Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: government and the arts
From: dgold@basso.actrix.gen.nz (Dale Gold)
Date: 14 Apr 92 00:17:56 PST
Organization: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Quoted from <1992Apr10.031947.14385@Princeton.EDU> by roger@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Roger Lustig):
> In article <ku95urINN1ah@calvin.usc.edu> alves@calvin.usc.edu (William Alves) writes:
>>In article <2038@transfer.stratus.com> jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com writes:
>>>
>>>The problem is that "government support" doesn't mean the same thing
> [..lots deleted...] 
>>I never did say that composers at other times supported themselves soley 
>>through the support of patrons, and I don't think composers today are
>>expecting that they should be. Most composers today conduct or teach
>>as well, but I think the difference between now and then is first of all
>>one of degree. Composers in earlier times derived a much greater propor-
>>tion of their income from composing.
> 
> I'm not sure that this is the case.  A Kapellmeister who composed a lot
> didn't make much more than one who composed a little.  Many composers
> were virtuosi (and later on conductors) who made the vast majority of
> their income from public performance.  This is true of many 20thC
> composers, too; others, like Schoenberg, taught.  
> 
> What's REALLY new in the 20th century is the composer who doesn't
> perform at all.  And THAT is why some composers drive cabs, imho --
> because the *possibility* of composing without being a performer is
> there.  Yes, some composers who DO perform ALSO drive cabs.  But the job
> description has changed.

Ahh, they're singing my song... sigh...
 
>> Sure Bach had to be an administrator
>>and performer and even teach Latin, but a large part of his job was com-
>>posing. He was paid to essentially write, rehearse, and perform cantatas
>>for weekly services. Imagine finding an analogous gig in the US now!
>
> Very little of the music Bach wrote after 1730 was related to his job:
> not the Clavieruebung, or WTCII, or the B Minor Mass.  

I was under the impression that the B Minor Mass was submitted as an
application for a job which JSB didn't get.  I'd be interested to hear
if some of our local scholars could offer more insight into this.

>>I think too that even the non-composing part of a university job is more
>>time-consuming than Bach's administering, 
> 
> HAH!  He had to rehearse THREE church choirs, teach in the school, and
> manage the Collegium Musicum.  He probably rehearsed the soloists, too.
> And practiced the organ...  He was the chief (And only) adminstrator of
> ALL musical activities in one of Germany's larget cities.  Only Hamburg
> was a bigger job, and Telemann had that one.  

But all of Bach's activities that you mention are at least musical, and
teaching, rehearsing and practicing could all be valuable to a composer,
even at the hectic pace that he apparently lived with. 

I doubt that he ever had to listen to 100 trumpet auditions in 2 days, or
attend weekly staff meetings, or suffer many of the non-productive
activities that todya's musicians have to suffer when they fall into
administrative roles. 

Dale
--
- dgold@basso.actrix.gen.nz
- Korokoro, New Zealand