Ed Beach replies to me:

>While we are not legion, I am one of those men in the streets.  In the
>original posting by Norman he combines the "person in the street" with the
>professional musician, etc.  Do you really feel,Steve, that the average
>person really hates classical music that much?

I don't think it's a question of active hate.  It just doesn't show up on
the radar, so to speak.  Ask the next few cashiers you deal with whether
they would like to hear a nice Mahler symphony - even one of the shorter
ones - and make the point that it's classical music.  It's like broccoli.
A whiff is enough to put many people off, even though they don't taste it.

>I know of many people, like myself, who are non musical, cannot play an
>instrument or read music, but for whom good music is the main stay of
>their lives.

I'd say you're in a minority, compared to the general population, who'd
prefer to listen to Shania Twain or Madonna or the B52s.  I don't have
anything musically against any of these examples, but, like Delta blues,
classical music is a minority taste.  I also don't mean to imply that only
professionals with technical knowledge can enjoy classical music.  That's
patently ridiculous.  You may not know a C-clef from an ostinato, but your
taste does not coincide with most people's.

Steve Schwartz