Jeff Dunn <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>In my understanding, most composers (including myself, by the way) HAVE
>to write; it's in the blood--though there may be intervals of abandonment
>or block.  We certainly don't do it for money, unlike with rap, rock and
>movies.

I had not realized that you were actually a composer.  My comment was -
I must admit sarcastic: why is this guy speaking for all of us with the
"we"?

Serious composers usually don't get rich- and usually need day jobs to
have any standard of living- I understand that. I have been studying
painting for the last few years and most of my teachers, who are artists,
seem to hover near the poverty line- same business.  It may not be the
best of times for the fine arts in this country right now, but I am glad
that some people still do it for the sake of the national soul, as it
were.  Even Imperial Rome had great poets.

Interesting comments about the symphony - it does seem that fewer are
being written right now in the USA than in the thirties and forties,
Shorter audience attention spans?  More conservative audiences and
orchestral managements?  Fewer commissions available?  Or is an extended
coherent serious work out of keeping with the weltenschaung?  Well, the
novel is pronounced dead every few years but keeps bounce back.  As may
the symphony.

Regards, Bernard Chasan