Re: Music and "politics"

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Well put, Shira.  In that context, we should be asking of those who
would draw a line, where would they draw it?  Where I live
(professionally, that is) discussions of the intersection of music and
politics are pretty much assumed.



Susan Lerner wrote:

>  I am not yet ready to respond to the incredible cri de couer we have
> received from Francesco, it requires some thinking time and careful
> writing, but I do want to respond to the general discussion about
> whether there should be a discussion.
>
> I am somewhat surprised by the strain of "New Criticism" or
> neo-aristotelian approach which is being espoused on this list.  You
> know, the approach which says it is only the work which comes down to
> us so you look only at the work, not at its context.  That theory is
> at least 50 years old and certainly not widely current.
>
> How interesting that no one raised the objection that we were
> discussing politics and not Jewish music during the extensive postings
> (somewhere around 40 in 3-4 days) in late February and early
> March,2000 on Germans and klezmer.  From my point of view, it was one
> of the most interesting and in-depth discussions during the 3 or 4
> years I've been on this list.  I've still got the postings in a
> separate folder in my email program.
>
> The idea that we can divorce the social and political from the
> musical, particularly in the context of discussing what is,
> essentially an ethnically and culturally-derived  (as opposed to
> academically or classically/aesthetically-derived ) music is truly
> perplexing to me.  Religious influences okay, social/political not?
> Where does that leave secularists like me?  Forming a splinter list?
> How much thinner and poorer the discussion and the sharing of ideas,
> if that is so.  Although I have limited interest in liturgical music,
> I have nonetheless learned interesting things from postings relating
> to liturgical music.
>
> But more pertinently, is discussing the effect that Stalinist
> restrictions had on Prokofiev's or Shostakovitch's compositions not
> discussing the music? What about the raging debate in the last 5-10
> years on just that point in the classical music world? Can we
> seriously divorce the political from the musical in discussing Brahms'
> German Requiem? What about Beethoven's Fidelio? Do we avoid
> discussions of music relating to or coming out of the Holocaust
> because it is generally discussed in the context of social and
> political factors? Or is only a discussion of harmonic structure
> really "about" the music?  Gee, I guess my bias is pretty clear...
>
> I hope that we on the list are not restricted to perfectly valid but
> essentially limited inquiries like whether a particular composer of a
> particular piece on a recording is or isn't Jewish,  or debating
> whether a particular melody found in a specific classical composition
> is or is not derived from a Jewish melody.  All perfectly valid
> inquiries, and I would not have them stop in any way, but perhaps not
> of burning interest to the entire list.  And certainly only a part,
> not the totality, of "Jewish music."
>
> There are lots of threads on this list that don't interest me.  I
> don't read them. I delete them.  I don't even complain when they
> repeatedly include copies of an entire day's digest, back and forth
> (well, maybe once, but it had no effect :-) ).  I most assuredly do
> not try to condemn the entire discourse.
>
> I don't believe that any of the exchanges on the Yiddish Radio Project
> or Francesco's posting have been inflammatory, disrespectful or
> "off-topic" in the sense of wholly unrelated to Jewish music and
> concerned only with politics.  If I have over-stated my case in this
> message, it is my "New Yorker" intensity and not any intent to be
> personal or offensive.  I just argue hard (where do we think that
> comes from ;-) )?
>
> Those who are not interested in discussions of the political and
> social factors which influence the music which we all love, listen to,
> perform or promote in some manner or another should exercise that most
> exquisite and powerful commentary: don't pay any attention.  We're all
> pretty good about including a topic on our postings.
>
> As that great Jewish chanteuse sang: "Don't rain on my parade!"
>
> Shira Lerner
> Yiddishkayt LA

--
Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)


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