Is Classical Music Relevant: Cambridge Union debate, Stephen Fry and Kissy Sell Out
“The idea that classical music is the province of white-wigged old farts shows a failure of imagination and rank snobbery.”
Thus spake Stephen Fry at a debate in Cambridge last night on the relevance of classical music to today’s youth. His adversaries included Kissy Sell-Out, Radio 1 DJ and critic Greg Sandow. But it was Stephen “dub-step is my life” Fry who stole the show – and indeed won the debate (365 to 57, 88 abstentions). As someone embarking on a career as a classical music journalist I’m obviously pleased with the result, but much of the debate was depressing.
White-wigged old fart?
Over and over the genre was called “elitist”, snobby, exclusive, out of touch. Yet only yesterday morning I was musing with my pianist and conductor house mate as to whether now was the best possible time to be a classical musician – or indeed spectator.
London alone has a healthy clutch of symphony orchestras performing music from Puccini to Pärt, Tippet to Turner, every evening. And there are chamber ensembles across the country, constantly experimenting, performing contemporary music and attracting new audiences. The classical music scene is vibrant, exciting and full of incredibly talented people.
Nor is it fair to call the classical music world elitist. Opera houses and concert halls are busting their gut strings to show young people that the door is open, there are comfy seats waiting for them and –look – you don’t even have to wear a suit.
This summer I will be going to the Glyndebourne opera festival for the second time in as many years. Last year my ticket was £30, this year it is £20 – both special deals for the under 30s. And the OAE are forever throwing late night events with tickets for just £5 – which always seem to sell out. Thanks to these initiatives, classical concerts are full of young people just enjoying the music and, rare from worrying about it’s relevance, they are simply thankful that for a few brief moments, they are transported away from worries about exams, boyfriends, school gangs, fashion, essays or emails. It’s just them and the music.
Why this concern over relevance anyway? Why can’t classical music just be enjoyable, moving, terrifying, thrilling, transcendental, beautiful, staggering, heart-breaking, cheeky, humorous, thought-provoking or threatening? Pop music may use the language of the young, refer to Twitter, video games and clubs but it is the toilet paper of the music world: a one-use item. It is relevant today, gone tomorrow. Classical music, by contrast, is vellum – it might take a bit of blood to produce, but will be around long after the toilet paper has disintegrated.
The brilliant Benjamin Grosvenor (very much not wearing a white wig)
And the, ahem, toilet paper
The whole debate will be available to view at http://www.cus.org/connect
I love classical music, and attend many concerts and operas. But I don’t see why this can’t go hand in hand with liking other genres as you seem to suggest.
If you think that pop music is the toilet paper of the music world then you clearly haven’t been seeking out good pop music, and you are simply reinforcing the views of Kissy Sell Out etc that the genre (and its fans evidently) are elitist and snobby. Contemporary classical music is in dialogue with all other modern genres (jazz, dance, even dubstep) and not just a progression from the classical music of the past IMHO.
Hi Andrew, you’re right to pull me up on the good pop music point – of course there is good pop music, it just often gets drowned out by the big labels and heavily manufactured stuff. I just chose to focus here on the arguments presented in last night’s debate about classical music and fought fire with fire!
Wow. That’s shooting from the hip!Hip hip hooray!
“Why can’t classical music just be enjoyable, moving, terrifying, thrilling, transcendental, beautiful, staggering, heart-breaking, cheeky, humorous, thought-provoking or threatening?”
That’s a very good question. The answer is: because those who produce classical music won’t allow it. Here in the US, you cannot listen to classical music without being told why it is you’re supposed to like it. You can’t listen to it without enduring a lecture on when, why, and how it was written. You can’t listen to it without being made to feel as though you can’t like it unless you appreciate it. From program notes, liner notes, pre-show lectures, outreach programs, and stoic radio announcers, would-be listeners of classical music are bombarded with the ideas that it is 1) cultural 2) educational and 3) only for the intelligent.
Rarely is classical music presented as what it really is: entertainment. It’s just entertainment that is very difficult to perform, and those who perform it take personal joy in expressing to people exactly how difficult and demanding this music is. The performers want people to be impressed by, not only the music, but the years of study, the Masters and Doctoral degrees, and the hours of practice every day: the work put into it and not the work itself.
People don’t care or even need to know about Mozart’s use of the flute or that he reportedly hated the instrument. People don’t need to know or care that Madama Butterfly went through revisions. People don’t need to know or care that Beethoven could effortlessly modulate between keys a tritone apart.
Opera Companies have for the past few decades been complaining that they are competing against movies and television. It’s not a legitimate complaint; it’s an excuse. They don’t ACT like they are competing against those things; they act like they are competing against museums and ballet. They have forgotten that they are part of the entertainment industry. Back in the opera hey-day, they were doing things right by promoting and making superstars and household names of the singers. Yes, the singers: the #1 thing people come to the opera to hear. Now, opera is promoted by selling the composer, the emotion, or even the opera company. No one comes to the opera to see the director, they come for the singers, and if you make the singers into some sort of celebrity (even implied), you’ll get much more interest. People WANT to be in the same room with celebrity. Create celebrity and they audience will build itself.
Don’t enlighten, don’t give people culture… entertain them! They’ll come.
why western music is not better thanclassical music
Classical music IS western music…
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