Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/12/07
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In a message dated 12/5/00 6:02:40 PM Eastern Standard Time,
mbell@mail.utexas.edu writes:
<< In one of my music history classes we were getting to the point in
time that included Tchaikovsky. The professor said "I guess you are
expecting me to say something about Tchaikovsky about now. He was my
mother's favorite composer." Then he went on to his next topic.
>>
Mine, too. Also my father. The result was that they were willing to
encourage me to explore the more avant garde stuff, like Beethoven, as part
of my musical education. Appreciation of beautiful music can sometimes lead
to good things.:)
Seriously, because composers who came along late in any given "period",
as defined by scholars, were not usually highly innovative, they are not
ordinarily taught in depth in academic courses on music history. IME, unless
they significantly added or changed something in the language of music, the
late Romantics, including such concert favorites as Mahler and Bruckner, are
given little more than footnotes in the history of Western music.
A notable exception is Brahms, and for good reason. While many casual
listeners tend to find his music impenetrable, he offers genuine challenges
to scholars, conductors and performers of music, as well as serious
audiences. In a very different way, he may be legitimately viewed as every
bit as innovative as Wagner. This from my wife, who teaches this stuff at
the college level. She doesn't much mind listening to Tscaikowsky now and
again, either.:)
Joe Sobel