Workers aren't paid according to the market value of their work but rather for what they can demand in the labor market and what it costs to produce and reproduce their labor. That hasn't changed.
Also, if anything, per capita demand for classical music is less now that it was a century or two ago.
Baumol's cost disease is a powerful explanation for why people like doctors, musicians, and nanny's seem to be paid more now than they were before. Don't dismiss it out of hand.
Baumol’s cost disease might be a true phenomenon, but it makes artificial constraints not he supply of labor all the more insidious. The cost of a doctor or nanny is going up, but Congress + the AMA artificially limit the amount of medical residencies. That’s one small reason why the medical industry is broken. There are also many regulations that serve to increase the average price of a nanny.
Musicians, on the other hand, were subject to intense technological disruption. They offer a fundamentally different product with different methods of distribution. I don’t think they are a good illustration of Baumol’s cost disease.
Also, if anything, per capita demand for classical music is less now that it was a century or two ago.
Baumol's cost disease is a powerful explanation for why people like doctors, musicians, and nanny's seem to be paid more now than they were before. Don't dismiss it out of hand.