On Going Baroque
NEWLIN, DIKA
ON MUSIC By Dika Newlin On Going Baroque One of the more intriguing musical phenomena of the past few years has been the great upswing of interest in Baroque and Rococo music. In the metropolitan...
...The younger composer, especially if he lacks a solid "mainstream" background of classical musical training, often tends to see the 19th-century composer as his natural enemy...
...Listening to De Koven is certainly an emotional experience— though whether the emotion generated is amusement or disgust depends...
...He resents the 19th-century works which form the core of the symphonic and operatic repertory, because he feels that they usurp his place in the concert hall or on the operatic stage...
...Needless to add, this preceptor of the young was an unsuccessful composer...
...Among composers (especially the younger ones) the situation is even worse...
...Often, compositions appear which we rarely, if ever, encounter elsewhere...
...A smaller number of pieces receive the supreme De Kovenian accolade of "Super-OOTW...
...Programs of a recent week included not only the composers whom we might expect (Bach and assorted sons, Vivaldi, Couperin, Sammartini, Haydn, and even early Beethoven), but also works by Johann Josef Fux, known to posterity through his still-valuable counterpoint book Gradus ad Parnassum, and by two lesser-known Frenchmen, Aulette and Du Mont...
...This is certainly worthy of our appreciation, even when we do not care for the way they are presented...
...Of course, he could also sit down and attempt to learn his craft properly, but that would not be nearly as much fun...
...More often than not, a typical convention program of the American Musicological Society reveals a greater incidence of papers on Renaissance or Baroque subjects than could be accounted for by the laws of probability...
...Addicts need not be told that his program is to be found at the prime time of 9 P.M...
...The distressing part of all this is that he seems to have very little sense of what is a masterpiece and what is not...
...The craze has even invaded the popular music field: Witness the wildly successful exploits of the Swingle Singers, beginning with that unforgettable disc, Bach's Greatest Hits...
...Indeed, real masterpieces seem rather to embarrass him...
...Such failures in evaluation might be seen as symptomatic...
...The anti-19th-century attitude found in high places also has percolated down to the would-be "sophisticated" music listener, with results that are sometimes ludicrous...
...Then we hear the demands for "a modern piece on every program," though like the "token Negro," in too many instances the "modern piece" may be singled out for reasons other than intrinsic merit...
...The tremendous output of recordings drawn from this Barococo repertory can hardly escape the attention of anyone within range of a "good-music" station...
...Is there something in the well-ordered mediocrity of a certain category of Barococo works which fills a need for those emotionally incapable of responding adequately to more potent music...
...In fact, in the more advanced phases of this quasi-paranoia, he even resents the 20th-century "classic" composers—Schoenberg, Bartok, Stravinsky, et al—for occupying his rightful place in the sun...
...Decidedly, he cannot be accused of being lukewarm about the music he plays...
...Loyal De Kovenites know that this means "Out of This World...
...Listeners have ample opportunities to become acquainted with these records, thanks to the numerous radio programs that feature 18th-century music...
...If you reject Mahler's Tenth Symphony because it lays bare too much emotion, because it tells you too much about yourself, then you may prefer to relax with Telemann or Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf...
...The distinguished editors of The Musical Quarterly recently lamented, too, that they hardly ever receive publishable articles on 19th-century subjects...
...One is constrained to admire such idealism, even if at times it seems misplaced...
...After a fine Bach solo cantata, he has been heard to say, "Frankly, solo cantatas don't send me\" On the other hand, he seems to be "sent" with the greatest of ease by works which, by more rigorous standards than his, are apt to be rated as superficial and mediocre...
...A psychological explanation for this lies near at hand, but a full analysis of the problem would exceed the available space...
...We don't want the 19th century...
...In the metropolitan musical centers and on college campuses, numerous groups have devoted themselves to the performance of 17th- and 18th-century works, both choral and instrumental...
...This is not surprising, for of De Koven's attempts to inject "musicology" into his programs, the less said the better...
...A typical week of De Koven programs will include quite a varied selection of works...
...1 suppose, on one's sense of humor...
...He tells us repeatedly that his costs are only in part defrayed by the "measly contributions" of his listeners (some send as little as a dollar, but those who send $12 ascend into the more rarefied sphere reserved for "members of the Barococo Society...
...Meanwhile, the young composer can get headlines by having a violin burned on the stage, or by strategically positioning a friend's dog (delicately induced to howl at the right psychological moment) in the audience...
...Even suburbia, it seems, has not remained immune...
...Manufacturers find it profitable to produce recordings of 18th-century composers—even minor ones whose works we rarely meet in the concert hall...
...Still, programs like De Koven's add spice to our radio fare...
...After a selection particularly to his liking, De Koven will bubble, "Wasn't that ravishing...
...De Koven often threatens to "disappear" because of inability to meet the expenses of his program, which is unsponsored...
...A reaction against the 19th century is certainly part of the reason for this vogue, and it is particularly virulent in the professional societies...
...Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on New York FM station WRFM...
...Teachers and critics who should know better obligingly cater to the composers' natural narcissism...
...and there seems to be a guaranteed and faithful buying public...
...Many of these works are for small chamber combinations, hence relatively inexpensive to issue...
...A composition teacher in a reputable university was recently heard to say, "The conventional symphony orchestra concert should be abolished...
...Perhaps it is not too much to hope that Barococo music will one day be treated as a normal part of repertory instead of a fad...
...Music of this sort may furnish a pleasing background to tatting, chatting, or nibbling, while demanding little or no emotional participation...
...The Barococo revival has its commercial aspects as well as its esthetic ones...
...Pioneer in this area of radio broadcasting, and high priest of the Barococo movement—indeed, we owe that awkward but useful word to him—is the ineffable De Koven...
...Recently, a young minister in my community asked me to suggest religious musical works which might be examined by a "music study group" in his church...
...In other words: Music like Mendelssohn's magnificent Psalm 114 ("When Israel out of Egypt came"), the towering Masses of Bruckner, Brahms' German Requiem whose poignant expression of personal and universal grief has rarely been surpassed— all this should be thrown out because the composers committed the crime of being our grandfathers' or great-grandfathers' contemporaries...
...At least one piece on each program is described as "OOTW...
...for what began in sincere admiration for a group of composers can too easily deteriorate into the plaything of a group of snobs...
...But what a pity to use this music—or any music—as a rest cure...
...We're interested only in Baroque and contemporary music, he explained...
Vol. 48 • August 1965 • No. 17
