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I remember back when the New York Times had its own classical musical station. The Times was always toxic, but there was a time when there was more to it than viewing every damn thing through the lens of its political agenda. Which, at the moment, is race.
“With their major institutions founded on white European models and obstinately focused on the distant past, classical music and opera have been even slower than American society at large to confront racial inequity.”
Obstinately.
A genre whose high points occurred centuries ago is, get this, “obstinately” focused on the distant past. Why can’t it just go Skillrex?
But we are dealing with progressives here. And being focused on the distant past, as opposed to the unreachable utopia at the end of the socialist rainbow, is a bad thing. A thoughtcrime. Wrongthink. And, considering the current racial lens on everything, racist.
Nine Black performers spoke with The New York Times about steps that could be taken to begin transforming a white-dominated field.
Some are reasonable. Most involve affirmative action. And some go beyond that.
“The first step is admitting that these organizations are built on a white framework built to benefit white people. Have you done the work to create a structure that is actually benefiting Black and brown communities?”
Classical music is meant to benefit people who like classical music. That’s a minority of white or black people. The community it benefits isn’t racial, it’s based on affinity.
Anyway let’s cut to the Unmake Classical Music section of this. more
Yes, let’s just get rid of Bach and Beethoven because they were racists.
Didn’t Beethoven do that track, “That Bitch Set Me Up!”, and that other one, “My Favorite Crack Pipe”?
They don’t know shit about art.
“… classical music and opera have been even slower than American society at large to confront racial inequity.”
Huh?
Imbecile, much?
Classical music is … well … Classical! Not to be confused with Romantic, Jazz, Pop, Rock-and-Roll, Motown, Gregorian, That Three-Note Shit from the Middle Ages, or the “Drum-and-Chant” Shit from barbarians.
And Opera, I believe, is an Italian vocal form adopted by others (could be wrong – I don’t speak wop).
So … what … exactly … are these clowns whining about?
Americans addressed “racial inequality” about 160 years ago.
Classical music can’t “address” anything, because it’s fucking music!
Opera can’t “address” anything because it’s a fuckin vocal form!
Sort of like morons complaining that since statues don’t “address” their (the morons’) parasitism they (the statues) must be removed. Fucking idiots.
izlamo delenda est …
Great piece. I like most music styles (ok, you can remove rap, ska, most death punk from that statement). The author makes a wonderful argument that classical music, is well, classical. The greats lived hundreds of years ago. I don’t care about the race, creed, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, or politics of the artist (unless they try to force it on me) as long as they are good.
Leave my classical alone!! Now I am going to listen to some Vivaldi (technically Baroque and not Classical). Ciao.
And the bitching about white people and their successes never ends…well only if you allow POC to come in and shit on it.
The thing I miss most about living in a big city like Denver isn’t not having a Whole Foods(second) it’s Boettcher Hall. In all of the many performances I attended, many with other than white musicians or conductors did it EVER cross my mind not to attend because it wasn’t an all white ensemble.
REgressives will fuck up a wet dream. Affirmative action violinists? Why should anyone pay for less than the best?
And did I read that article right, they want to infuse other types of music with Classical to achieve greater acceptance?
Christ on a crutch.
@MMinAR – I have also seen many great performances there, even though I am no longer a member. I never even bothered to pay attention to the skin color of anyone in the cast or supporting crew.
It both stupid and ignorant to confuse “classical” with “symphonic” and “orchestral”.
As the author and commenters note (p.i.), classical refers to both an era and to a style of composition with specific objective attributes. Classical music altered by adding or substituting different attributes is by definition no longer classical.
Most classical music is symphonic / orchestral, but by no means is most symphonic / orchestral music classical. There exist, for example, jazz and swing orchestras as well as percussion symphonies.
Yes. Certainly Beethoven’s Fifth can be replaced by the fabulous Swahili tune, PAPA OO MAO MAO BOO KA WOO KA REEE GAA GAAYOOM.
It’s an intricate piece filled with multiple themes playing against one another until they merge into one coherent crescendo. Simply a masterpiece.
Roll over Beethoven
@uncle al.
That’s awfully white of you. Hahaha.
Progs ruin everything trying to remake, everything.
Even that idiot Ted Turner who colorized black and white films and made the actors’ teeth and eyes weird shades of white/blue.
How about changing the New York Times to the waste of times, it’s much more accurate.
Another article this morning said they want to do away with blind auditions so as to make orchestra music more diverse.
In other words, whites are superior and blacks can’t get a job in it unless they get a charitable handout.
My favorite Mozart concerto: “F#(& tha’ Police!” 🙄 🙄 🙄
Next up on SiriusXM Classical station, the timeless Sir Mixus A-A-Ron Lott piece, “The Fine Young African American Lady Has An Ample Derriere” done in B-Major.
LOL!!! Blind auditions?
More like NO auditions. They’re going to make classical music look like those horrible restoration paintings in Spain. lolol
Eroic(a) effort to stifle the (A)passionata. Roll Over, Beethoven.
What next, white paper with black letters is racist?
@Uncle Al – correct, but they have gotten away with redefining terms for decades.
– Gay (happy)
– Boy (young man) – granted, this is also a racial slur, and I understand that base, but why can’t I use it as the original meaning?
– Thongs (flip flops), though not making a comment on what the term current is used for
– Literally (word for word) now is pretty much meaningless in most usage.
– Fail (it is a verb!!!) unlike the current usage as a noun
– Green (color)
I could go on and probably list a few dozen, but you get the picture.
Never forget what the NYT and its copycats are doing.
The wheel always turns.
It’s easier to bring people DOWN to your ineptness than to RAISE inept people to your level.
I believe when Bach, Beethoven, et al, were composing those pieces dem folks were living in grass huts. Hey… how would it have looked showing up for a Bach Concerto back then wearing a loin cloth? Check the spear at the door, please and thank you.
One of my favorite pieces-the Overture is ethereal.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-Lkry-SF01&hsimp=yhs-SF01&hspart=Lkry&p=Pastorale+youtube#id=30&vid=21256dfd8d3008d68f579b833e21f8a1&action=click
These people are monsters.
We don’t take orders from monsters.
I need some more Jungle Drums !
Who could forget Vaughan Williams’ fantastic work, “Doin’ The Butt”, or the Holst masterpiece, “Real Muthaphukkin Gs”?
Easy solution . . . start selling tickets to traditional african music performances.
@anonymous. ‘We don’t take orders from monsters.’
Really?
Although I resist Governor Blackface Coonman Baby Killer’s diktats, in certain circumstances I have to comply with the Fuhrer’s orders. I f@cking hate it when my only option in a retail setting is to be subservient.
But he’s put his hobnail boot on my windpipe and he applies more pressure every day. He’s a sadistic bastard.
Sadly, he’ll be in office until January 2022.
Unless someone puts us out of our misery, but that’s no good because the black rapist Lt Gov. is waiting in the wings.
If any music needs to be banned it’s hip hop and crap music. Fifty to a hundred years from now classical music will still be played while hip hop and crap music and most popular top 40 music will have long been flushed down the crapper. Classical music is timeless, crap and hip hop are ephemeral and fleeting at the most and will not stand the test of time. Look what happened to disco, the same thing will happen to most of any contemporary so called black music, it’ll be totally irrelevant and forgotten by the next generation.
So, the wonderful black women I met at the grocery store who thought Baroque music was THE best music ever written was a racist and a white supremacist? (I agreed with her and we talked a good 5 minutes about Baroque music while blocking the aisle. Damn, she was cute…)
The way an orchestra can “confront” its supposed racism is to program pieces by black composers – and there are quite a few – and feature black soloists – again there are quite a few professional world-class pianists, violinists, singers, etc who are black. Orchestras can also go into schools to showcase classical music and instruments.
Guess what? Orchestras are already doing this!
MJ – LOL…yeah, he butchered the Three Stooges with that stupid bullshit.
Can someone tell me why Asians took to Western Classical music like fish to water? Little interesting fact,when Sony and Philips were developing a single standard for the compact disc, Sony President Norio Ohha held Beethoven’s 9th in such high regard he insisted the disc have the capacity for 74 minutes of music…the same length of the beautiful 9th. So don’t give me that racial exclusion BS
Diverse, like jungle drums, hip hop & rap?
Yeah, fuck that.
Their hatred of anything by, for, or about white culture is getting really fucking monotonous – I think an extended stay in the Congo or someplace equally pleasant may generate some appreciation for the good old USA.
rap “musicians” could not make the transition to classical, too hard to play violin while holding up pants & twerking
isn’t that suggesting some sort of twisted ‘appropriations?’ I thought that was bad.
Maybe if they understood a bit of history, they might better appreciate the music of such as Chopin and the emotion that it expresses.
I can”t wait to see the 5’1″ basketball players, that must be next, right? That will come right after they change the rules to give 1/2 a point if you hit the rim or backboard.
Nah, they’re suggesting more conductors destroy classic pieces like Michael Tilson Thomas does.
Ahem.
:takes drag off smoke:
Yeah, I made an erudite jab. Sue me.