Distracted Cellist

Portrait of Franz Schubert

apparently Classical Music Tumblr needs to revisit baby-faced queer icon Franz Schubert’s dime romance novel portrait:

6 great classical music TED Talks:

Evelyn Glennie: “How to truly listen”

Benjamin Zander: “The transformative power of classical music”

Michael Tilson Thomas: “Music and emotion through time”

Robert Gupta: “Music is medicine, music is sanity”

Itay Talgam: “Lead like the great conductors”

#TimesUp for classical music, too.

Boston Globe: BSO’s Andris Nelsons says sexual harassment isn’t a problem in classical music

The Telegraph: Mariss Jansons: ‘Women on the podium are not my cup of tea’

New York Times: Met Opera Suspends James Levine After New Sexual Abuse Accusations

playlist: women who score

Only 2% of the 250 top-grossing films from 2013-2016 were scored by women. Since the Academy Awards began in 1929, only 2 women have won for Best Score.

This list is only a small sampling, and includes women of color and Indigenous women, as well as women identifying as LGBTQ+.

((click each name to listen))

the title of the song is literally “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” aka “Hell’s Vengeance is Boiling in My Heart” and the words go pretty much that hard the entire time. She’s literally brandishing the knife meant for Sarastro, whom her daughter must kill or be disowned (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah, disowned evermore!)

this is why I do TLG, though, because usually when people learn stuff like this, they’re like “oh, opera is actually pretty badass!”

I’m not here to start drama, so I’ve blocked out the names. I just want to talk about the content of this exchange.

To fill in the gaps for those of you who may not know, Mahler is a famous turn-of-the-20th-century symphonist and orchestral lied composer.* He’s known for being… a lot. His symphonies require some of the biggest orchestras that have ever been requested and they are among the longest you’ll hear in normal concert repertoire.** For people who are into it, they give you the same kind of rush as a heavy metal band going balls-to-the-wall all night.***

Because of this awesome concert experience, many such people think Mahler is among the cream of the symphonist crop. Admittedly, if you like late 19th century German aesthetic theory, he checks all the boxes. He’s an organicist, he’s got lots of extramusical references you can mine, he’s got a lot of personal angst that he directly expresses in his music. He’s certainly an archetypical artist-hero. 

But the problem that I have with this exchange is that it implies a lack of Mahler is directly linked to a lack of quality or taste, and it just dismisses people who, for one reason or another, do something different. Surely I don’t have to explain why it’s inherently limiting to set one man, from one country, from just over a hundred years ago as a litmus test for modern-day, worldwide orchestral quality. Certainly there are plenty of reasons not to perform Mahler. To give a few: not having the personnel; not having a conductor lined up (it’s a massive undertaking for one person to put together!); not having mature musicians who can actually play it (e.g. high school orchestras). Even if these people liked Mahler—not everyone does—they may just not have the means to execute those particular works, and that doesn’t mean they’re bad. Even if they don’t like Mahler—not everyone does—that doesn’t mean they’re bad!

I’m not one to just point out a problem without a solution, though, so here’s one way the exchange would be a healthier celebration of music as a whole:

anon: Why does Mahler not get the appreciation he deserves, no one in my orchestra knows who he is :’’(

respondent: I don’t know! I wish more people knew about him, though, because he’s pretty awesome. I could sing Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt all day!****

reblogger: if you’re in an orchestra and don’t know who Mahler is, I would totally recommend Symphony No. 1—it has a minor key “Frère Jacques”!

Obviously that is a really contrived exchange and I hope people would write in genuine ways that reflect their love and personality. That’s the point. I wish people could say “I want people to pay more attention to so-and-so!”***** without that including “those other people suck!”******

Can we just support each other in loving music and try to get other people excited too without turning our noses up at each other?

*orchestral lieder are German poems set to music for singer and orchestra

**Symphony No. 8 is rightly called  the “Symphony of a Thousand”

***although the same folks who make these kinds of comments tend to be the same ones who will chide you for visibly enjoying the experience. See my video on the topic.

****and having written that, now I absolutely will

*****and I hope “so-and-so” will start to include other figures, too, like performers, impresarios, librettists, choreographers, etc.

Before There Was Mozart: The Story of Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint-George

Author: Lesa-Cline Ransome

Illustrator: James E. Ransome

The musical superstar of 18th-century France was Joseph Boulogne—a black man. This inspiring story tells how Joseph, the only child of a black slave and her white master, becomes “the most accomplished man in Europe.” After traveling from his native West Indies to study music in Paris, young Joseph is taunted about his skin color. Despite his classmates’ cruel words, he continues to devote himself to his violin, eventually becoming conductor of a whole orchestra. Joseph begins composing his own operas, which everyone acknowledges to be magnifique.

But will he ever reach his dream of performing for the king and queen of France? This lushly illustrated book by Lesa Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome introduces us to a talented musician and an overlooked figure in black history.

this makes me feel a lot better about waiting. i’m 22 and barely got through college, mental health wise (gotta deal with that pesky depression i’ve been ignoring for years lol)

listen… when I finished undergrad? I was DONE. I didn’t want anything to do with anything I had studied. I had abuse-related anxiety problems (which I’m a little more free to talk about because I no longer attend the institution where that asshole teaches) and was just exhausted and had to work on me. so I totally get it. take all the time you need. 

as a footnote, I don’t know if you do music stuff, but I’ve been recommending a musicological text to a bunch of my friends who are into academia? it’s called “just vibrations” by William Cheng. it’s like 100 pages and is available for free from the U of M Press website if you don’t mind reading on a screen. but Cheng is a fantastic musicologist in his mid-thirties who got his start as a ludomusicologist (aka studying video game music academically) but has recently moved on to academic activism. As a gay man of color with chronic health problems, he has a LOT to say about self-care and “slow time,” the idea that you don’t have to sacrifice your livelihood to be good at stuff if you’re willing to let it take a little longer. 

I can’t believe that in the year of our Lord two thousand and seventeen it is still necessary to tell people that blackface is Not A Good Thing

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: there are almost no other canonically black women roles in opera, and certainly not any others with the recognition of Aida. If you can’t find a black soprano, don’t do Aida. Verdi has 35 operas where blackness is not inherent to the plot (36 other operas total, but Otello is plagued with the same issue as Aida). If you’re not hiring a black woman, do one of the others where blackness isn’t inherent to the plot. 

I can’t believe that in the year of our Lord two thousand and seventeen it is still necessary to tell people that blackface is Not A Good Thing

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: there are almost no other canonically black women roles in opera, and certainly not any others with the recognition of Aida. If you can’t find a black soprano, don’t do Aida. Verdi has 35 operas where blackness is not inherent to the plot (36 other operas total, but Otello is plagued with the same issue as Aida). If you’re not hiring a black woman, do one of the others where blackness isn’t inherent to the plot.