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Entry: The Death of Music by the Spirit of Government Subsidies Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_death_of_music_from_the_spirit_of_government_subsidies#15518 Post contents: PClaudel is quite correct about NBC; I was not quite clear enought in my earlier message. Indeed, they broadcast live opera over NBC television, and I can remember Giorgio Tozzi singing a BORIS, as well as the DON GIOVANNI he mentions. About the radio network, very true, it did not subvent Met broadcasts, but it did put htem on, and they reached an large public for the time. And it is very true that some now famous composers died in poverty, and some had to struggle to make ends meet. Yet some others---think of Saverio Mercadante, Pacini, von Flotow, D.-F. Auber--whose works held the stage consistently in the 19th, even early 20th centuries, but now are only occasionally revived. About the support of the Eszterhazys, Lichnowkys, Waldsteins, and others, yes, indeed, those patrons had the vision to recognize in large part that they had genuises before them. But they were also arguably more "connected" to the traditions of Western and Christian culture than the "patrons" of today, immeasurably more educated and refined, generally, I would suggest. More, the impresarios at San Carlo in Naples, or the Hofoper in Vienna, wanted crowd-pleasers, and they got as much with Rossini, Donizetti, and later Verdi (despite early miscues), just as l'Opewra in Paris (and the opera comique) swallowed whole the works of Auber, Halevy, Meyerbeer, Gounod, and Thomas. LA MUETTE DI PORTICI (Auber), it is said, with its partiotic choruses, helped initiate a revolution in what was to become Belgium in 1830, and a fifty thousand "common folk" accompanied Verdi's funeral proceession in Milan at the beginning of the 20th century. Genuises like Verdi and Wanger may have been "above it all" and "avant-garde," but they also had the God-given gift of being able to please the public, as well as the monarch. I wonder how many "common folks"--average people--would make an effort to see a performance of Xenakis' BOHOR II? Actually, I did once, with tin cans resounding in my ears for days afterwards. I certainly wouldn't deny that the work was inventive or original...but where's the link, the connection,to the traditions of great music produced by our Western, Christian civilization? Where is the genius? On the other hand, I've heard works by the Swiss composer Sutermeister, by Bohuslav Martinu, and by Prokofieff, and Shostakovich, which do, in my humble opinion, carry on those traditions. The other question I asked, however, remains. Since the 1960s our whole commercial response has been away from "serious" or classical music, which is generally confined to specific niche audiences. Here in the Raleigh area we have a totally "free enterprize" classical radio station, WCPE, supported entirely by individual (and some corporate) donations. Such is a rarity, but consider that this area is the home of four large universities (including Duke and UNC) and the Research Triangle, with more Ph.D.s per capita than any place except Silicon Valley. One wonders if it could be done in, say, another city of comprabalbe size. Perhaps, perhaps not. And WCPE, while featuring the MET and the Cleveland Orchestra concerts, mostly shies away from contemporary works; it's top ten list always includes Beethoven's 9th, the 1812 Overture, and the regular "chestnuts" that please. I certainly understand this, although I'm glad to see the occasional work by Prokofieff, Bruckner, Samuel Barber, and Paul Creston intermixed. Still, if listening to FINLANDIA might inspire someone to sample some of Sibelius' symphonies, or maybe even Willem Stenhammer or Avro Part, then that's great. WCPE has done a good job in merchandizing itself and its music, and is carried now by dozens of other stations in the US, on the web, and via satellite TV. It would great if its success could be repeated elsewhere. Sent at: 2008 07 06