Quote - >> "Compare e.g. folk music to classical or baroque. The latter is fine art, the former is not."

Uh, no. Sorry, but no.

Actually, while I firmly believe that most of the work we see in the galleries would be examples of great craftsmanship and not art, I dont think one can just cavalierly write off something as "not fine art" simply because it's populist in nature. Mozart was, in his time, a pop musician, the equivalent of a folkie today. Yeah, he used orchestras for his music, but his intent for most of his work was little different than the Jonas Brothers today. "The Magic Flute" was his era's version of a Broadway musical.

So when did this pop star become "fine art"?

I think you're misunderstanding. There was also folk music in Mozart's day, and his was certainly not it. "People's music" has a very long history that spans many, many centuries.

The matter of fine art vs folk music is indeed a fine line, to be sure. But the traditional distinction does not have to do with how popular something was. (Hence whether Mozart's music was "pop art" in his day is irrelevant.) Folk art is less rigorous because virtually anyone can do it with very little training, although of course some will do it better than others. That's generally not true of fine art.

To put it another way: you don't have to be a musician to perform "folk music." People who perform classical music are generally musicians (keep in mind that I'm not saying they are necessarily professional or paid).

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