Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Note about Online Supporting Material
- Part One Dialogues
- 1 Looking for the “Harp” Quartet
- 2 Renoir and the Survival of Classical Music: On the Listener's Contribution
- 3 Let's Be Mookie: On the Composer's Contribution
- 4 Gurus: On the Performer's Contribution
- 5 First, Last, and Always
- Part Two Articles
- Appendix: Forms
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Renoir and the Survival of Classical Music: On the Listener's Contribution
from Part One - Dialogues
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Note about Online Supporting Material
- Part One Dialogues
- 1 Looking for the “Harp” Quartet
- 2 Renoir and the Survival of Classical Music: On the Listener's Contribution
- 3 Let's Be Mookie: On the Composer's Contribution
- 4 Gurus: On the Performer's Contribution
- 5 First, Last, and Always
- Part Two Articles
- Appendix: Forms
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
December 1
Daedalus: It's good to see you. How are you?
Icarus: Discouraged.
D: Discouraged? I: You heard us on the big end-of-semester concert. It was exhausting. We worked very hard.
D: And you don't feel good about your performance?
I: Well, yeah, maybe the performance went okay, but it's the story of my life: an artistic success and a public failure.
D: Why do you say public failure? I thought the audience reaction was quite favorable.
I: Sure, all six of them. Geez, there were almost as many people on stage as there were in the audience.
D: Yes, I'm sure that was disappointing.
I: You work hard and you want to share it with people—so the fact that no one particularly cares is a little discouraging. But it's also frightening. I mean, we're going to have to earn our living somehow, and there just doesn't seem to be any market for classical music. I went to the symphony concert last week and the hall was only a third full. Orchestras are folding left and right, and even big-time orchestras are in deep trouble. Eventually I have to think about putting bread on the table, and it's scary to think about what's going to happen.
D: Have you thought about law school?
I: Oh sure, you can joke—you already have a job. But I'm talking about survival here. […]
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Looking for the 'Harp' QuartetAn Investigation into Musical Beauty, pp. 19 - 39Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2011