The great reckoning now sweeping across pop culture has been working through the stacks of literature for far longer. The effects of time are twofold: Most books have fallen into dust, along with the racist values they imbibed. And those few texts that survive have been subjected to rigorous — and ongoing — debate.Any theater launching a production of “Othello,” for instance, must begin with a rich body of scholarship on Shakespeare’s sources and intentions. What are we to make of the Moor, the Venetian general manipulated into murderous rage by his villainous white colleague? Even before Othello comes onstage, he’s subjected to obscene racist ridicule. And later, Othello himself laments, “Haply, for I am black and have not those soft parts of conversation that chamberers have.”As a Renaissance writer working in England 250 years before the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States, Shakespeare surely held the white supremacist values of his culture. But is “Othello” a racist play, or is it a fledgling critique of racism?
The first impression one gets from this writer, Ron Charles, is that he really hasn't read very much, odd for someone who writes professionally about books. But how else would you explain the comment "Most books have fallen into dust, along with the racist values they imbibed. And those few texts that survive have been subjected to rigorous — and ongoing — debate." Does he really believe this? Could he even begin to offer evidence for it? It looks to me more like robotic "progressive" mind-reading. Yeah, Shakespeare surely held the white supremacist values of his culture. Every single element of that phrase except the proper name is not only questionable, but most likely entirely false.
The classical music world, except for the occasional hit piece from the "new" musicologists, has been pretty free of this kind of barbarity. But for how long? Now that the whole universe of classical music performance has been cancelled (one hopes for not too much longer) will they come for the composers now? If Shakespeare was surely a racist white supremacist, why not Mozart? I hope that our escaping the "great reckoning" so far rests on more than the supposed irrelevance of classical music to mainstream culture.
Mind you, the guilt by association of classical music since WWII because some music was enjoyed by the Nazis is something we have been wrestling with. But so far at least no composer, except for Wagner in Israel, has been actually cancelled. Opera seems the most vulnerable as a number of controversies have grown up around casting in Othello and Madame Butterfly.
I'm kind of looking forward to the first serious attempt to cancel a major composer. Who might be the best candidate from a progressive point of view? We have a few anti-semites but that seems a very minor offence these days. Anyone have any ideas?
For our envoi, here is a vintage performance of the "Dissonance" Quartet by Mozart by the Emerson Quartet:
10 comments:
FWIW I don't think Israel informally banned Wagner because of his association with the Nazis but for his own rather inflammatory anti Semitism in his books. Carl Orff and Richard Strauss are not banned even though they had the approval of the regime because they didn't personally advocate anti Semitism AFAIK. I think the guilt by association is of more recent vintage.
As for classical music cancellation I think the cancellers probably have figured out there is no need to ban it directly - just cite health concerns of large indoor groups and cut subsidies.
That's why I think classical music needs to move to outdoor covered venues between April 15 and October 15 in the cooler climates or later for warmer locales.Of course by the time they figure that out it will be too late. BTW Walmart is launching drive in movie areas in its parking areas this summer.
The piece sounds idiotic. You are probably right about Ron Charles not reading very much, if he could write about books "imbibing" racism as if it were a beverage. The meager, slack culture of so many journalists (with its associated misuse of language) is a big problem.
As for "cancelling" canonical composers - I figure if someone as egregious as Wagner can still (rightly) be revered for the works of genius he produced, we're probably OK. A larger problem (which is starting to manifest on concert programs) is the inclusion of new works based on "wokeness" or the identity category of the composer. How far audiences will tolerate such things is a question yet to be answered.
Idle Musicfan
Maury, you could be right. It is an informal ban and yes, probably mostly because of his anti-semitism. Yes, the guilt by association has been directed at classical music in general and fairly recently.
Sadly, most journalism sounds pretty idiotic. It is just that when it is in your field you notice it more. I too wonder how this identity programming is going to work out. So far it hasn't had a big impact, but as you say, at this point, it is up to the audience.
Well, Mozart was known to have a potty mouth, which will surely be of great offensive to someone. But seriously, even if a scholar devotes their entire life to a subject, they will never be able to decipher the "intentions" of the artist. That is simply absurd.
Having studied journalism but never landed steady work in the field I realize this may be a personal/sideways proposal, but perhaps these kinds of op-eds are part of a death rattle for institutionally vetted criticism of the kind Scott Timberg used to worry was fading away or that Norman Lebrecht has worried has lost prestige.
If in earlier eras of arts and literature journalism power was wielded by "making" reputations and establishing canons younger journalists and arts writers in the United States bristling at the seeming intractability of canons are flexing their muscle to question why those canons were assembled by whatever ideological means necessary.
That the same general kind of winnowing process happened and ultimately didn't exclude Bach, Wagner or Beethoven in the Soviet bloc would be instructive for Western journalists to read about if they thought reading about arts reception history in the Soviet bloc was worth thinking about.
Fascinating perspective Wenatchee. There does seem to be a real durability adhering to the major names in classical music that makes you think that they will endure, come what may.
Also, there is a bit of a "lemmings running off the cliff" feel to a lot of current journalism.
I think the battle against particular composers for perceived transgressions is yesterday fight. I think even those proponents have figured out what has been said above. I hate to keep harping on the Kennedy Center but since they are both government and private sector they are a strategically situated institution. But the Met and other similar groups are acting the same way.
To recap, the KC attempted to illegally layoff the National Symphony orchestra and then restored partial funding after they looked like losers in a legal fight with the Musicians union. Previously they had received $25M specifically to pay staff. Then they proceeded not by making amends to the NSO but instead flaunted a series of mostly mediocre pop artists on their websites for months. They now have cancelled fall events in the following statement:
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that, due to the ongoing effects of COVID-19, we have canceled most previously announced performances and events through the end of 2020, with some planned programs moving to spring 2021 and beyond.
Folks might also want to take a look at the cartography project on their site for what they have planned for the NSO in the future.
I have no doubt at this point the Kennedy Center plans to jettison the National Symphony Orchestra from its payroll. So I am getting concerned that what I thought was a medium term threat is now very much near term. Will funding for orchestras in the US disappear in the next 4 years? Are there other countries where this is also likely?
Oh yes, the Kennedy Center and the Met are pretty good bellwethers.
This reminds me of something that Warren Buffett might have said regarding people who are overextended in the stock market: "you don't know who is swimming naked until the tide goes out!" The lesson here is that we don't know who is really committed to the promotion and survival of classical music (as opposed to their own careers and self-interest) until a crisis like the coronavirus hits. It is obvious that Europe will do whatever is necessary to restore classical performances. North America is a big question mark. The UK is a bit dodgy as well.
Bryan, thank you for sussing out this column and its "comment inducing" topic. As a student of English literature, turned lawyer after only two years of reading Writings (in the English sense of "reading"), I still get stuck on things like Charles' use of "imbibing" (noted above by Anonymous). My immediate response to the cognitive dissonance that arose was "he must have meant "imbued". That would make more sense than the thirsty books he has found in the dust. (Clearly, those works didn't imbibe sufficiently.)
Digging further, perhaps Charles was using definition 2a of "Imbibe" found in Meriam Webster online dictionary:
Definition of imbibe. transitive verb. 1a : drink. b : to take in or up a sponge imbibes moisture. 2a : to receive into the mind and retain imbibe moral principles.
This would indicate that Charles' focus was on the influences on the books in question and not so much on the influences of the books.
My guess is that this analysis and argument is unlikely to survive a judge's scrutiny at Charles' trial on charges of Careless Semantic Inaccuracy Leading to Culture Blogger Discomfort.
Perhaps Mr. Charles will rely on the Auto-Correct Defence: ("I meant "imbued" Your Honor, my stupid computer changed the word"), resulting in a guilty verdict on the lesser, but included charges of Failure to Proofread An Electronic Text and Unwarranted Reliance on SpellCheck.
Turning to Music, for me, if the composition has accomplished the composer's objectives, listening to it is sufficient. I don't need to delve into the creator's "intention". That is the beauty of much classical music that is without lyrics. The sounds create the experience, the music simply IS. There is no verbal component designed to influence the listener's thinking.
Thanks for bearing with my ramblings. Now I am back to Felix' Lieder ohne Worte.
Thanks David for your investigative comment! That word "imbibed" really was a clanger, wasn't it? But the infelicities of journalism have ceased to surprise me ever since I started noticing such grievous errors as the use of the verb "advise" instead of the noun "advice" in sober financial publications.
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