The orchestra crisis at 110

Alfred Wallenstein (1898-1983), in the New York Times, 1950.

Readers of this blog in its early days may recall a steady stream of posts on the topic of what I called the "non-death of classical music." In my 2004 piece "Listen to This," I noted that the art form has been on a farewell tour for several hundred years, and quoted Charles Rosen's immortal aphorism, "The death of classical music is perhaps its oldest continuing tradition." Three years later, I illustrated the point by stringing together various prophecies of classical doom. I eventually foreswore such commentary, having reached the conclusion that "all stories about this non-topic — including those protesting that
classical music isn't dead after all, as well as those protesting that
the entire discussion is a waste of time  — are a waste of time." But I can't resist linking to Jon Silpayamanant's Annotated Bibliographic Timeline of "Orchestra Crisis." It's a much more thorough version of the anthology I attempted in 2007. Particularly noteworthy is this Richard Aldrich quotation from 1923: "Everywhere the mounting costs of orchestral performances are becoming a matter of concern." Die alte Weise! Silpayamanant's posts about the supposed ageing of the classical audience are also worth a look. There are real problems in the classical world, but the lack of a sense of history and perspective can be exasperating. We should be particularly wary of talk of a crisis when it is emanating from flailing leaders attempting to distract attention from their mistakes.