Posted on 09/16/2020 8:22:21 PM PDT by libh8er
Has the 19th-century German composer Ludwig van Beethoven become a modern symbol of "exclusion and elitism" for rich, white men?
In an article published by Vox on Tuesday that quoted New York Philharmonic clarinetist Anthony McGill, writers Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding argued that the work has been propped up by white, wealthy men, whose embrace of the musical composition stood as a symbol of "their superiority and importance."
Vox is not the only left-leaning outlet pushing to examine the racial makeup of classical music composers. In July, the New York Times published a lengthy article that accused the world of classical music of failing to address racism.
"With their major institutions founded on white European models and obstinately focused on the distant past, classical music and opera have been even slower than American society at large to confront racial inequity," read the New York Times's article.
"For others women, LGBTQ+ people, people of color Beethovens symphony is predominantly a reminder of classical musics history of exclusion and elitism," Sloan and Harding wrote.
The writers suggested that because Beethoven was white and most other classical musicians are white, classical music has become a form of "exclusion, elitism, and gatekeeping" for black and brown people.
As you perpetuate the idea that the giants of the music all look the same, it conveys to the other that theres not a stake in that music for them, classical music critic James Bennett II told Vox.
McGill struck a more measured tone, suggesting that an overemphasis on Beethoven's work keeps new musicians and ideas from being fully appreciated in real time.
McGill said, If you pretend like theres no other music out there, that Beethoven is the greatest music that ever will matter, then new listeners will not feel welcome in the genre.
Yes we should destroy all the epic achievements of western culture and substitute the shallowness of cultures that didnt progress in 3,000 years.
Yes thats the answer! !
Louis Armstrong said it best:
There are only two kinds of music, good and bad.
I was thinking that both Hip Hop and Rap are about the most tone deaf and soulless types of NOISE I have ever heard.
I guess the great African composers beating on a drum in the middle of the jungle just didn’t have the social contacts to become well known.
Just like the Taliban has done!
some people did....others did not....
that is not my fault.....
So many effete moronic nitwits...so little time.
I used to live on Schubert Strasse in a German town. Does this mean I have to kill myself?
Leave all “western” nations.
And NO cultural appropriation, of ANYthing “western”. Thank you very much. Back to your mud huts.
This is obviously bigotry against hearing-disabled composers.
Vox is nothing but a bunch of hard left, virtue signaling idiots.
Yet consider how beautiful and melodic so many black singers and writers were....up until the ‘80s and “rap” took over.
Oh sure, pick on the deaf guy.
I have occassionally heard orchestras present “new” classical composers. Evidently their aim was to deconstruct music.
Some of it sounded like an orchestra tuning up, but not as good. Others seemed to be random toots, bleats and a few percussive sounds. Still others sounded like you put a lot of silverware and glassware in a bag and threw it down a long flight of stairs.
No electricity, no central heat, no automobiles, no skateboards, etc.
Any work of genius is under attack by the resentful barbarians of the left. Susan McClary was awarded a MacArthur Foundation’s “genius grant. She claims classical music is chock-full of phallic themes, patriarchal violence, and “assaultive pelvic pounding. McClary claims that the pelvic pounding in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony adds up to nonorgasmic rape. She hears “the throttling, murderous rage of a rapist incapable of attaining release.” “Mozart, Pascal, Boolean algebra, Shakespeare, parliamentary government, baroque churches, Newton, the emancipation of women, Kant, Balanchine ballets, et al. don’t redeem what this particular civilization has wrought upon the world. - Susan Sontag
America was not founded as a multicultural country. It was founded by white Europeans as an extension of western civilization. There was no such thing as multiculturalism in the 1400s. In fact, national identity in Europe was very important in the 1400s as a result of centuries of wars. People were expected to adapt to the culture of the country they lived in.
Classical music is part of the culture of white Europeans. Just as other types of music are part of the culture of other ethnicities. White Europeans are entitled to their own culture just as equally any other ethnicity and are entitled to be equally as proud of the accomplishments of western civilization as any other culture is of their own. Whether it be national heros, ideals, accomplishments, customs or music that is unique to them. To claim otherwise is the height of racism.
The constant antagonism and nitpicking against western civilization is getting tiresome and stale. And is the sure sign of a small and bitter intellect.
Yawn
Oooh. Vox is so cool. So whos next? Shakespeare? Euripides? Aeschylus? Maybe Einstein. Yeah, Einsteins a good choice for elitist, exclusionist. Too smart for his own good.
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