Fried Arias

I read it but I appreciated this other article of yours much more...

http://www.ilcorrieremusicale.it/analfabetismo-musicale-malattia-delle-elite-culturali/

... two beautiful articles

thallo wrote:

is it a combination that you love?

I think the chef does a very creative job and therefore a link to art in general certainly exists

Thallo, when I read the topic title I thought of another type of "Aria fritta" and a certain Ranapo came to mind

Reading the article, I found some elements again that you occasionally bring out scattered here and there; read organically, they still make quite an impression.

> "cooking and music"

... I wonder based on which parameter in the conservatory bar the names of composers are associated with types of sandwiches. Maybe it only happens in a few places, but the ones I've visited ... yes

that one about cultural elites has been my personal battle for a long time, those of you who have known me for a while have probably already heard it...

as for sandwiches, I don't know

thallo wrote:

An article of mine on cooking and music.

http://www.ilcorrier...na-e-viceversa/

is it a combination that you love?

Absolutely yes. Perhaps you could have developed the concept of the symbology of various foods a bit more (e.g., at one point you say that "more is being said about wine than about sausages").

As for the article on musical illiteracy... well, I am part of that 84% that does not follow humanities degree courses, but I believe it is not a problem with the university. If you add a 1-credit music history module to a degree course, believe me, the culture of the graduates does not increase (I say this from experience: regarding the 1 or 2 credit exams I had to take, I didn't understand a single thing, I forgot everything the day after the exam...).

We should start from the bottom by providing a serious musical education (so middle and high schools). It is not just humanists who must be put in a position to know and appreciate classical music...

But hasn't it been the case recently that university courses must provide at least 6 credits to be considered as such?

As for the Integrated Courses, I believe so; I was referring to the modules that compose them.

If it were up to me, everyone should know the history of music, in broad strokes. I went to a classical school and I love literature, but I consider it distorted to study Italian literature for 8 years, from middle school to high school diploma, taking space away from other subjects, such as art history, economics, or comparative literature (which is an outrage not to study...).

I used the example of university, however, because in theory, at the end of university training, you should have a specific and complete academic preparation. That is, you do a degree in linguistics and you are ready to be a linguist.

The discussion extends to other things, though. Classical music should traditionally be cultivated by the "upper" classes, those who place value on culture. Today these upper classes have no kind of humanities education (and in fact, the problem does not only concern classical music but the entire cultural sector), and this is a problem of equal importance to the education of the "masses".

I might be a bit right-wing for saying this... but rather than teaching music history in high school, I would prefer it to be taught at university, at least

thallo wrote:

If it were up to me, everyone should know the history of music, in broad strokes. I attended a classical high school and I love literature, but I consider it distorted to study Italian literature for 8 years, from middle school to graduation, taking space away from other subjects, such as art history, economics, or comparative literature (which is an outrage not to study...).

I used the example of university, however, because in theory, at the end of university training, you should have a specific and complete academic background. That is, you do a degree in linguistics and you are ready to be a linguist.

The discussion extends to other things, though. Classical music should traditionally be cultivated by the "upper" classes, those who value culture. Today, these upper classes have no kind of humanities education (and in fact, the problem does not only concern classical music but the entire cultural sector), and this is a problem of equal importance to the education of the "masses".

I might be a bit right-wing for saying this... but rather than teaching music history in high school, I would prefer it to be taught at university, at least.

I also attended a classical high school, but now I am enrolled in a scientific faculty.

Anyway, I don't really follow your reasoning (and I don't see what is right-wing about it).

If the upper classes are those that give importance to culture, we agree on the fact that these do not necessarily coincide with the wealthiest ones (although it is obvious that a certain level of economic well-being is indispensable to think about culture).

Why do you think they don't have a humanities education?

Sorry, but I didn't quite understand how politics fits into this whole discussion

So...

traditionally, the consumption of classical music has been linked to economic well-being. A subscription to La Scala can only be afforded by very wealthy people, and in theory, before the advent of the CD, classical music was primarily found in the theater. Ergo, if you didn't have the money to go to shows, you didn't know that music.

Music as a common good is a rather recent "discovery." Free concerts are almost exclusively repertoire-based, and few theaters implement serious policies to lower prices. To this day, live classical music remains a luxury good.

And this is where right-wing ideology comes in—the idea, that is, that art is supported by wealthy elites, who are, specifically, the mercantile pillar upon which art production has been based for centuries.

To schematize: the Regio di Parma is in crisis; I need to sell more tickets. Who do I target, the rich or everyone? If my idea is "left-wing," I target everyone, because the theater has an educational value, and I use public funds to ensure it as a right; if my idea is "right-wing," I rely on the market, and in a market regime, classical music is a luxury good that requires advertising campaigns specifically directed at the wealthy.

Today, the "dominant" culture is of a scientific-economic nature. The sectors that generate the most wealth are production, banking, and IT. This is culture and it is wealth. But it is not "humanistic culture," and even less so musical culture. What does this mean? That the hundreds of bank directors in Milan, who once would have killed themselves to be seen at the La Scala premiere, today don't even know where La Scala is. This is a first problem, which I did not address in the article.

What I did address is the problem of cultural elites, more specifically humanistic ones. We are a country of graduates in modern literature. Some of these graduates work and could dedicate part of their income to culture. In general, they do not, and as far as music is concerned, they only do so in the pop field (presumably), not in classical. If I am the artistic director of the theater in Florence, and I know that in my city there are various lovers of literature, thousands of graduates in humanities and arts, and hundreds of foreign students who come to study art (with significant budgets), who do I target in the next advertising campaign: them or the masses? Logic would suggest that theaters embedded in more pro-humanistic "cultural" fabrics would prosper. Turin is traditionally the city of FIAT, Rome the city of the Colosseum. But the Regio di Torino is better off than the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Why, nobody knows (that is, in this case, they are management problems... but anyway...). But it is credible to think that the level of humanistic culture does not have enough impact on the consumption of classical music.

At least this is my analysis.

And, I say, if our dear high school professors don't know who Stravinsky is, how can I educate the masses on this? I must first worry about the teachers!

I am firmly convinced that cultural revolutions are not made from the bottom up but from the top down, meaning by "top" the layers of society that have a high level of education and well-being (because if you have 3 degrees and no job, like me, you are an exception, and anyway you cannot afford to support the art market). If tomorrow ALL economics graduates were forced to take an art economics course, the percentage of the audience in theaters would probably increase. Perhaps only slightly, but it would increase. This should be even more true if we inserted classical music courses into humanities degree programs.

...

...the discussion wouldn't end here, then... what truly matters to me, actually, is the little influence that musicological disciplines have on the humanistic academic world. Those who study Eco do not study Berio, and it is crazy. We are full of researchers in humanities, philosophy, and arts who continue to consider musical knowledge as specialized. And this is a deficiency of higher education, not lower.

Beautiful analysis, I share it; it's a pity that by talking about it one cannot change much. Current models direct us elsewhere and many are unable to see. Let's hope that your lines manage to move someone who can still change things.

Let's hurt ourselves

Strauss Schlagobers Ballet Op 70

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