An Orchestra Disappears

Whenever I see an orchestra in concert or watch a clip of a particularly engaged orchestra, such as that of musicAeterna I put up the other day, I am again struck with what a wondrous thing a fine orchestra is. The fruit of a thousand years of musical development in terms of notation, theory, orchestration, performance practice, and instrumental training, it is really a metaphor of what a harmonious society could be. I always delight in the sight of so many different kinds of people united in a single project, the performance of a piece of music. Young people, old people, people of various different ethnic groups and, less visibly, of different economic classes in society, of different social groups, often hinted at by wildly different hairstyles. A symphony orchestra is a model of a well-functioning society. Or, conversely, of a society with deep-rooted problems.

In one orchestra I knew very well, the principal French horn and the principal trumpet had a nasty breakup and afterwards the horns and the trumpets refused to tune to one another. I forget how long that lasted, but it was not optimal! You could draw a lot of interesting sociological conclusions from observing orchestras of which the most mundane might be that engaging in working together does tend to unify a group of people. The well-defined lines of responsibility tend to reduce the possibility of intra-group friction, for example. Also, an orchestra is not a simple democracy as it is the conductor's job to direct and mold and train the ensemble. Overall leadership also devolves to the concertmaster who has special responsibilities in the string section and generally. Within each group of instruments there is a principal as well. An orchestra is a kind of corporation, though with a very low hierarchical profile. There is a democratic dimension, however: in many European orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the orchestra votes on who they want to appoint as music director.

This is all inspired by this news story: San Antonio Symphony to Dissolve Amid Labor Dispute.

For almost nine months, the musicians of the San Antonio Symphony were on strike, resisting steep cuts proposed by management that they said would destroy the ensemble. As the dispute dragged on, much of the 2021-22 season was canceled, the players found part-time jobs and mediators tried to negotiate a compromise to save the 83-year-old orchestra.

The impasse came to an end on Thursday with the announcement that the symphony had decided to file for bankruptcy and dissolve. The symphony’s board, which had argued that maintaining a large orchestra had grown too costly, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, said it did not see a path forward.

And that was that. Yes, symphony orchestras are costly, and opera is even more so. But in this, as in everything else, you get what you pay for and if you don't want to pay for something, you don't get it. It seems that San Antonio did not contain sufficient wealthy donors who were willing to support the orchestra.

It is a sad truth that the artistic elite have a tendency to believe that art makes us better people, which is not supported by the evidence. But the arts do have a valuable role in society in terms of inspiration, consolation, the realization and development of personal growth and a bunch of things that are very hard to describe or categorize. Suffice it to say that civic life in San Antonio just got a little less fulfilling, a little less culturally rich and a duller place. A society without art is not a very enjoyable one, even though it might be materially prosperous.

There is not much on YouTube from the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, but here is the coda to Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov: