Posted on 02/19/2018 11:33:38 AM PST by bkopto
Over the week, there have been waves of backlash at The Metropolitan Opera’s newest season announcement. A recent Washington Post made the rounds, taking to task the institution’s insistence on an entirely white and male composer list, as well as a completely male roster of conductors taking the podium.
As a white man, there have been and continue to be countless times in which I have needed to recognize that privilege, white supremacy, homophobia, toxic masculinity, and gender normativity are layered issues. It’s easy to call a Nazi a racist because they are so obviously a racist. Not all racists are willing to take up that mantle.
Recognizing that Classical Music has implied White Supremacy for centuries is hard for those that study the art form. In fact, that correlating The Met’s continued programming of dead white men to the rise of White Supremacist tendencies in America is not a far stretch is starting to become apparent to those that follow and review the company’s season announcements.
Of course Italian Opera traditions are rich and are the backbone for many composers, but when an American institution, founded on the grounds of Natives and whose nation’s economy was fueled by the labor of slavery continues in 2018 to program exclusively white men, there’s a message being sent to those who don’t fall into that category.
“You need to prove yourself extraordinary, so work harder and watch your step.”
(Excerpt) Read more at scapimag.com ...
Andras Schiff, George Malcolm conducting the English Chamber Orchestra
What endless “kill the cops” and “bitches” interspersed with countless “muddaf*cker” set to jungle beat is not equivalent to classical music?
Friedrich Gulda on piano.
The Met has done “Porgy and Bess” several times. It took a long time for Gershwin’s opera to come to the Met, but it’s become a popular success.
I'm not at all afraid to call Daniel Johanson a racist and an idiot. While in many cases I do not understand "self-hating" individuals, it is quite easy to understand why the hate-filled Daniel Johanson hates himself - I mean, who wouldn't hate him?
But evidently Johanson does not understand things that are so simple that even a schoolchild could understand - for example, that millions and millions of people around the world who are not 'white males' cherish Western classical music because the best of that genre is truly an accomplishment for humanity.
Just one out of many things to point out to the clueless bigot Daniel Johanson - Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is immensely popular with millions of white-skinned racists who are natives of Japan (wait, wut?). Shouldn't he be preaching to all of them that what they enjoy is filthy and wrong, and that instead they should replace it with music created by transgendered people of color?
It is impossible to overstate the sickening, deep-seated stupidity of Daniel Johanson...
Haven't seen it, but have seen many videos. I am definitely not impressed. Its like a 2 hour long MTV video.
There are so many ashamed of themselves and their culture so this is the only way they can vent. They are sick, twisted and demented. These people cannot acknowledge a Renaissance and clamor for the Dark Ages for example.
Last time I looked all the Founding Fathers were white guys. The horror!
There is also “X,” a rap opera about Malcom X composed by Anthony Williams.
Classical music is only one I enjoy. By the way I’m not white. Also I read somewhere that if a store plays classical music like Mozart or Beethoven’s, it can effectively prevent blacks from loitering around your store. I never own a store of any kind. It could make sense, though. Anyone here has experience of it ?
Spot on. But this is the kind of talent that can get you a invitation to the White House. Jay-Z was a guest at Obozo’s 50th birthday celebration. He penned this sublime ballad:
[Verse 1—Jay-Z]
Uh, yo don’t get mad at me
I don’t love ‘em I fuck ‘em
I don’t chase ‘em I duck ‘em
I replace ‘em with another one
You had to see she keep calling me BIG
And my name is Jay-Z
She be all on my dick
Gradually I’m taking over your bitch
Coming over your shit
Got my feet up on you sofa, man
I eat a hostess from my open hand
You coming home to dishes and empty soda cans
I got your bitch in my Rover man
I never kiss her, I never hold her hand
In fact I diss her I’m a bolder man
I’ma pimp her, Like It’s over man
Twista In the gold sedan
Jigga man, iceberg, with the frozen hands
Wedding bells won’t make it rosey man
Sorry, but no culture is to be preferred, so your putdown of rap won't fly. /s
(ducking)
Well, at least Wynton Marsalis does a great job with Haydn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb5MSJcBb9o
Get rid of the blasted “urban alimentary canal music”, the “autotune”, and start failing students who cannot communicate clearly without mumbling, and we might clear up this quagmire.
Thanks for the link.
Speaking of Wynton Marsalis:
From the link below:
Black Americans are now free. What holds them back is the ideology of “authentic blackness”—a black identity rooted in the urban underclass culture of hatred of authority (especially of the police, the teacher, and the boss), indifference to learning, misogyny, sex stripped of love or commitment, hustling, resentment, drug trafficking and using, tolerance of lawbreaking, and rage, rage, rage, the hallmark of keeping it real. That’s the message rap hammers home constantly with its mind-numbing rhythm. Classical and jazz trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis, who despises rap more because it is anti-music—devoid of harmony, beauty, structure, transcendence, or thought—than because of its odious, subliterate lyrics, nevertheless scornfully dismisses the medium’s main story line: “Now you have to say that you’re from the streets, you shot some brothers, you went to jail. Rappers have to display the correct pathology.”
https://www.city-journal.org/html/cut-c-rap-15692.html
Don Giovanni, literally The Rake Punished, namely Don Giovanni or The Libertine Punished) is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It is based on the legends of Don Juan, a fictional libertine and seducer.
Classical music makes the pretension claim to be the highest type of music — it is “serious” music, “art” music and the other types of music are “folk” music. Now the author wants to say this self acclaimed adherence to excellence in classical music is to be traded in for considerations on race, sex, gender, etc. What this does is reduce the standards of excellence in any area of study: art, music, science, etc. This is not a new argument against PC codes. It is also the issue at the heart of the university: What is it that the university stands for, Truth or Social Justice. If we limit or reduce our standards on the truth then Truth will not emerge; and it is the expression and adherence to truth, that gives our society its excellence and advances its continuation into the future.
Thanks. I also like Murray Perahia’s version with the ECO.
The 3rd movement is probably my favorite Piano Concerto movement in the whole repertoire...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.