A Quick Primer On Classical Music Timelines

[Laurence Glavin]

Many people who post about classical music as a radio station format appear not to know much about the subject as a cultural entity; you're not alone in that...I've seen contestants on "Jeopardy" first try to avoid the subject, and then completely blow it on really easy questions! Several months ago, someone referred to the musical selections on classical stations as "songs"; well some composers of symphonies and operas really did write songs, most prominently Schubert, Schumann and Brahms and Mahler( Saturday the 25th, I'll be attending a concert in Cambridge that includes some songs by Schumann), but the word is not appropriate for the kind of structured occasionally lengthy compositions one is like ly to hear. Now some dude stated his belief that music that makes up the classical patrimony is "HUNDREDS" of years old. Let's look at that word: hundredS, plural of hundred, meaning 200 or more years. If you ever ventured to Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, Sanders Theater, the Longy School of Music's concert hall in Cambridge or Brandeis University's concert hall/theater in Waltham, most of the music you'd be likely to encounter would have been composed since 1807. That period runs from the time Beethoven became aware of his deafness and turned to composing full time until World Premiers of music being composed today. Many composers even casual listeners have heard of: Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and others were only born roughly 170 years ago, and some, like Verdi and Saint-Saens lived to see the 20th Century. Although some commercial classical stations would lead you to believe that the 20th -Century never happened, performing groups ranging from String Quartets to Symphony Orchestra populate a good portion of their programs with fairly recent compositions, some they commission themselves. Hint...if you're willing to stand in line at about 5:00 pm outside Symphony Hall on Thursdays, you can get a "rush" ticket for a Boston Symphony concert for EIGHT BUCKS! I've done it many times...give it a try sometime, you might actually like it!

 

[Finn]

He is obviously an early music fan, in which case he would be right on.

 

[TSBench]

Now some dude stated his belief that music that makes up the classical patrimony is "HUNDREDS" of years old. Let's look at that word: hundredS, plural of hundred, meaning 200 or more years. If you ever ventured to Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, Sanders Theater, the Longy School of Music's concert hall in Cambridge or Brandeis University's concert hall/theater in Waltham, most of the music you'd be likely to encounter would have been composed since 1807. That period runs from the time Beethoven became aware of his deafness and turned to composing full time until World Premiers of music being composed today. Many composers even casual listeners have heard of: Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak and others were only born roughly 170 years ago, and some, like Verdi and Saint-Saens lived to see the 20th Century.

What is the point here (and I'm certainly not carrying water for that 'dude')? 1807 seems somewhat arbitrary for a timeline, since it precludes Bach (died 1750) and Mozart (1790), two of the most familiar, most performed, most aired, and most recorded classical composers. Are you, and those venues, just blowing off the baroque and early classical periods as unworthly of the repertoire or of little interest to modern listeners?

Although some commercial classical stations would lead you to believe that the 20th -Century never happened,

I dunno. Stravinski, Bartok, Schoenberg, Copland, Adams, and Anderson seem pretty easy to find on radio, at least in my experience. And, frankly, some of the modern stuff, especially a lot of the atonal, is crap, so I think an argument can be easily made as to why commercial stations treat it as the third-rail of audience ratings.

Hint...if you're willing to stand in line at about 5:00 pm outside Symphony Hall on Thursdays, you can get a "rush" ticket for a Boston Symphony concert for EIGHT BUCKS! I've done it many times...give it a try sometime, you might actually like it!

Well, maybe Levine has managed to start the BSO on the way back, but after 30 years of Ozawa, it wasn't worth the wait or the 8 bucks just a couple of years ago. They were possibly the worst major orchestra in the country by the end of Ozawa's tenure, but with all the revenue streams (recording deals, radio deals, big-buck patronage, Tanglewood, the Pops) it just didn't seem to matter because they were rich. True, they had started to suck in the mid-60s ( Leinsdorf seemed more concerned with the RCA royalties than the quality of the performances floating through the Symphony Hall air), but Ozawa just accelerated the slide rather than end it, which I assume was what he was hired to do.

Now, I'll admit that I haven't heard the BSO in performance since 2000 (when I wasted a weekend in the Berkshires to hear Van Cliburn manhandle Tchaikovsky (when you are blowing notes on #1 so badly that even my tin ears notice, you're definitely running on fumes) at Tanglewood, and, although it wasn't entirely the fault of the orchestra, Seiji certainly didn't help matters. All in all, it was pretty uninspired.

Now if Levine has improved things over the last three years, I'd be pretty happy since I'd like to return to Symphony Hall and hear a first class orchestra with a first class conductor. So far, all I've heard are good things, and you certainly seem to think things have improved, so I'll probably give it another shot or two.

Time, as always, will tell.

Regards,
TSB

 

[Finn]

And, frankly, some of the modern stuff, especially a lot of the atonal, is crap, so I think an argument can be easily made as to why commercial stations treat it as the third-rail of audience ratings.

Well, if you don't like atonal modern crap, there's always John Cage's 4'33". However, I've never heard it played on the radio.

http://solomonsmusic.net/4min33se.htm

 

[TSBench]

And, frankly, some of the modern stuff, especially a lot of the atonal, is crap, so I think an argument can be easily made as to why commercial stations treat it as the third-rail of audience ratings.

Well, if you don't like atonal modern crap, there's always John Cage's 4'33". However, I've never heard it played on the radio.

I have. It sounded a lot like my kidneys working. On second thought, that may actually have been my kidneys working.

Cage's best work, in my opinion. A friend of mine who has tintinitis tells me he just can't get it out of his head.

Regards,
TSB

 

[Laurence Glavin]

Yikes...a few people who DO know a little about classical music. Aside from radio broadcasts, it would surprise many people to learn that the locales where one could expect to hear Bach and the Bach family, Handel, Vivaldi, Haydn and Mozart would be performances devoted mainly to music of that era. Mainstream concerts by resident symphony orchestras, visiting groups (in Boston usually under the aegis of the Celebrity Series) primarily program from Beethoven on forward. Even community orchestras made up of amateurs with a sprinkling of professionals to play "first Chairs" lean toward music of later periods. (The last time I heard a Mozart Symphony live was given by the Concord, Mass. community orchestra).

 

[Finn]

come on LG, what about BEMF?

 

[Laurence Glavin]

come on LG, what about BEMF?

For the unitiated, that's the Boston Early Music Festival...and it's among the groups that specialize in programming that covers the gamut from plainchant (sometimes called Gregorian Chant) up to classical composers on original instruments. Of course it's matched at the modern end of the contimuum by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. It appears that their 2007/2008 schedule is not available yet; however the orchestra's conductor, Gil Rose, is listed as the conductor for Opera Boston's performances of Osvaldo Golijov's "Ainadamar" and it's possible the orchestra will be in the pit for that run of performances. BTW, I checked the Boston Symphony Orchestra schedule and they will perform a few Mozart pieces, mostly in mid-winter during the period when players go on vacation...there will be one Haydn Symphony, and yes a piece by Bach, the Passion According to St. Matthew, a biggie.

 

[argytunes]

Larry...

In what century does "gregorian chants" fall under?

I'm not suggesting that they're gonna catch on anytime soon, but isn't this one of the oldest forms of what is considered CLASSICAL MUSIC? ???


argytunes

 

[TSBench]

Larry...

Maybe I can help.

In what century does "gregorian chants" fall under?

Actually, the correct popular term for the form is 'Gregorian chant' (note the initial cap, denoting a proper name, and a singular noun). Although usually credited to Pope Gregory (hence the name) who died in 604, it was probably started on the road to standardization and widely introduced by Charlemagne, which would put it in the 9th century or a little earlier.

I'm not suggesting that they're gonna catch on anytime soon

Well, as the official musical form of the Roman Catholic Church (which is, as you might put it, a MAJOR RELIGION) it really doesn't have to 'catch on' because it has been with us for 1200 years, and has had a popular resurgence (which may be too strong a word) in the last 50. And, in a classical music business where CD sales are usually measured in the hundreds, a popular recording of Gregorian chant went, by US standards, sextuple Platinum.

, but isn't this one of the oldest forms of what is considered CLASSICAL MUSIC?

YES.

Regards,
TSB

 

[Signpost]

Cage's best work, in my opinion. A friend of mine who has tintinitis tells me he just can't get it out of his head.

OK that made me laugh !