Francis Schonken (talk) 14:12, 27 November 2017 (UTC)
 * We are talking about a German broadcaster (now under a different name, the History of Südwestrundfunk) who had an Abteilung Leichte Musik in the 1950s, adding the additional problem of historic context. It would not be called that way today, but it's history that back then, and in Germany, they tried to categorize E and U. The person who lead the department was also influential in jazz which makes me think that would have been counted in there as well (see de: "wo er als Leiter der Abteilung Unterhaltungsmusik die „Tage der Leichten Musik“ initiierte und für „Treffpunkt Jazz“ zuständig war"), the very sentence I'd like to translate. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:08, 27 November 2017 (UTC)
 * The sentence is translated in en.Wikipedia's Wolfram Röhrig article. Don't think it was too difficult to mention that. For History of Südwestrundfunk, I'd propose to merge that into the History section of Südwestrundfunk. --Francis Schonken (talk) 16:19, 27 November 2017 (UTC)
 * I think that is not relevant for the question that it was for Röhrig, which I translated. Once he is mentioned, could anybody find a source for the 20 July 2044 1944 story on de. I skipped it altogether, with no source. One of the reasons why I didn't want to mention the article prematurely. - Where is the merge discussion precisely. One of the article talks sent me here. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:05, 27 November 2017 (UTC)--Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:05, 27 November 2017 (UTC)
 * That would be 20 July 1944 I suppose. --Francis Schonken (talk) 17:12, 27 November 2017 (UTC)
 * No clue what problem you're trying to address, but surely has no longer anything to do with "Leichte Musik" and its English-language counterpart(s). --Francis Schonken (talk) 17:46, 27 November 2017 (UTC)

I'm not really a German speaker, but I've always thought "Leichte musik" translates as light classical. This concept includes operettas, Gilbert and Sullivan and the better known and more accessible pieces of the classical composers. "Light music" means popular orchestral music of the 1920s to the 1960s, such as Eric Coates and Bert Kaempfert - in British English anyway, American usage may be different. --Ef80 (talk) 17:48, 18 February 2018 (UTC)

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