I spend much of my free time either playing or listening to classical music, so I'm very familiar with articles like this... and every time I read them, my mind translates the author's lament to "remember the good old days when cultural relevance and value was determined exclusively by upper-class middle-aged white people?" I make no apologies for being a cultural reactionary, but I question whether "the wider culture" - as opposed to the educated white elites writing for national media outlets - cared any more for Shostakovich in 1942 than they do today, or why indeed they should care in the first place.
> Although “The Star-Spangled Banner” would not become the national anthem until 1931, it nevertheless turned into a wartime litmus test: the failure to perform it, on whatever grounds, was to risk being accused of treachery. Theodore Roosevelt bluntly demanded that any musician who didn’t play the tune be deported at once. Sure enough, after failing to conduct “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a concert in Rhode Island, Muck was arrested, branded a civilian enemy alien, and transported to an internment camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.
Land of the free?
Reminds me of the Dixie Chicks getting blacklisted for opposing the Iraq war.
> Reminds me of the Dixie Chicks getting blacklisted for opposing the Iraq war.
You forgot the blacklisting during the red scare and mccarthyism. And that's relatively tame when you look back on history.
Tens of thousands of loyalists were forcibly deported after the american revolution.
Thousands of captured black soldiers were summarily tortured and killed in the civil war.
Thousands of chinese were lynched in pogroms in the late 1800s at the height of the yellow peril hysteria.
Up to 2 million mexicans ( most of them mexican americans ) were ethnically cleansed in the 1930s ( partly due to the great depression and partly due animosity from the zimmerman telegram during ww1 ).
Japanese american internment.
Vietnamese americans and immigrants being attacked and killed during and after the vietnam war.
The muslim and sikh americans who were attacked and killed after 9/11.
And we haven't even touched upon the genocidal extermination of the natives.
It's a good thing we have the best PR to spin the most ludicrous lies because the truth is as ugly as anything in human history. We are only one major war from reverting back to uncivilized brutes that we have been for much of our history.
What an incredibly short-sighted article, I have so many points of rebuttal I'll offer just two:
- Firstly, millions of people can now listen to brilliantly-performed classical music and no- or low-cost. As compared to the few who could afford the luxury of the concert hall or wait for the radio to play such music.
- Secondly, the idea of the lone, genius composer is obsolete. Conservatory-style composition classes focus on teaching classical harmony at first, later expanding into modern concepts and compositional devices. This may seem to lead to the image of a Beethoven-esque composer, writing notes and conducting ensembles and orchestras, but the reality is that the composer of the 21st century is more of a collaborative structural-architect who grapples with technology as much as with harmony, melody and timbre: designing instructions and working closely with performers who provide, in turn, virtuosity.
I grew up listening primarily "composed" period music for ensembles and orchestras, and still have a great and profound love for it, but I have an increasing admiration for modern composers and musicians who have embraced all the aesthetics of their surroundings and the influences of their peers. Modern composer/performers/musicians have enriched music for us in all styles of music from pop to alternative to country. It's a wonderful time to be a listener, and it doesn't require a Rachmaninoff concerto to be impressed (though, we can still be impressed by Rachmaninoff..)
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[ 7.1 ms ] story [ 20.0 ms ] threadLand of the free?
Reminds me of the Dixie Chicks getting blacklisted for opposing the Iraq war.
You forgot the blacklisting during the red scare and mccarthyism. And that's relatively tame when you look back on history.
Tens of thousands of loyalists were forcibly deported after the american revolution.
Thousands of captured black soldiers were summarily tortured and killed in the civil war.
Thousands of chinese were lynched in pogroms in the late 1800s at the height of the yellow peril hysteria.
Up to 2 million mexicans ( most of them mexican americans ) were ethnically cleansed in the 1930s ( partly due to the great depression and partly due animosity from the zimmerman telegram during ww1 ).
Japanese american internment.
Vietnamese americans and immigrants being attacked and killed during and after the vietnam war.
The muslim and sikh americans who were attacked and killed after 9/11.
And we haven't even touched upon the genocidal extermination of the natives.
It's a good thing we have the best PR to spin the most ludicrous lies because the truth is as ugly as anything in human history. We are only one major war from reverting back to uncivilized brutes that we have been for much of our history.
- Firstly, millions of people can now listen to brilliantly-performed classical music and no- or low-cost. As compared to the few who could afford the luxury of the concert hall or wait for the radio to play such music.
- Secondly, the idea of the lone, genius composer is obsolete. Conservatory-style composition classes focus on teaching classical harmony at first, later expanding into modern concepts and compositional devices. This may seem to lead to the image of a Beethoven-esque composer, writing notes and conducting ensembles and orchestras, but the reality is that the composer of the 21st century is more of a collaborative structural-architect who grapples with technology as much as with harmony, melody and timbre: designing instructions and working closely with performers who provide, in turn, virtuosity.
I grew up listening primarily "composed" period music for ensembles and orchestras, and still have a great and profound love for it, but I have an increasing admiration for modern composers and musicians who have embraced all the aesthetics of their surroundings and the influences of their peers. Modern composer/performers/musicians have enriched music for us in all styles of music from pop to alternative to country. It's a wonderful time to be a listener, and it doesn't require a Rachmaninoff concerto to be impressed (though, we can still be impressed by Rachmaninoff..)