Dead Composers, Living Audiences: The Situation of Classical Musi ...

There is a single, critically important problem associated with any attempt to confront these issues: Those of us in the music world (as opposed to many in art, literature, theatre, dance, architecture, media, cultural studies, and philosophy, among others) seem largely unaware of what is at stake in the sociocultural situation within which we function today. Our lack of knowledge can have devastating consequences for the music and the culture we love.

The following discussion argues that the present situation regarding the music of the classical tradition is fundamentally untenable. While change is, of course, inevitable, teachers of the classical music tradition nonetheless have a moral responsibility to do as much as possible to advocate and work toward goals that will hasten and most positively influence the direction of change. The present relationship between the music of the Western classical tradition and the culture of the present is an unhealthy one. The music of dead composers constitutes the overwhelming preponderance of music heard today, especially in the larger venues such as symphony halls and opera houses. Specifically, I argue that we must promote and provide for (at least) an equal place in our teaching, recordings, and performances for the music of composers who are living at the time we undertake these activities. I argue that this is not simply a matter of currency, it is a matter of cultural vibrancy—even survival—and it is an ethical and aesthetic concern toward which we must direct our most serious attention and effort.

Ethics is a system of values, or a theory of value. Aesthetics is a system of values in the arts, or theories of what counts as aesthetic value. Both are concerned with the question of quality—about what is good and important in human production and in human life. As such, both these areas of interest have been the subjects of endless rational inquiry from various perspectives, including, but not limited to, the philosophical, social, political, and historical. But suppose rational inquiry is not enough. Suppose we take seriously a quote from Arthur C. Clarke, the well-known British science-fiction writer: “It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value.”¹