Robert Peters wrote:

>You scold the intellectuals (well, don't you belong to the learned?)
>but you forget that music always was a pastime from intellectuals for
>intellectuals and the nobility.  The "general public" you refer was a
>pretty small section of the population.  What about the workers, the
>pasants (did they ever hum tunes from the Pastorale?), what about the
>sailors, the soldiers, the workmen? Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven didn't
>write for them.  Classical music always was a pastime for the happy few.

A sweeping statement!

What about Handel? A number of his tunes were instant popular successes,
gaily hummed and whistled on the streets by the barrow-boys and
costermongers, and not just in the market outside the Covent Garden
Theatre.

Verdi? The majority of his operas were a huge popular success and he was
(and still is) a hero to the workers and peasants, and not just because of
the rather convenient acronym which his name represents.  'Va, pensiero'
was on the lips of the masses.

And consider the achievement of J.  Alfred Novello, son of the founder
of the publishing business.  By publishing sheet music at a low price
not only did he make profits and establish his father's business on a
strong footing, he made possible the widespread development of amateur
music-making e.g.  among choral societies.

And as another example, look at the poor, tired and huddled masses called
by the lady with silent lips.  Hardly the nobility, but I bet many of them
could hum tunes from the Pastorale, or if they couldn't then they soon
would.

Alan Moss