On May 26, 2007, at 12:00 PM, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz wrote:
At 09:14 PM 5/25/2007 +0200, shirling & neueweise wrote:
this kind of generalization about the state of
new music really disappoints me, and i have to
admit, i come across it more from americans than
any other population
This seems to be my experience. The differences are sometimes
striking, ...
I don't have any answers, but there is a cultural shift that isn't
limited
to the US.
IMO the cultural shift has been in the opposite direction. The
fundamental antipathy among ordinary Americans toward classical music
has its origins in the country's founding. In the 18th c., almost all
classical music was commissioned by royalty or by the established
church--both of which are outlawed in the US constitution. The American
people, therefore, came to view this music as inherently elitist. By
extension, its practitioners came to be regarded as effeminate, which
is why Ives was so defensive about the matter, and also is one reason
why such a high percentage of American composers 1890-1970 have been
gay.
Prior to 1960, most Americans lived their entire lives without ever
experiencing and opera, a ballet, or a symphony. TV has changed all
that--and over the course of my lifetime I have definitely seen other
forms of improvement that make the current situation, dismal as it is,
much better than what it has been. I cannot, for example, imagine any
American boy nowadays being denounced as a "fairy" because he played
the clarinet. If "music" now means "pop music" and classical music
requires a modifier, that is at least a realistic dichotomy, and is a
clear improvement, IMO, over the immediately preceding usage in which
popular music was called "contemporary," while anything old was
"classical." At least the newer usage allows for the possibility that
there might be such a thing as contemporary classical music, or antique
pop.
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press
http://www.kallistimusic.com/
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
