Denis Fodor writes: >To put a point to it--after all, we're dealing with a thread here--music >lovers generally find the atonal and serial stuff unpleasant and ugly. >They do not feel that these qualities, or lack of them, make ugly music >pleasurable. Ugly music is something one dislikes. Even something one >loathes. I really wouldn't get into this except to say that I like some serial and atonal music (as I like some tonal music). I don't find it ugly. In fact, I find examples of music ugly to the point of unlistenability exceedingly rare. Since I believe that one's reaction to art is a personal matter, I don't object to someone finding the dodecaphonic music unpleasant or even ugly, as I hope no one would object to me finding most bel canto opera exceedingly trite and dull. The only thing I object to, really, is when someone who likes atonal/dodecaphonic music tries to elevate his taste to a universal aesthetic principle or when a hater of the music dismisses it as worthless, in short, also raising his taste to a universal aesthetic principle. Steve Schwartz