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For example, here in Canada, symphony orchestras get
subsidies that are dependent upon the performance of
Canadian contemporary works. There are other subsidies and
grants for the commissioning and performance of new works
outside the symphonic circle. For these grants, there might
be community-based requirements, such as teaching at a local
school or targeting a minority group, and, when these goals
are properly articulated in a grant application, the funding
can be secured regardless of the kind of music composed.
Quality is simply not on the agenda, and even if it were,
the bureaucrats couldn't possibly mimic the free market if
they are spending someone else's money.
To validate their stance, the proponents of the subsidies
commonly use the story surrounding the premiere of
Igor Stravinsky's masterwork ballet Le sacre du
printemps, or, as we know it in English, The Rite of
Spring. On the premiere of the Rite, in Paris on
May 29, 1913, there was a huge riot in the audience,
including fistfights between supporters and opponents of the
work. We are told that this story shows how even fabulous
new music is often not understood at the time of its writing,
and that therefore we have a duty to support living
composers: in due time, audiences will learn to enjoy the
same works that seem unpalatable today—case closed. And
never mind the fact that in the premiere of the Rite,
there were enough supporters of the work in the audience to
make the fight possible in the first place.
Stravinsky was an all-around musical genius, as pianist,
conductor, and most notably as composer. His music pushed
all the boundaries and up to this day very few have matched
his mastery of dissonance, rhythmic complexity, and overall
musical design. His work was, and still is, controversial,
but Stravinsky did pass the market test during his
lifetime, just as all great composers before him had to.
The history of music is filled with composers who were very
successful financially during their own lifetimes; these
were all good composers, and some of them still enjoy name
recognition today, hundreds of years later.
At the time of the Rite's premiere, Stravinsky was
working with an impresario by the name of
Sergei Diaghilev. As with all impresarios, Diaghilev
produced ballets privately, putting his own money and
creditworthiness on the line. He loved what he did, he was a
highly cultivated man, and he was passionate about his
Ballets Russes; but any speculative miscalculation
regarding any of his decisions, including the selection of
music, would have quickly brought his company under. In fact,
Diaghilev always flirted with bankruptcy.
Many might think this is an appalling way to conduct an
artistic enterprise, but this is actually how the market
provides services at the lowest possible cost, and how
ballets and operas were produced for the masses—something we
no longer do. This process weeded out inefficient systems,
wasteful managers, and bad artists, leaving the best
possible art available for the price tag the audiences were
willing to pay.
Additionally, upon a closer look at the history surrounding
the premiere of the Rite, we find out that the
company went on with an additional six performances to
finish their scheduled run, all without disturbances. And
only one year later, in 1914, a stage performance of the
music alone, also in Paris, was so successful that
Stravinsky was carried out on the shoulders of a cheering
crowd, suggesting that perhaps the provocative choreography
rather than the music was responsible for the unrest. Some
accounts mention that the riots were so loud in the first
performance that the music could barely be heard anyway.
If we love classical music, we must be willing to demand
that our say as consumers be respected, for the best music
has always been produced with the guidance of the market
forces. This explains why you will find better music in a
rotten blues bar in the poor old downtown of Cincinnati
rather than in a posh, subsidized contemporary-classical-music
event.
Let your opinions be known to your symphony orchestra, and
oppose well-meaning subsidies that achieve precisely the
opposite of their original intent. Don't let them trump your
honest dollar with abundant and coercively obtained tax
money.
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The contemporary pieces are so hard to swallow for everyone that
they have now been reduced to a standard length of about ten minutes, which
still leaves plenty of room for music that people want to hear in the remainder
of the program. Out of experience, no doubt, the organizers have come to the
conclusion that ten minutes of abuse is about the maximum an audience will take
without much protest. They have also realized that these pieces cannot be placed
at the end of the soiree, because no one stays to hear them.
