Laurence Glavin:

>Now on several occasions, classical music writer Greg Sandow has
>commented on how a knowledge of classical music is no longer considered
>a marker of educated discourse.  People who wouldn't dream of being
>out-of-step on the most important issues of the day, the latest best-seller
>and most commented-on movie, are perfectly comfortable with saying they
>don't give a fig about opera and classical music.  Like John Seabrook
>of the New Yorker (in his book "Nobrow"), they may even feel free to
>inflate the quality of mass-marketed recordings and discuss THEM as art
>works.  Remember, these were TWO college professors and a lawyer...  and
>the funny part is, I predicted to myself that they would hold off on the
>classical category just from some of my past experiences.  Did anyone
>out there view this show, and did you get the same impression?

I've been saying this for years, without Seabrook's or Sandow's prompting.
What drove it home for me was one of Charlie Rose's "Best of the Century"
panels (something I dislike anyway), this one on art.  The panelists,
by the way, all MADE THEIR LIVING from art -- college professors,
journalists, a filmmaker, and so on.  Things were going along well until
they got to music.  Greatest of the Century nominees included Louis
Armstrong, Bob Dylan, Charlie Parker and not one classical name.  At one
point, Robert Hughes said, "Shouldn't we at least consider Stravinsky?"
-- a suggestion that received an embarrassed silence, probably because
no one else on the panel had listened to enough Stravinsky to talk
intelligently about the music.  Remember, this wasn't the usual bunch
of yahoos, but people who had demonstrated a fruitful interest in the
arts.

However, in general, even among the college-degreed, this phenomenon is
actually worse.  It touches not only classical music, but any literature
or art that requires extra attention.  I've been met with "who-he" when
I casually mention Robert Frost, among folks with advanced degrees.
How many people know Richard Wilbur, Robert Hayden, Jane Kenyon, Galway
Kinnell, or Jared Carter?  How many know Arshile Gorky, Franz Kline,
Willem de Kooning, or Francis Bacon?  How many have seen a movie by Jean
Renoir, John Sayles, Carl Dreyer, or Martin Ritt?  How many have read
Walter Benjamin, George Steiner, Raymond Williams, or Mircea Eliade?
Doris Humphreys is, I suppose, not exceptionally well-known, even among
dance fans.  What's more troubling is that most people don't care to
find out.

If a barbarian is someone who believes he knows all he needs to know,
then most of us live among barbarians.

I've just had an argument with an old friend about whether 'twas ever
thus.  I tend to think so.  What strikes me as new, however, is that
these days, most people have no embarrassment at all about their own
ignorance.  After all, look at most of our public figures.  They seem
to have done just fine without knowing who Brahms is.

Steve Schwartz