There’s so much that young people today miss out on because of ignoring the classics. The depth of metaphor and allusion is lost on them. And culture has become shallow because of it. I have a lot more thoughts on this but I haven’t had my coffee yet. Excellent piece.
My little girls love the symphony. We go to the one in Atlanta whenever we're in the area. They're 6 and 7, but they sit still and really get absorbed in it as much as the adults do, and there are generally other kids there too. It's good to see.
This is super interesting. I knew some of the greatest hits of classical music growing up, but it wasn't until I spent a year in Odessa, Ukraine in my mid 20s that I fell in love with it as an artform. It was way more accessible there, with tickets to the philharmonic costing no more than 5 quid. Same with the opera and ballet theatre, which I also attended regularly and ended up writing my dissertation on. I LOVED the ballet! It was pretty normal there for 'ordinary' folk to go to concerts, something I'd never have even thought of back in Scotland. I'm now blessed to have a concert musician in my daughter, and I expect that that life-changing trip to Ukraine was a factor in that. If I ever get to hear her playing principal horn in Shostakovich's 5th, I will melt.
Exactly right. Some of my best ideas have come while attending our local symphony orchestra. The relationship between great art, music, and literature must be intentionally taught to each generation. It’s the only way to create a new Renaissance.
Lovely piece! I’ve got so much to say about this—but for the moment here are two quick recommendations:
—a few months ago, I became obsessed with Bruce Adolphe’s lectures on chamber music. More than a hundred of them are on YouTube and, if you’re familiar with the pieces, they’re insightful and make for fascinating listening. (I began by searching for a lecture on the Ravel Am trio; that one is a great place to start.)
—Thomas Bernhard’s novel “The Loser” is quite good, if his style appeals to you.
Of course, this makes complete sense as both music and literature emerged within the context of the same larger cultural milieu: that fundamental presuppositional grid of thought held by most rational people.
As I've mentioned in comments elsewhere, classical music opened literature to me even more directly: I gained a sensitivity to poetry from about age 17 to about age 20 through all the song cycles and choral works I listened to--Barber, Berlioz, Britten, Brahms, and even some composers beginning with other letters.
How is listening to classical music an intellectual challenge? I grew up in a house full of classical music because my father loved it. He used to take us to classical concerts when I was barely in grade school.
I think he just enjoyed it. It wasn’t an intellectual challenge. In fact, the music of the romantics, like Beethoven, was specifically meant to be enjoyed on an intuitive level, even if individual pieces were highly structurally complex.
Perhaps there's a smaller example of the influence of classical music in understanding the modern world in Apocalypse Now, the Francis Ford Coppola film that had Wagner and his Valkeries blaring when the helicopters went in to attack. Maybe Wagner is a prequel to the ultra nationalistic German militarism. Apocalypse Now also related to Joseph Conrad and the futility of dominating Africa or in Asia, Vietnam. The truth about all the frailty of human nature is comprehensively presented in opera, classical music as well as in poetry and novels. The small footprint that classical music has now seems to be the way that newer generations are being mostly disconnected from the past. This post is encouraging in advocating for a reconnection with the past as reflected in listing and thinking about classical music.
What is notable to me is that the arts have seemed to move in concert from an assertion of order to a worship of chaos. I wonder if the lack of appeal of classical music among young people lies in its assertion of order when their lives are already stifelingly ordered in a way that seems hollow and without promise. Audiences in the past lived in a world of disorder and uncertainty. They craved and took comfort from an art of order and harmony. Today's audience, starved for stimulation, looks for noise and chaos. Classical music does not scratch their itch, but exacerbates it. And so also in literature, they seek the wild and fantastic and dangerous that is missing in their own lives.
Impressive, comprehensive and expressive essay. You’ve spun a common, under-appreciated theme, as well as art forms into a stellar brocade.
There’s so much that young people today miss out on because of ignoring the classics. The depth of metaphor and allusion is lost on them. And culture has become shallow because of it. I have a lot more thoughts on this but I haven’t had my coffee yet. Excellent piece.
My little girls love the symphony. We go to the one in Atlanta whenever we're in the area. They're 6 and 7, but they sit still and really get absorbed in it as much as the adults do, and there are generally other kids there too. It's good to see.
This is super interesting. I knew some of the greatest hits of classical music growing up, but it wasn't until I spent a year in Odessa, Ukraine in my mid 20s that I fell in love with it as an artform. It was way more accessible there, with tickets to the philharmonic costing no more than 5 quid. Same with the opera and ballet theatre, which I also attended regularly and ended up writing my dissertation on. I LOVED the ballet! It was pretty normal there for 'ordinary' folk to go to concerts, something I'd never have even thought of back in Scotland. I'm now blessed to have a concert musician in my daughter, and I expect that that life-changing trip to Ukraine was a factor in that. If I ever get to hear her playing principal horn in Shostakovich's 5th, I will melt.
Exactly right. Some of my best ideas have come while attending our local symphony orchestra. The relationship between great art, music, and literature must be intentionally taught to each generation. It’s the only way to create a new Renaissance.
Lovely piece! I’ve got so much to say about this—but for the moment here are two quick recommendations:
—a few months ago, I became obsessed with Bruce Adolphe’s lectures on chamber music. More than a hundred of them are on YouTube and, if you’re familiar with the pieces, they’re insightful and make for fascinating listening. (I began by searching for a lecture on the Ravel Am trio; that one is a great place to start.)
—Thomas Bernhard’s novel “The Loser” is quite good, if his style appeals to you.
The Gen Z stats on classical make me sad.
Of course, this makes complete sense as both music and literature emerged within the context of the same larger cultural milieu: that fundamental presuppositional grid of thought held by most rational people.
Agree 100% with all of this.
I was raised on this music-- learned far more about it at home and on the lawn at Tanglewood than at school.
As I've mentioned in comments elsewhere, classical music opened literature to me even more directly: I gained a sensitivity to poetry from about age 17 to about age 20 through all the song cycles and choral works I listened to--Barber, Berlioz, Britten, Brahms, and even some composers beginning with other letters.
How is listening to classical music an intellectual challenge? I grew up in a house full of classical music because my father loved it. He used to take us to classical concerts when I was barely in grade school.
I think he just enjoyed it. It wasn’t an intellectual challenge. In fact, the music of the romantics, like Beethoven, was specifically meant to be enjoyed on an intuitive level, even if individual pieces were highly structurally complex.
BS"D
Understanding enhances the intuitive enjoyment.
Perhaps there's a smaller example of the influence of classical music in understanding the modern world in Apocalypse Now, the Francis Ford Coppola film that had Wagner and his Valkeries blaring when the helicopters went in to attack. Maybe Wagner is a prequel to the ultra nationalistic German militarism. Apocalypse Now also related to Joseph Conrad and the futility of dominating Africa or in Asia, Vietnam. The truth about all the frailty of human nature is comprehensively presented in opera, classical music as well as in poetry and novels. The small footprint that classical music has now seems to be the way that newer generations are being mostly disconnected from the past. This post is encouraging in advocating for a reconnection with the past as reflected in listing and thinking about classical music.
"I cannot fathom spending thousands to see a woman with the vocal range of a croaking toad."
They aren't spending the money for her vocal range. They're spending it to be in the presence of the Divine One.
What is notable to me is that the arts have seemed to move in concert from an assertion of order to a worship of chaos. I wonder if the lack of appeal of classical music among young people lies in its assertion of order when their lives are already stifelingly ordered in a way that seems hollow and without promise. Audiences in the past lived in a world of disorder and uncertainty. They craved and took comfort from an art of order and harmony. Today's audience, starved for stimulation, looks for noise and chaos. Classical music does not scratch their itch, but exacerbates it. And so also in literature, they seek the wild and fantastic and dangerous that is missing in their own lives.
Strong persuasive essay. Very interesting.
The influences go in both directions: Beethoven inspired by Goethe and Schiller, Strauss inspired by Nietzsche, and so forth.