The value, popularity, and overall context of classical music over the last few centuries has been far from static. As new genres emerged and became popular, Western art music has become arguably unimportant, at least to a vast percentage of music consumers. In regards to this topic, we found people who have very strong feelings about why this is and what can be done about it. Some have overwhelmingly negative projections about where we are headed while others seek out opportunities to reintegrate the great masterpieces of our past into the culture we currently live in.
First we want to take a look at this issue from a relatively pessimistic point of view. Craig Havighurst wrote an article regarding the “devaluation” of music (see it in full here: https://medium.com/cuepoint/the-devaluation-of-music-it-s-worse-than-you-think-f4cf5f26a888#.1fic5oowh) and raises some good points.
Havighurst rightfully gives credit to those who compose for the screen and video games, as the field is full of many young composers. However, he points out faults in the consumer of soundtrack music. Craig argues that the value of such instrumental music goes down when it is forced to be paired with a specific, (usually cliche), emotion. He claims that when it is suggested that the job of symphonic music is simply to evoke an emotion, we lose some of the integrity that Western art music used to have as a means of representing math, architecture, symbolism, and philosophy.
Shostakovich’s 5th symphony, for example, is not a piece of music that was written to simply evoke an emotion from the listener. Shostakovich composed this piece as a cry of help and a plea for the end of the suffering the Soviet people went through under Stalin. In the 5th movement you can blatantly hear the final cries of outrage that collapses in on its on aggression and is followed by a sorrowful, yet hopeful, melody that builds into a proud victory march. Shostakovich used the ambiguity of music to pass this symphony on as a victory for Stalin, but the people knew exactly what ironic message he was portraying. After its debut, the crowd was in tears and gave a 40 minute ovation. Stalin was none the wiser. There is a Russian saying that is very appropriate for this situation that goes, “Pretend to be kissing someone, but then spit when they are not looking.”
So, perhaps some of our attempts to re-cultivate instrumental music have fallen flat because of the context we hear the music in. Maybe the true key to its longevity is placing the emphasis on the performance as it was centuries ago, before recordings regurgitated our favorite music for us. A new organization, called Groupmuse, is trying to do just that. Groupmuse’s goal is to bring classical music to people right in their living rooms. On their front page Groupmuse emphasizes the fact that they only perform classical music, do not take requests, and are not background music. They intend on keeping the music's integrity and giving it the respect it deserves while bring it into a more modern and casual setting. They even encourage that the seating is non traditional (i.e couches) and that beverages are provided along with the performance!
Notice in the first minute of their promotional video they mention that their audiences applaud between movements and hoot and holler at exciting moments in the music. Groupmuse would say this is what bringing classical music to the modern generation is, while Havighurst would complain that this is taking away from how the music should be received. What’s interesting is both sides of the argument have a very genuine love for the art and wants to keep life in classical music for the new age. They just have strong differing opinions on how it should be presented.
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