[Trombone-l] Gilbert Kaplan's guest appearance

[George Carr]

>> When was this golden age, when the
>> masses had discriminating taste for true artistry in instrumental
>> music?  As far as I know, ever since classical music has been made
>> accessible to anyone outside the wealthiest classes, it has been
>> struggling for funding and popular appeal.
>
> I didn't mean to imply that there was some utopian past when every man
> was discriminating and well educated. I can see how you may have
> gotten that from what I wrote. But in my defense, it's not hard to
> point to the 1950s and 60s as a somewhat better time than now. The
> fine arts had come well within the financial reach of the middle
> classes, and they at least felt a nagging obligation to know something
> beyond plebeian tastes, just as the classics of literature had some
> pull on them. A gentleman couldn't be considered cultured without
> acquaintance with such things.

I think you're playing into my hand.  There have always been
'gentlemen' who appreciated culture, whether they study literature or
music or visual art.  But it was during the 1950s and 1960s that
'mindless' pop music took over the American recording industry, and
television worked hard on promoting the youth culture that led to the
'generation gap' and undercut support for older forms of culture among
the generation we now call the 'baby boom'.  I'd argue that things
have never been better for classical music than they are right now:
I'm only one of thousands who attend my local orchestra concerts,
there are more orchestras working in the US now than ever before, and
recordings of the masterworks can be downloaded easily for $1.

There was probably more government support for orchestras in the
1950s, as the US fought for influence in the Cold War by demonstrating
the cultural achievements of democracy (e.g. sending Dizzy Gillespie
to tour South America as an example of the better treatment and
achievement of blacks here than in the USSR).  But as that dried up,
private foundations stepped up to the plate across the US, and there
is more money in the system now than there was in 1965, I'd bet.

But that's just my opinion; I'm 36, turning 37 in a couple of weeks,
and everything I know about the 1960s has been from books and
anecdotes.  :)

George