# Is listening to classical music an acquired taste?



## transparently (Sep 29, 2014)

Hello everyone,

I'm a new member on this forum, and I'm also a beginning listener of classical music. I've been listening to some pieces here and there, and I would like some guidance in expanding my knowledge of the classical repertoire. I'm particularly fond of pieces involving the piano, as I took lessons as a child. However, I didn't take my lessons seriously, and I'm only now starting to appreciate classical music. Despite my newfound appreciation, I'm still finding it difficult to fully understand the pieces I'm listening to and I get oftentimes get "lost", especially when listening to piano concerti. 

I have a few questions regarding the path to becoming well-versed in classical music: 
1. How did you get started with listening to classical music? 
2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters? 
3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?
4. And lastly, why is classical music so enduring? 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.


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## transparently (Sep 29, 2014)

I forgot to mention one more thing: is classical music elitist?


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

transparently said:


> I forgot to mention one more thing: is classical music elitist?


Thoroughly.

To me at any rate.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

transparently said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I'm a new member on this forum, and I'm also a beginning listener of classical music. I've been listening to some pieces here and there, and I would like some guidance in expanding my knowledge of the classical repertoire. I'm particularly fond of pieces involving the piano, as I took lessons as a child. However, I didn't take my lessons seriously, and I'm only now starting to appreciate classical music. Despite my newfound appreciation, I'm still finding it difficult to fully understand the pieces I'm listening to and I get oftentimes get "lost", especially when listening to piano concerti.
> 
> ...


As far as getting classical music the more experience you have at listening the better you get at it. When I was younger I would have to listen to a piece several times before I would get. I did not understand Schoenberg until I was in my fifties. There are still many great composers that still befuddle me.

To answer your questions:

1. My mother started playing Rimsky-Korsakov's _Scherazade_ on a record player when I was five and I started piano lessons at the same time. In spite of my piano lessons I am a lousy pianist.

2. I like a little bit of everything from the Renaissance to contemporary. The final judge has got to be your ear, not what you read here.

3. Over sixty years.

4. This is a complicated question. A simple answer is that it is very elaborate music. Sometimes you can spend years listening to a piece and then hear something new about it. Our community orchestra was rehearsing the Rachmaninoff _Paganini Variations_. Even though I have performed it several times in my life, while we playing one of the more famous variations I discovered that is was the Paganini theme upside down.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

transparently said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I have a few questions regarding the path to becoming well-versed in classical music:
> 1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?
> ...





transparently said:


> I forgot to mention one more thing: is classical music elitist?


1. I got started listening to classical music when my grandma got me a set of classical music cds for Christmas. The first piece I really got into was Brandenberg 3.

2. I like almost all classical music and have favorites within all eras. Since you said you like piano music, here are my favorite composers for piano. In terms of sonatas, my favorite sonata cycles are Mozart's (18), Beethoven's (32), Chopin's (3) Liszt's (1), Scriabin's (10), Prokofiev's (9), Boulez's (3)

Some other composers of solo piano music I would highly recommend: Schumann is a great Romantic Era piano composer (A number of pieces but Davidsbundlertanze, Kreislieriana and Fantasy in C are a few of my favorites)

Brahms is also a really great Romantic Era piano composer. His greatest pieces (in mine and most people's opinion) are his late piano sets (Opus 116, 117, 118 and 119). I'm also quite fond of the Opus 76 set.

For some more contemporary piano repertoire, Debussy and Ravel are some amazing piano composers of the early 20th century. For Debussy, try his 3 sets of Images, 2 sets of Preludes and 2 sets of Etudes. For Ravel, try Gaspard De La Nuit and Mirors.

Ligeti and Messiaen are my favorite later 20th century piano composers. For Ligeti, have a go at his 3 books of etudes and his piece Musica Ricercata. For Messiaen I recommend the Vignt Regards Sur L'enfant Jesus.

For piano Concerti, Mozart is a great place to start. He wrote 23 legit and original piano concertos (the first 4 are re-imaginings of already existing piano sonatas). Schumann wrote a pretty good piano concerto. Brahms wrote 2 great concertos. Bartok and Prokofiev both wrote a fine set (Bartok 3 and Prokofiev 5). Ligeti also wrote a pretty fascinating piano concerto.

3. I've been listening to classical music for about 12 or 13 years. I started when I was 11 and I am almost 23.

4. I don't think I'm qualified to answer this question but I would think it has something to do with being grounded in a tradition of about 900 long years.

5. No, I don't think it is at all "elitist". Classical musicians usually don't make nearly as much money as pop musicians.

If you are having trouble following pieces you are listening to, I would recommend reading some books about musical form. For someone who is just beginning, maybe you could just do some google/wikipedia searches on these terms: "Binary Form", "Ternery Form", "Rondo Form", "Sonata Form", "Theme and Variations", "Passicaglia", for starters.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

transparently said:


> I forgot to mention one more thing: is classical music elitist?


Classical music does attract some elitists. I will make a confession. When I was younger I was a musical elitist. As I matured I realized that such an attitude was bogus.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

arpeggio said:


> Classical music does attract some elitists. I will make a confession. When I was younger I was a musical elitist. As I matured I realized that such an attitude was bogus.


Elitism, properly construed, and shorn of its negative connotations, is a championing of the _best_ in something; an admiration of excellence-- not a snob pose and posture.


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## Chordalrock (Jan 21, 2014)

I started listening to classical music over ten years ago in my late teens. It was a time when I didn't have much to do and trying to appreciate the greats seemed like a worthwhile endeavour. I became easily bored at first when listening to anything that wasn't Moonlight Sonata or something. I did persist and basically witnessed my ability to 'get' this music evolve over the years in real-time.

I remember years ago thinking Debussy's and Ravel's music was ugly and dissonant. Recently when I revisited their works they sounded pretty. That really drove it home to me how far I had come.

I'd say listening attentively to anything sophisticated is bound to make you a better listener, even if slowly. I'd particularly try to hear the counterpoint and bass in addition to the more obvious stuff (where applicable). Making sense of contrapuntally complex works like Bach's fugues is another area where I've noticed a lot of improvement over the years.

Recently I think listening to a lot of 15th and 16th century choral music has also opened my ears to more atonal stuff as I've learned to listen to music in a freer and more open minded way.

I do think it's in some sense an acquired taste, but one that once you've acquired it also makes you better at grasping other types of music as long as they're based on similar principles.

Some favorite pieces: Mozart piano sonatas, parts of Wagner's "Parsifal" and "Tristan and Isolde", Dufay's credo from Missa L'homme arme, some of his isorhytmic motets like Ecclesia militantis, Ockeghem's Missa Caput, Missa Mi-Mi, and Missa De plus en plus, Brahms piano quartet no 3 op 60 3rd movement, first movement of his fourth symphony, Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, Gombert's "Je prens congie" and "Media vita"...

Some favorite interpreters... Vocal groups: Binchois Consort, Huelgas Ensemble, A Sei Voci, Henry's Eight, Cappella Pratensis, Brabant Ensemble, Delitiae Musicae, Cinquecento, Clerks Group. Pianists: Alfred Brendel, Alfred Cortot, Vladimir Horowitz, Sviatoslav Richter, Georges Cziffra. Haven't paid enough attention to other genres to have much in terms of favorite interpreters.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy venturing into Classical music. There's a lot to discover; it's enough to fill a lifetime and more.



transparently said:


> I have a few questions regarding the path to becoming well-versed in classical music:
> 1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?
> 2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters?
> 3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?
> ...


1. LPs, the Fantasia soundtrack (particularly Rite of Spring and the Nutcracker Suite), Handel's Water Music and Fireworks Music. Later it was Beethoven's Ninth, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (once more) that started me off back towards classical music and never let go.

2. Bach's Mass in B minor as conducted by Philippe Herreweghe; Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 as interpreted by Mitsuko Uchida; Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp as played by the Melos Ensemble; Mahler's Sixth Symphony as conducted by Klaus Tennstedt; Schoenberg's Second String Quartet as performed by the Arditti Quartet with Dawn Upshaw; Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms as recorded by the composer; and Takemitsu's Spirit Garden as conducted by Wakasugi, for a short list.

3. Since before I can remember.

4. Well, not all of it is. There are pieces that have not endured and have been forgotten, as with anything else. But the Western classical tradition has offered so much freedom to composers (and a good deal to interpreters as well, though not as much as in many other kinds of music) and continues to develop and expand to this day. It is wide enough to accept influence from anywhere and anything.

As for elitism, well, there is some elitism in the culture, and some in the listeners, but not necessarily in the artists themselves. I don't think it's inherently elitist.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I don't remember exactly, but I probably got started by listening to the local classical radio station. Most stations have local programming as well as a variety of syndicated broadcasts. It's a great way to expose yourself to a lot of classical music for free. I really enjoy the syndicated programs including Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin, Performance Today, CSO broadcasts, and SymphonyCast.

I had collected a handful of LPs, but shortly thereafter, CDs were invented in 1983. I was around 22 years old when I started buying a bunch of CDs by the usual suspects. Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Debussy, Bach, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky Korsokov, and Shostakovich.

These days I mainly listen to 20th century composers. All of the music endures because it was created by genius composers, and orchestras around the world continue to perform and record these great works.

I'm no elitist. I grew up in a working class household listening to pop and rock music, but my interests and voracious appetite for all good music led me to explore other stuff.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

transparently said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I'm a new member on this forum, and I'm also a beginning listener of classical music. I've been listening to some pieces here and there, and I would like some guidance in expanding my knowledge of the classical repertoire. I'm particularly fond of pieces involving the piano, as I took lessons as a child. However, I didn't take my lessons seriously, and I'm only now starting to appreciate classical music. Despite my newfound appreciation, I'm still finding it difficult to fully understand the pieces I'm listening to and I get oftentimes get "lost", especially when listening to piano concerti.
> 
> ...


I don't know exactly when I started listening to classical music, but it was early in my childhood for sure. I only really started getting into classical music a couple years ago, although I've always liked it.

My favorite composers are probably Rimsky-Korsakov and Beethoven right now. R-K's _Scheherazade_ has always been a favorite, and I can't think of a piece by Beethoven that I haven't liked. I would also recommend Rachmaninoff, considering you're a fan of the piano. His Preludes (particularly G minor and C# minor) are great, as well are his piano concerti (particularly #2 and #3). They are pretty famous, so you may have heard them before. Beethoven's piano sonatas are also top-notch.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

transparently said:


> 1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?
> 2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters?
> 3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?
> 4. And lastly, why is classical music so enduring?
> ...


1. Classical music was in the house from day one. My mother played the piano, trained classically, though she plays for pleasure. LPs, BBC radio were also present. 
2. My favorite pieces are with violin: concerti, symphonies, string quartet. Though I grew up with a piano player, I'm a string player.
3. I'm 48, so that makes 48 years of listening to classical music. Unless you count the 9 months before my birth.
4. Classical music is enduring because it is good. It demonstrates the best of human capabilities.
5. I think classical music is a bit elitist, though there is no reason why it should be.


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## transparently (Sep 29, 2014)

Wow, what an overwhelming and positive response! Thank you everyone for leaving such insightful comments.


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## Piwikiwi (Apr 1, 2011)

transparently said:


> I have a few questions regarding the path to becoming well-versed in classical music:
> 1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?
> 2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters?
> 3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?
> ...


1. I started listening to classical music about 2 years ago when I was a(jazz) music major. I regularly visited a blog called Jazz Advice and they recommended everybody to listen to Brahms and Beethoven symphonies. It is normal to feel lost when you are listening to music that is new to you. I remember that it took me quite a long time to get Brahms' music.

2. Mozart's 41st symphony by Gardiner, Poulenc's Organ concerto by Dutoit, Honegger's 3rd symphony by Dutoit, Stravinsky's Petruchka by Ozawa, Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges by Maazel, Britten's Violin concerto by Janine Janssen and Prokofiev's 6th piano sonata by Anne-Marie McDermott.

3. 2 years

4. Because all the bad music has been forgotten and everything that has endured stood the test of time.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?
Music attracted me so greatly it was noticed. Though no one in my home even listened to music, let alone classical, my interest in it was provided for -- gift of a record player, several classical LP's, at around the age of four and a half. (the LP's were Prokofiev, Kodaly, Bach, Rimsky Korsakov.

2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters?
I've been at it since, piano lessons at six, decades of study, piano playing, theory and comp, and became a competent journeyman pianist / teacher / accompanist. I listen to and love music from the Medieval era right through to contemporary classical of today, there is too much to choose a favorite from, too many favorites to name. I'm most often engaged with music of the 20th century to the present, not discounting any of the old masters.

3. How long have you been listening to classical music? 
Now, attentively and without a lag of any bit of interest and pleasure, a little over sixty years  Classical music, ancient or contemporary, has a lot of staying power -- repeat listening often does not pale, at all.

4. Why is classical music so enduring?
Even the simplest of classical is, by comparison to music using less means to its effect, labyrinthine. Going to the same piece again and again over time, no matter how familiar, somehow remains fresh, the listener often familiar with the whole, but always seeming to find another perspective, as if in that labyrinth coming into a familiar area but by way of a door not through which you had not been before.

5. Is classical music elitist?
(a) Elitist:
In the negative inflection: (generally assumed in that inflection when people put 'elitist' and 'classical music' in the same sentence
.....*NO,* or it is _only for those who wish to think it so_, and that would include the 'both sides' of those (social) polarities. Most people, thank goodness, just get on with enjoying it vs. attaching any social significance to consuming it.

(b) Elitist:
In its first definition as non-pejorative:
*YES.*
e·lite
əˈlēt,āˈlēt/
noun
noun: elite; plural noun: elites
1.
a select part of a group that is superior to the rest in terms of ability or qualities.

Yes classical music is of and from an elite. Composers, and the musicians who make the music, being highly specialized virtuosi. This makes of those people a de facto 'elite.' (This is no different than a Football team that is recognized as _la crème de la crème._ Funny how no one seems to think of virtuoso sports teams or players as 'elite,' nor their fans 'elitists.' 

The audience, if they are savvy listeners, may also be another de facto elite, i.e. that part of the listeners who are highly discerning. This area, between those who discuss music, can become and often is quite messy because many people do not learn the best approach to discussing music between any two or more persons is in less than emotional terms, and to try to keep at least a tiny bit of a more clinical and detached perspective.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

And you?

1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?
2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters?
3. How long have you been listening to classical music?
4. Why is classical music so enduring? 
5. Is classical music elitist?

Share and share alike


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

For some is an acquired taste, for some not. It depends mainly on early exposure, and also personal preferences and the evolution in the taste of each person.

In my case, I started as a toddler, so it was never even a conscious decision. But I know lot of people that came to appreciate classical music much, much later in life. 

There is no "elitism" involved, at least in most Western countries classical music is part of the stuff we taught to our children at school. True, the quality of this teaching is not always very high, but classical music is there, for every child. Today, it's also very easy to listen to just about any piece of classical music in the Internet, for free. People wanting to go to classical concerts, if they live in a place where they can reasonably do that, will find that the ticket prices are generally reasonable, and usually cheaper than football or basketball tickets.

What it's, is an art for minorities. But to be a part of this minority you don't need to jump over economic or academic barriers. You don't need to belong to any elistist group, by birth or by your own efforts. Classical music is there for anyone, it just won't appeal to everyone.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

transparently said:


> 1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?


My Mum told me that She put on the radio when I was an infant and that cried until she tuned to the Classical station (Swedish Radio P2), @ about seven I started piano lessons and was from that age acquiring a few LP's, started serious collecting recorded "music" in my teens.



> 2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters?


To many to mention, and it quite varies with how I feel, My first piano teacher, Mr Mehler used to say that people who only listen to one interpreter are only interested in hero worshipping and not the possibilities of the music. There will of course be musician's that knock You out of Your sock's with their talents now and then, but that is no reason for putting them on an altar!



> 3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?


More or less my whole life! But with single-mindedness and intent since my early teens,



> 4. And lastly, why is classical music so enduring?


Easy, there are no definitive interpretations, there are always the possibility that someone comes along that elevates "that music" to heights that was previously thought as impossible, and even if not, the multitude of possible interpretations are infinitesimal!

Elitism, not any more (might have been historically); but reread PetrB's post above, he said almost anything I would think on the subject!

/ptr


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

You don't need to hire a consulting firm to tell you if classical music would be right for you... just take the dip, you might like it. Chances are, if you are a fan of music in general, you'll like at least some classical. But even after you catch on, don't expect to know as much as some geeks on TC do!


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Marschallin Blair said:


> Elitism, properly construed, and shorn of its negative connotations, is a championing of the _best_ in something; an admiration of excellence-- not a snob pose and posture.


Nice attempt to justify snobbery and elitism.


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## Piwikiwi (Apr 1, 2011)

Polyphemus said:


> Nice attempt to justify snobbery and elitism.


Nice attempt at demagogy


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Piwikiwi said:


> Nice attempt at demagogy


Ah the populism of the thought police.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

transparently said:


> 1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?


It was always there even on the light program. The BBC used to push light classics - William Tell overture, Ride of the Valkyries, Radetsky March whatever. As I grew up, it was common to have classical music as a theme - This Week (Karelia Suite), Onedin Line (Spartacus) or as part of an advert - Hovis (Dvorak Largo from New World), Hamlet Cigars (Bach Air on a G String). I really started with folk and then moved on into early music and then down to the Baroque.



transparently said:


> 2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters?


Currently people like Glen Gould or Andrew Manze or Jordi Savall mostly playing Baroque or earlier. The late great David Munrow produced some superb early music. Pinnock and Hogwood both produced some excellent HIP Baroque. As to composers, too many to mention but obviously Bach and Handel.



transparently said:


> 3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?


A lifetime, although I've been listening a lot more in the last three or four years since I retired.



transparently said:


> 4. And lastly, why is classical music so enduring?


It's part of our cultural heritage, like great paintings or the plays of Shakespeare.



transparently said:


> I forgot to mention one more thing: is classical music elitist?


Nope. Going to concerts or opera or ballet may be seen as "elitist" simply because it's so ***** expensive, but the music is not. People can make it "exclusive" (myself included) by stressing things like HIP or minor composers or technical features of music, but the music is simply part of Western culture and is open to all.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

Last things first: classical music endures (at least those pieces that do endure) because it speaks to people. No more, no less.

My parents had a lot of different music around the house and allowed each of us to go his own way. Various classical pieces caught my ear and I was on my way from about 6 or 7.

At 64 I have way too many favorites. Advice: Just listen widely, and when a work catches your ear, get to know it better and look for other works like it.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Yes. Definitely. Loving classical music is an acquired taste.

Just being exposed to it at an early age doesn't guarantee one will love it either.

I dated a gal whose father loved classical music and it was playing constantly in the house.

When I asked her about it she replied "I hate classical music!"

All I know is I'm glad I acquired it!


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

> Quote Originally Posted by Marschallin Blair View Post
> 
> Elitism, properly construed, and shorn of its negative connotations, is a championing of the best in something; an admiration of excellence-- not a snob pose and posture.





Polyphemus said:


> Nice attempt to justify snobbery and elitism.


Consider it the justifiable arrogance of the well-bred.


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Marschallin Blair said:


> Consider it the justifiable arrogance of the well-bred.


R O F L the last refuge of the desperate. The above answer reeks of your pseudo snobbery and aspirational elitism. I think you may have read too many Enid Blyton books.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Polyphemus said:


> R O F L the last refuge of the desperate. The above answer reeks of your pseudo snobbery and aspirational elitism. I think you may have read too many Enid Blyton books.


Rolling On the Floor, 'Lazy'-- is it?


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## Piwikiwi (Apr 1, 2011)

Polyphemus said:


> R O F L the last refuge of the desperate. The above answer reeks of your pseudo snobbery and aspirational elitism. I think you may have read too many Enid Blyton books.


But instead of having a civil discussion about whether or not elitism is a bad thing or not, you only resort to mockery.


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Marschallin Blair said:


> Rolling On the Floor, 'Lazy'-- is it?


An intellectual as well, praise the whatever.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

> Originally Posted by Marschallin Blair View Post
> 
> Rolling On the Floor, 'Lazy'-- is it?





Polyphemus said:


> An intellectual as well, praise the whatever.












I always consider the source, Good Lookin'.

_;D_


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Piwikiwi said:


> But instead of having a civil discussion about whether or not elitism is a bad thing or not, you only resort to mockery.


It is self evident that elitism is by its nature is a bad thing serving only to promote a sense of superiority by having a particular taste or choice. 
I have always found that the best way to deal with this usually eggshell thin veneer of superiority is to laugh at it.
In the particular case in point when have you ever heard a really well bred person claiming to be well bred, never I suggest. I know the concert hall I attend is usually filled with people from all walks of life who attend to hear and enjoy the music not to make a social statement. It is all the more gratifying to see the range of age groups from teenagers in jeans (god forbid) to retired oldies like myself.


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Marschallin Blair said:


> I always consider the source, Good Lookin'.
> 
> _;D_


That being the Eye of the beholder.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

OP: Is Castor Oil? 
Classical Music. Same deal.


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Polyphemus said:


> That being the Eye of the beholder.


I do tend to have that effect.

_;D_


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

Marschallin Blair said:


> I do tend to have that effect.
> 
> _;D_


You wish. :tiphat:


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

> Quote Originally Posted by Marschallin Blair View Post
> 
> I do tend to have that effect.
> 
> ;D





Polyphemus said:


> You wish. :tiphat:


Some faces say, "_Harper's Bazaar_."

Others just say, "bizarre."

_;D_


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

And others are just bizarre by each and every utterance.


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2014)

Is listening to classical music an acquired taste?

Yes and no. It's an activity that is quite easy to do if all that you do is consume in the same way that the casual listener might consume pop music. It's not difficult to _like _some classical, for example, if you come across it on radio or TV.

However, since many pieces of classical are quite long, there is a commitment required to listen which is different from the 3 minute pop song. To that extent, listening is a matter of acquiring, and unless you have the taste in the first place, you're less likely to commit the time.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Is listening to classical music an acquired taste?
Hell yes. It ain't peanut butter.


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## Marcel (Aug 14, 2014)

1. How did you get started with listening to classical music? 
2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters? 
3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?
4. And lastly, why is classical music so enduring?
5. Is classical music elitist?

I started listening to records LP of my father JS Bach and Scarlatti repertoire. Also music from various periods. Ravel's Bolero remember that allowed me to learn the sounds of almost all instruments. My father did not like it because the same melody repeated several times! There was an LP of the St. Matthew Passion said was impossible to hear because it was sung in German! Since being teenager was in love with the trumpet; then I started to hear the Concerto for Trumpet and Orch. Haydn and Hummel.
Then I started listening to the masters of the Baroque period: Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Tartini, Marcello. From age 27 I began to hear the voices of Pavarotti, Callas, Tebaldi, Sutherland, Mc Cormack, Schipa, Björling, Caruso, Vickers and many etc. Since 2002 I discovered and was ecstatic with Georg Friedrich Händel over all. In 2010 I discovered Bonincini, Caldara, Buxtehude, Zelenka, Stradella, Porpora and others. I do not want to forget all the symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart's Don Juan, the Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner, especially. Anyway, good memories ... Finally, I think that classical music has been coming to everyone over the years.


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2014)

Polyphemus said:


> It is self evident that elitism is by its nature is a bad thing serving only to promote a sense of superiority by having a particular taste or choice.


No, it's not self-evident at all. It could be a bad thing if it's _only _purpose were to assert superiority, but it isn't. I don't feel inferior in the face of the superiority of the elite that is the world's top 40 conductors, for example.


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

You seem to be admitting that the top 40 conductors are superior to you, I suggest that you do yourself wrong. their musical knowledge is presumably superior to yours or mine or the vast majority of the populace. But that does not make them in any way superior to you as a person. The cult of celebrity is farcical, these people are very well paid for their acquired knowledge but does it give them the right to display the arrogance bad manners and frankly thuggish behaviour displayed in public by some of these luminaries. Bernstein's despicable treatment of Carreras on the West Side Story recording was one of many well publicised outbursts by this loutish person. He was not the only one Karajan was also quite temperamental.
I think that those days have passed and while I will always respect anyone's ability, I will never concede that his ability makes him a better person than me or anyone else in this forum.


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2014)

Polyphemus said:


> You seem to be admitting that the top 40 conductors are superior to you, I suggest that you do yourself wrong. their musical knowledge is presumably superior to yours or mine or the vast majority of the populace. But that does not make them in any way superior to you as a person.


I think I missed something somewhere...I thought we _were _talking about music.


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

MacLeod said:


> I think I missed something somewhere...I thought we _were _talking about music.


Try reading both posts again and the references should present themselves.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

MacLeod said:


> I think I missed something somewhere...I thought we _were _talking about music.


We are always talking _from_ person, so _person_ gets in there - unless extreme measures are taken.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Polyphemus said:


> Nice attempt to justify snobbery and elitism.


That is, like, the original and priority No. 1 dictionary definition of the word.

e·lite
əˈlēt,āˈlēt/
noun
noun: elite; plural noun: elites
1.
a select part of a group that is superior to the rest in terms of ability or qualities.

That makes any group of highly qualified experts, especially in disciplines less commonly practiced, an de facto elite.

The bad attitude about being in an elite is another story, and that bad attitude not nearly as often found within the classical community, at least not so much among the composers or classical music's performers, but I have noticed much more of that kind of air assumed by any number of its consumers... just sayin'


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2014)

PetrB said:


> That makes any group of highly qualified experts, especially in disciplines less commonly practiced, an de facto elite.
> 
> The bad attitude about being in an elite is another story


My point precisely.


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## Polyphemus (Nov 2, 2011)

PetrB said:


> That is, like, the original and priority No. 1 dictionary definition of the word.
> 
> The bad attitude about being in an elite is another story, and that bad attitude not nearly as often found within the classical community, at least not so much among the composers or classical music's performers, but I have noticed much more of that kind of air assumed by any number of its consumers... just sayin'


Agree totally PetrB as you can see from the posts there are some who maintain that being part of the 'elite' is something to be aspired to. Most normal people just enjoy the music or dislike it depending on personal taste, but to like it because you think it raises you above the masses is a somewhat loathsome approach.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Hey, welcome to the forum!
Is classical an acquired taste? Generally I'd say yes, depending on the piece.

1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?
- I guess it started when I took my first piano lessons. Before then, I didn't really care for music. I got interested in piano works, and fell in love with Disney's Fantasia. I looked up the famous works of famous composers and started from there until I got to where I am today! 
2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters? 
Favorite Composers, and favorite pieces by these composers: Bach [mostly his organ works, and the "Goldberg" Variations], Beethoven [piano concertos, symphonies, piano sonatas] Mahler [symphonies and Das Lied...] Scriabin [piano sonatas, Poem of Ecstasy] Medtner [piano sonatas, piano concertos, violin sonatas] Chopin [nocturnes, preludes, ballades, scherzos] Liszt [piano concerto 2, Sonata in b minor, Ballade no. 2, works from the Annees de Pelerinage] Prokofiev [symphonies, piano concertos]
3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?
Mas o menos 10 years. And boy how my horizons have broadened in terms of music I enjoy. If I went back to my 13 year old self and told him what his favorites would be, he'd probably scoff and say "wow that sucks"
4. And lastly, why is classical music so enduring?
Because it's art, and is as enduring as any great play, film, painting, sculpture, or architecture. And the melodies ain't half bad neither


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Polyphemus said:


> And others are just bizarre by each and every utterance.


Cyclops_ are _a kind of standing 'vocalamity' to that notion, huh?


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## Giordano (Aug 10, 2014)

Is classical music an acquired taste?

Not sure... and I don't know how exactly one goes about acquiring a taste in anything... I think listening a couple of times "awakens" one's taste. Generally I don't *try* to acquire a taste in anything. I try to see if my perception is limited and wait for it to expand, if it will. I get it if and when I *need* it.

1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?

I just started picking up classical LP's and listening. You might even say I wasn't "conscious" that I was "choosing".

2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters? 

Many composers (mostly up to the Classical period).
Mostly HIP interpreters.

3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?

About 40 years. I also listen to other music.

4. And lastly, why is classical music so enduring?

Because there were individuals who knew (or maybe sometimes "knew" subconsciously) that personality and circumstance did not determine their art, and thus created from soul, thus infusing "timeless qualities" into apparently time-bound structures.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

transparently said:


> I forgot to mention one more thing: is classical music elitist?


I started with F. J. Haydn and with the baroque period and moved on towards Beethoven. After Beethoven, the Romantic period becomes more understandable. But this was my way of exploring classical, each listeners has his/her own method. Is classical music elitist? Perhaps a little, but it is, in terms of craftsmanship, probably the most elaborate music in the world and is capable of evoking an extremely wide spectrum of emotion.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Isn't the answer to this thread topic so obvious I wonder why we need to discuss it.


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## Piwikiwi (Apr 1, 2011)

Marschallin Blair said:


> Cyclops_ are _a kind of standing 'vocalamity' to that notion, huh?


For me as a non native English speaker your posts feel like vocabulary lessons with Marschallin blair:')


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

Piwikiwi said:


> For me as a non native English speaker your posts feel like vocabulary lessons with Marschallin blair :')


Piwikiwi, please excuse my atrocious manners. I was merely trying to be clever with a 'portmanteau' word of my own creation. I was mixing the word "vocal" with the word "calamity" to get 'vocalamity.'--- that is to say: "something that is ridiculously and inarticulately expressed."

-- Or at least that's what I _tried _to do.

_;D_


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?

See my bio on my profile  I've repeated the old story enough times 

2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters?

I think when one has as many favourites as I do, it no longer makes sense to speak of favourites. How can one possibly rank one hundred or one thousand or more composers, performers or works in any meaningful way?

3. How long have you been listening to classical music?

Since I was about 18. See my bio 

4. Why is classical music so enduring?

Because people keep on listening to it, it always has an ardent following. Classical music exists in a realm that is not defined by passing trends, so it is neither in nor out of fashion. People listen to it for entirely different reasons than they would listen to a popular song. Also, it is unlikely that someone could write truly inspired and technically great music without a lot of training and/or experience. The result is a music of complexity and quality that can hold a listener's interest for a lifetime.

5. Is classical music elitist?

I don't think so. Anyone can get into it if that is what they choose to do. I did. If you are interested, then cultivate that interest. Start listening and keep at it.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

1. How did you get started with listening to classical music? 

Some years ago I decided to try to broaden my horizons and I started to read about and listen to it. It was strange and frustrating at first, but I kept going. I did it because I wanted to know something that was almost totally alien to me, at the time.

2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters? 

German romanticism from Beethoven to WWII. Bruckner symphonies and Wagner operas are at the top of my list. I have a special love towards the oratorio. I prefer personal and idiosyncratic interpreters, the big names from the "golden age of recording" like Bernstein, Karajan, Klemperer, Furtwängler, Stokowski, Mravinsky etc.

3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?

Since 2010. I still have lot to discover!

4. And lastly, why is classical music so enduring? 

Because it's not just about expression but also about the formal structure. Also the historical context remains intriguing, one cannot separate it from the music. Because of the historical context, classical music is also a "time machine" for those who are interested in Western and European identity.

5. Is classical music elitist?

Clearly the music itself isn't. As for the community of listeners, I'd say as elitist as any community in an endeavor where learning and knowledge of the subject is of importance. Because it rewards repeated listening, classical music is usually listened to by people who have some free time in their hands. This affects the demographics - not many working class people listening to classical music these days, sadly. This is a political problem and not a problem of the music.


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## Guest (Sep 30, 2014)

transparently said:


> 3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?
> 4. And lastly, why is classical music so enduring?





transparently said:


> I forgot to mention one more thing: is classical music elitist?


3. It's been in and around my house since I was 5ish. Now I'm 55, but I've only started 'serious' listening over the last 10 years.
4. Perhaps for the same reasons that we still like to admire art and architecture that's hundreds of years old. High quality work appeals to our aesthetic sense, our emotions, our respect for the skill of the composer and performer, sense of wonder (...our 'humanity')
5. "Classical music" can't be 'elitist'. Elitism is about human attitudes towards classical music - depending, as I implied earlier, on your definitions of 'elitist', 'elite' and 'elitism'.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

1. How did you get started with listening to classical music? 
After 12 years of pop/rock, I found the contemporary pop/rock scene around 1985 going down in quality and decided to try something "new".

2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters? 
Bach (Matthew passion, cello suites, organ works, wohltemperierte Klavier, and so on)
Mahler (Symphonies 2,4,6,9,10, Das Lied von der Erde, Kindertotenlieder, Ruckertlieder, and so on)
Brahms (Symphonies 1-4, Violin concerto, German Requiem, Clarinet quintet, and so on)
Schubert (Symphony 8, Winterreise, string quintet, octet, and so on)

3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?
Since the mid 80s.

4. And lastly, why is classical music so enduring?
I'd say good music in general is enduring. There are pop/rock songs and albums that for me are just as enduring as classical music.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I forgot to respond to the very first question, the one posed in the title:

Is classical music an acquired taste?

I believe that it is, for most people, but anyone can acquire it, if they wish to. You have to listen and listen and listen some more. It has to be a conscious process of choosing to listen to classical music. After days, weeks, months, years, decades... you will have amassed a huge amount of knowledge and experience to fall back on. As the music becomes more familiar, you will have established a frame of reference upon which to base your appeal and pleasure criteria.

As your interest rises, you will likely wish to learn something about what makes music work. It is not necessary to enroll in a masters degree program at a university, but a good book or two on some of the fundamentals of music will open up worlds of understanding, which will deepen your interest and pleasure immeasurably. You are now beginning to learn how to listen. This is where listening to classical music and listening to popular music differ significantly.

Many hear a melody that strikes them as beautiful and they spend ages trying to find "something just like that," etc. There likely won't be something that sounds just like that and this type of embarkation is almost certainly doomed to disappointment, disaffection and failure.

As so many have said: all you have to do is listen


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## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

If it is, it didn't take me long to acquire it.

1. *How did you get started with listening to classical music?* - my parents had CDs that I used to play as a kid; they also took me to the symphony when I was very young.
2. *What are your favourites:* pieces, composers, interpreters? - still mostly into Romantic classical, but I like anything from 17th century Lully to Shostakovich's 15th symphony. Tchaikovsky is my favorite composer.
3. *How long have you been listening to classical music for?* - since I was a toddler (I'm 18 now).
4. And lastly, *why is classical music so enduring?* - because, as much as I like other forms of music, classical has the greatest variety and the greatest depth. I get something new out of a piece of classical music almost every time I listen to it; I can't say the same for other forms of music. It's the ultimate form of expression. 
5. *Is classical music elitist?* No, but people can often be eltist about classical music. I've seen it on this very forum!  It's unfortunate because it does turn people away from the genre, but the elitists probably consider that a good thing. Don't let that deter you! If you want to become interested, explore a variety of works, listen carefully, and find out what you like.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

transparently said:


> 1. How did you get started with listening to classical music?
> 2. What are your favourites: pieces, composers, interpreters?
> 3. How long have you been listening to classical music for?
> 4. And lastly, why is classical music so enduring?


1. Bits & pieces of classical music were everywhere in my childhood. We had gramophone records of Ravel's _Bolero_, _The Ritual Fire Dance_, _The Nutcracker Suite_ - there was the BBC 'wireless' (radio) which played light classics on _Children's Favourites_ - signature tunes on TV - and my granny with her piano party pieces. Then when I was nine or ten, my parents co-opted me willy-nilly into York Education Committee's scheme for taking free violin lessons in school. They knew a bargain when they saw it!

2. My favourite pieces are medieval dances, renaissance songs, and baroque pieces. In particular I like Byrd, Dowland, Purcell, Lully & other French baroque composers. I am not knowledgeable enough to talk about interpretations.

3. Seriously, only for three years, since I took up the violin again in retirement. However, I've been listening to Early Music for a lot longer than that - forty years.

4. It is so enduring because it comprises hundreds of years of art music which has been specially composed to be beautiful and to affect the listener. These centuries include lots of different styles and fashions in art music, so there's something for everyone, and a lifetime can be spent exploring it.



transparently said:


> I forgot to mention one more thing: is classical music elitist?


5. In the sense of 'snobbery' or people priding themselves on being connoisseurs and despising the unlearned, classical music *can be *elitist. But so can any other human interest - art, hairdressing, cookery, architecture, taste in heavy metal music, or whatever. Inherently, CM doesn't have to be 'elitist'. Classical music can appeal to everyone, regardless of education, material possessions or class. The Paraguay Landfill Project is heartening evidence of this:


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