# Why so Serious? Development of the Classical Concert and Opera Theater



## dantejones (Jan 14, 2015)

Take a minute to read Alex Ross, in a New Yorker article from a few years ago. He draws on the work of audience sociologists like William Weber and James Johnson.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/09/08/why-so-serious

Indeed, the aristocratic playground of the Paris Opera in 1780 wouldn't have been a suitable environment to present a work like _Dialogues of the Carmelites_, which was written with a quiet, still, and attentive audience in mind.

To paraphrase Ross and Weber, the moralizing pretension of the early 19th Century European bourgeoisie is responsible for the culture of rapt, silent attention, which at once elevated the status of the composers and musicians and deified the composers who were comfortably long-dead.

I believe the focus on the composer as a serious artist has been the best aspect of the concert's development, which includes the respect shown by audiences through silence. However, the inability of classical concert programmers to break free of the 19th century classical masters at the expense of 20th century greats and current artists is probably the most regrettable part of this history.

To be honest, if my local professional symphony/opera presented two, three, or four full seasons of works composed for the medium in the last 50 years, i would be happy to subscribe. Too bad the majority of the listeners just will not be willing to take this chance.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

There have been some composers who have been trying to break free of the fourth wall between audience and orchestra/players for some time. For example, Steve Reich's Radio Rewrite sounds like a piece which is festive and because it is inspired by Radiohead it has the feel of a rock concert.

However, in general, reverence is the rule and I notice it a lot especially when attending the Utah Symphony concerts. On the other hand, there is always the Super Bowl for lots of that "aristocratic" playground LOL.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

dantejones said:


> ...the moralizing pretension of the early 19th Century European bourgeoisie is responsible for the culture of rapt, silent attention, which at once elevated the status of the composers and musicians and deified the composers who were comfortably long-dead.
> 
> I believe the focus on the composer as a serious artist has been the best aspect of the concert's development, which includes the respect shown by audiences through silence. However, the inability of classical concert programmers to break free of the 19th century classical masters at the expense of 20th century greats and current artists is probably the most regrettable part of this history.
> 
> To be honest, if my local professional symphony/opera presented two, three, or four full seasons of works composed for the medium in the last 50 years, i would be happy to subscribe. Too bad the majority of the listeners just will not be willing to take this chance.


I think that silence during a performance shows respect not just for the composer, but for the other listeners.

Honestly, I don't understand "the inability of classical concert programmers to break free of the 19th century classical masters." Program some, then!

I wouldn't support a full season of exclusively contemporary works. I'm into composers and their music and I make little distinction between when they lived. I am happy to listen to Bach and follow up with Xenakis. Add any name you wish. A good mix and I'll hear stuff I want to hear, some I might have heard too much and some I never would have thought of hearing.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

dantejones said:


> To paraphrase Ross and Weber, the moralizing pretension of the early 19th Century European bourgeoisie is responsible for the culture of rapt, silent attention, which at once elevated the status of the composers and musicians and deified the composers who were comfortably long-dead.


It is nice to have the 'back-up' of Mssrs. Ross and Weber, as I've long thought the first wave and then growth of the bourgeoisie is responsible for both those snobbish attitudes re: classical music as a display of social caste prestige, and therefore a contest of sorts and a social climber's affair. I've thought along with that new and quickly growing audience came the arrival -- via the pressure of that audiences tastes and of that which they approved of -- of a wave of bourgeois-quality music and that same audience is in good part responsible for those sensibilities in the music of that era as well.

Anytime I've even more than hinted at the latter, or commented that some composer's music sounds like it was written by a bourgeois gentleman to thrill others of a bourgeois audience with bourgeois tastes, people flip their lids. It was not only the pretensions, but a certain type of 'common' taste which directed the 19th century altogether, just as bourgeois tastes dictate what is popular at the movies. This exists, it was new and very strong in the 19th century, _(very still strongly with us through the 20th, 21st as well -- the same demographic somewhat dictating what gets heard in the concert halls, and as sad, the same social game played in belief there is social mobility or prestige via consuming classical music... whatta legacy_ and you may as well call it what it is than pretend it was something it was not.

I would then, just say the next time anyone stumbles across a comment like, "Wagner is a composer who appeals mainly to the petites bourgeoisie," to think again who those 18th century audiences were, and about what in the 1800's so strongly flipped both audience attitude and in a large part well-affected the direction classical music then took via the force of the tastes of those audiences.

I prefer a polite stillness in the concert hall, but again, the bit about social esteem should be thrown in the trash heap of pretensions of 'kids playing at being grown-up' that up it came from, and zOMG the deification / canonization of composers, well, lol.


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