Can Opera Survive the Culture Wars?

[Quijote]

Yes here is another example https://slippedisc.com/2021/09/how-a...nic-cleansing/

So, what "solutions" do you propose? Personally, I imagine Beethoven would give a sharp kick up the backside to people confronting him with simple binary choices.
It reminds me of George Bush (junior): either you're with us or against us.

[Schenkerian]

I think we really do have to take this cultural cleansing seriously. It's dangerously reminiscent of the behaviour of the Bolsheviks, Chairman Mao and other vicious dictators. I've been very annoyed about it for some years now, having experienced it myself (as I said), but once I saw Beethoven's name and image ......

It's incumbent upon all of us, who love western music and culture, to fight back - no matter in how small a way. Those who've started this cultural cleansing remind me of the arsonist; he'll criticize you - ranting and raving - for attempting to put out his fire!! We cannot let the philistines and barbarians have their way.

On a positive note: I watched excerpts of the Last Night of the Proms yesterday, stream the weekend before. (I'd missed it then as I was in hospital.) After years of activism from the institutionalized hard Left to remove the 'offensive' songs/anthems allegedly signalling imperialism and slavery I was overjoyed to see the English in full voice, singing them with the usual vigour and enthusiasm. What a wonderful night of music that always is. And it reminds me of why I've always loved England!!

[Peter]

If people only ingest the green left media they won't know anything about the culture wars because it is precisely their actions which have caused the REaction. The most disturbing thing about this link below is that it's emanating from top tier universities, not those at the bottom of the league table - and that includes prestigious American institutions. It was my own experience going back 30 years at university and the attitude of the Music Department there!! I never thought it would catch on, just that it was populated by ideologues who thought they were legends in their own lunchboxes. Now with many orchestras having "diversity officers" the world is becoming increasingly Orwellian - just like the old Soviet models that great man described.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/0...assical-music/

People can be part of the problem or part of the solution. Personally, when it comes to Beethoven, a major line has been drawn in the sand.

Yes here is another example https://slippedisc.com/2021/09/how-a...nic-cleansing/

[Schenkerian]

The world does seem crazier by the day with this fashion to beat ourselves up over the past. I still think this is a phase that will pass. Handel it turns out is implicated having invested in slave trade stocks, but does anyone seriously imagine banning his music or destroying monuments to him except a minority? No one is condoning these things, but we have moved on and whilst we can reject some of the actions of the past we don't need to throw the baby out with the bath water. The legacy of great music is not something to be ashamed of.

If people only ingest the green left media they won't know anything about the culture wars because it is precisely their actions which have caused the REaction. The most disturbing thing about this link below is that it's emanating from top tier universities, not those at the bottom of the league table - and that includes prestigious American institutions. It was my own experience going back 30 years at university and the attitude of the Music Department there!! I never thought it would catch on, just that it was populated by ideologues who thought they were legends in their own lunchboxes. Now with many orchestras having "diversity officers" the world is becoming increasingly Orwellian - just like the old Soviet models that great man described.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/0...assical-music/

People can be part of the problem or part of the solution. Personally, when it comes to Beethoven, a major line has been drawn in the sand.

[Quijote]

Everything you wanted to know about the culture wars – but were afraid to ask
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-afraid-to-ask

[Sorrano]

I think "HUBRIS" is a good word here, Schenkerian.

[Schenkerian]

Indeed, and even taking those past sins into account, I wouldn't say modern man stands out as morally superior in general to our ancestors. So perhaps we ought to leave the judgement of them aside for a while and take an honest look at ourselves. And if we do, we might find that the kinds of art we have each produced say something about that.

Excellent comments!! The difference today is the hubris of modern man who DOES think he/she is morally superior, doesn't need religion and that's a very worrying trait more generally for it, ironically, smacks of lack of empathy and excessive doses of parochialism and narcissism. And the rise of alternate 'religions'.

Yesterday I watched a documentary which I found on U-Tube: "The Assassination of Rinehard Heidrich". This horrific thug was the "Protector" of Prague when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia. The program said that that Heidrich attended the Prague Summer Music Festival and we saw him sitting in the front seats of a concert hall. Having been to one of those Prague concerts in the last 12 years I was appalled to see that butcher of Prague hiding behind culture, pretending to be civilized!! And what the Nazis did to that wonderful country is too distressing to recount.

We have many Reinhard Heidrich types today who, given half the chance, would do to their own people what this dreadful man did to the innocent Czechs. And it almost always starts with the premise that it's for the good of humanity!! Now, more than ever, do we need the countervailing narratives of great art - for example,"Guernica" - to shine a light on horror or to celebrate freedom and the transcendent. Great music does that; certainly art. As does religion. Our enemies are acutely aware of that and this explains the regular assaults on both of these things.

[Chris]

Indeed, and even taking those past sins into account, I wouldn't say modern man stands out as morally superior in general to our ancestors. So perhaps we ought to leave the judgement of them aside for a while and take an honest look at ourselves. And if we do, we might find that the kinds of art we have each produced say something about that.

[Peter]

The world does seem crazier by the day with this fashion to beat ourselves up over the past. I still think this is a phase that will pass. Handel it turns out is implicated having invested in slave trade stocks, but does anyone seriously imagine banning his music or destroying monuments to him except a minority? No one is condoning these things, but we have moved on and whilst we can reject some of the actions of the past we don't need to throw the baby out with the bath water. The legacy of great music is not something to be ashamed of.

[Harvey]

I am in this academic's corner:

https://www.city-journal.org/classic...-attack-part-1

Me too.

[Schenkerian]

I am in this academic's corner:

https://www.city-journal.org/classic...-attack-part-1

[Schenkerian]

Yes but art is bigger than all of that - it has survived centuries through wars and many terrible ideologies.

But that wasn't in the age of the internet and social media. And art has always flourished when there has been patronage - be that the church, the state or philanthropy. Those things are all in short supply now, with the western world in such an endless feedback loop of self-loathing, victimhood and mea culpa restorative 'justice'. In just such an environment repulsive regietheater thrives. I prefer my 'complaint opera' to at least reflect a scintilla of artistic integrity!!

[Peter]

Yes but art is bigger than all of that - it has survived centuries through wars and many terrible ideologies.

[Schenkerian]

I'm not nearly so sanguine. There are hostile activists out there with an attitude which will erode confidence in our culture and the power to bring this about - not to mention the myriad sinecures for EDI (equity, diversity, inclusion) - which governments willingly throw money towards!! We live in ugly times.

[Peter]

I'm sure great art will survive the nonsense of the times we live in.