At 1:29 PM -0500 1/28/06, Andrew Stiller wrote:
New Yorker music critic Alex Ross says much the same thing as David Bailey:Mozart did not come from nowhere. He was the product of a society that was avid for music on every level, that believed in the possibility of an all-encompassing musical genius.
This is Romantic codswallop. The huge peasant class of Mozart's day had neither the time nor energy to be avid for music at any level, save at a wedding or the like. As for the upper and middle classes, to them a great composer was at about the same level as a great caterer.
Viz. the Esterhazy's treatment of Haydn, or the Archbishop's of
Mozart. But this does not in any way negate the obvious fact
that Mozart was a product of his society, with all its stratification,
and he know where the money was.
It is precisely the tremendous growth of the middle class since Mozart's day that has allowed it to develop a music of its own--which is what popular music is. Classical music is now what it has always been at all times and in all cultures: an intellectually elite pursuit of a small minority of the population.
And Andrew is right on the money with this. But the
crossover point for the past 100 years has been in mass entertainment,
such as the movies, and more people have enjoyed symphonic music in
movie scores than have ever set foot inside a concert hall.
It takes a peculiar type of historical blindness to imagine that Mozart's music was "all-encompassing" either in its variety or in its audience.
I doubt that anyone was suggesting Mozart made a habit of playing
in taverns on Friday nights for tips! (Hmm, could he be the
"Piano Man" Billy Joel was referring to?)
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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