Two columnists for the British daily The Telegraph had fun crossing swords. One, a lover of classical music, claims how little good he thinks of Bach, Vivaldi and the composers before 1800. The other, a music critic, replies to him to go back to listen to Wagner in his corner. Analysis of the stakes of a heated controversy.
context There is classical music and classical music
Paint It Black, the song signed by the Rolling Stones in 1966, is undeniably a classic, yet no musicologist would put it in the category “classical music”. This expression, specifies the British radio Classic FM, is a “Generic name designating Western music” between the Renaissance and the 20th century. It is generally divided into three major periods that can be broadly defined as Baroque (1600-1750), Classical in the strict sense (1750-1800) and Romanticism (1800-1900). Thus, while remaining in the Germanic area: Bach belongs to the baroque, Mozart is at the heart of the classical and it is hardly more romantic than Schubert.
The passage from one period to another reflects historical social and cultural transformations, and musical innovations in Europe, recalls the radio. Also the term classic (in the strict sense) refers to a renewed passion for Antiquity.
The more generic term of “classical music” came to replace in the XXth century the expression “learned music”, which tended to an assumed elitism. Classic FM quotes the great American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. The latter insisted, in 1959, on the importance of not opposing popular music (he then took jazz as an example) to what would be a more “serious” art: according to him, we could use “classical music” as a term. generic “Because there is none better to describe it”.
These distinctions are important for understanding the stakes of the controversy which unleashed, in the absence of all the press and public opinion across the Channel, at least two fellow journalists (and nevertheless friends) of The Daily Telegraph.
“Mozart nullard, boring Bach”
Indeed, in the columns of the British conservative newspaper, at the end of November, the cultural columnist Simon Heffer saw fit to launch a declaration of war on fans of a certain classical music. “Mozart, nullard… Never again hearing music from before 1800 would not bother me in the least”, he title, before adding:
I might shock you, but I find most of Bach boring and Vivaldi good only in Italian restaurants. ”
The apple of discord comes from the publication of a book by Tim Bouverie, the objective of which is to introduce classical music in the very broad sense to all those who do not know where to start. The book Perfect Pitch : 100 Pieces of Classical Music to Bring Joy, Tears, Solace, Empathy, Inspiration (and
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Hugo florent