The network of western classical music composers

Abstract

Network science focuses on the connections between the elements of a complex system in order to uncover the nature and the underlying patterns of interaction relationships inside the system. In this paper we apply network theory to understand associations between the composers of western classical music constructed from a comprehensive data of CD recordings. We study the properties of the network of composer-composer ties including the degree distribution, the component structure, clustering, and several types of centralities of the composers. We also investigate the nature of prominent modules found in the network, and show how the tastes of consumers of western classical music manifest themselves in the network.We believe that our work shows how network science can be a useful tool for studying arts and humanities.