Commonwealth Orchestra Outreach Project Blog #2
What do you listen to when you go to a symphony concert? If you don’t go to any symphony concerts, indulge me and think about what you would expect to hear. From being involved with symphony orchestras, symphonic wind ensembles and classical music for decades, my seat-of-the-pants sense was that what you’re going to hear when you go to any symphony concert is what we fondly refer to as “War Horses.”
Since I really try not to throw unsubstantiated opinions out there, I did some due diligence. Check out this website: http://kickassclassical.com//classical-music-popular-famous-best-top-100-list.html — in other words the “War Horses.” Maybe this could be more thoroughly researched, but let’s go with it for now. Of the top 100, only 15 were written within the last 100 years, and only 2 within the last fifty. The most recent piece considered to be popular is Karl Jenkins’ Palladio, and I can almost guarantee that the only movement you have any familiarity with is the first movement, Allegretto, and that’s because you’ve heard it a million times as the music to sell diamonds by.
If “good music” denotes gravitas and the idea of gravitas can only be applied to music written generations ago, then is “serious” music is only good because it is old? If only old music is good, then what did people in the 18th century listen to? Or was only even older music considered “good” to 18th century ears? We know for a fact that is not the case.
Beethoven is a good 18th century example, because surely his tastes can be trusted. When Beethoven was a pup, we all know that he didn’t turn on the radio and catch the latest hit single from the band “Die Schlagern” (The Beat-les, auf Deutsch), ’cause, y’know, there was no radio. He would have heard music that was the popular music of the time though. Say, Mozart, since the lives of the two composers overlapped. However, Beethoven probably didn’t listen to Bach who had been dead 20 years before young Ludwig came on the scene.
Here’s why … then, as now, people listen more to music that was current — contemporary — and not as much to music that had been written in previous generations. And the music that was current then was opera, symphonic music, string ensembles, and church music. The music played for peasant dances and social gatherings wasn’t notated and was therefore ephemeral and evaporated. Also, Beethoven wouldn’t have listened to Bach … Despite Bach’s tremendous contribution to the harmonic functionality that Classical music relies upon, much of Bach’s music was quickly forgotten after his death until Mendelssohn revived the works of the Baroque master.
In my research for this post, I learned that listening habits have stayed much the same over the centuries. Very simply, people like to sit back with a glass of wine (or mug of ale) and listen to whatever is in fashion. “Fashion” is a powerful social driver that dictates custom around music listening. In Mozart’s time (1756-1791), attendees to a concert considered it a social event; during the Romantic period (19th century) high value was placed on internalizing the music to the level of the composer. So Mozart’s audiences would have been talkative, even rowdy, and by the time Beethoven was at his peak in the 1820’s, the expectation was to sit quietly, rapt and in spiritual transport. Isn’t it interesting how music changes with the times? Did custom change the music or did music create change? Something to discuss there.
My point is, though, that most of what you would have heard when you went to a concert in 1826 is Contemporary Music — written fairly recently (like within the last generation), or new music premiers. The 19th century music scene didn’t have War Horses, they were creating the War Horses. So how did this deeply entrenched habit of programming “War Horses” come from? That’s a complicated question, and one that I can’t answer in a few words. But it has to do with a stubborn piece of the American spirit that that refuses to completely accept that we’re no longer a European-based culture. We’ll be exploring this fully in upcoming blogs.
Today the drivers of social custom bear similarity to past customs: in some ways not unlike the social scene of the 1700’s in that people go to make the scene, but also similar to the 1800’s in that there still exists the Cult of the Composer. But in our modern world we have a whole new set of social customs in that Social Media has made interactivity an imperative. Add to that new instrumentation, technology, the pressures of our current political, economic and ecological lives. This is the time where new music can grow.
But because classical music exists in a sort of social time warp, these are strange times for orchestra culture. We know that 80 percent of listeners prefer pop, rock, country, rap and hip-hop. And we know that this is the music that is Contemporary. That’s a no-brainer — this is music that is readily available, marketed exhaustively and pushed on brought to you by the nice suits, er, folks at Big Music Industry. Your choices are provided for you without your even giving it a second thought, and even the slightest course corrections are anticipated by months or years, arguably created by Big Music.
But does this make contemporary con-classical music “bad” as opposed to “good” War Horse music? Wow, is that a loaded statement, and I won’t go there. You’ll never convince me that the amazing output of popular music from Ragtime to Hip Hop is all just junk. Or, worse, “good” in its own nice little way, but not really good like a great symphony orchestra.
The express purpose of this blog is to shake up entrenched attitudes about music, to do a little metaphorical sacred cow tipping, to celebrate rather than make value judgments on our culture. But let me just ask this:
If symphonic music is so danged good, then why can’t it be contemporary? What did those old long-haired European composers have on us in terms of intelligence, education, talent, genius?
Nothing.
But since I told you I’m trying to shake up your preconceptions about classical music, here’s another question for you:
If you’re going to hear some classical music, do you know what to listen to?
I mean, if it is not going to be a War Horse, written a 100 years ago by a white guy, what are the alternatives?
Here’s Karl Jenkins’ Palladio. Promise me you’ll listen to the other two movements once you’ve started the first movement and said “Oh yeah, I know this.” And let me know how you like it — if you love Vivaldi, you’ll be all over this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku4qBiqDRS4
While you’re at it, check out another Jenkins piece. Yes, he’s a white guy and he’s English, but he is still alive and has his finger on the pulse of modern popular output. He is also particularly great at writing choral works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6IfYPB6JUE
And one more — this is a large piece, but as choral works go, it is fantastic. Once you learn of the source of his inspiration, you’ll weep when you hear the Lacrimosa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79aGcxdWav4&t=692s
Have fun and let me know how you like these works. Next time we’ll look at some of the reasons why you don’t hear much contemporary classical music when you go to a concert.
Commonwealth Orchestra Outreach Project 