Kevin wrote:

>Art music was intended then as it is now as an expression of something
>higher than tavern songs.

Kevin has offered an interesting term - "art music".  Maybe we should be
talking about art music instead of classical music.  That works better for
me since we can tie it in to the issues involved in the other arts -
painting, literature, architecture, dance, etc.

He also writes:

>There has always been a distinction between the music for the masses and
>the music for the cognicenti.

I also agree with this frank albeit snobbish sentiment.  The normal
distribution (bell curve) of intelligence does show that small population
in the far right (several standard deviations from the norm) who seem to
have a keen insight into reality.  This is surely where the artists can be
found.

Bill Pirkle