Janos Gereben, reporting on the latest spectacle by the musical
entrepreneur Tan Dun, makes the following observation: "And what of the
music? Here, representing what's likely to be a minority report, I say
that Emperor Tan has no musical clothes."  This report really belonged in
this thread on Music and PR, which revolves around another contemporary
musical entrepreneur, Phillip Glass, and a few real composers of the past
who are said to have had PR skills approaching those of Mr. Glass.

Let me add one point to the discussion.  Monteverdi may have been
effective at PR, but the point surely is that there were lots of OTHER
skilled publicists who also wrote music on the side, and THEIR output has
not survived as Monteverdi's has.  Does anyone spend much time listening
to the works of M.'s "successful" contemporaries Peri and Caccini? The
classical (in both senses) example is Antonio Salieri, as skilled an
operator as there ever was amongst the ranks of politician-composers.
My estimate is that both Tan Dun and Phillip Glass are destined to join
Salieri as object lessons in the music-history textbooks.

Jon Gallant and Dr. Phage
Former Genetics Department, UW
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