No Vivaldi in the Garage: A Requiem for Classical Music in North America

by Sheldon Morgenstern

A memoir of a lifetime in the performing arts--and a forthright commentary on the rapidly deteriorating state of the performing arts in North America. --from publisher description

Genres: Music

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Greg]

Much of the time I felt this was closer to a two-star book, so maybe consider it a 2.5. I found this on the New Arrival shelf at my library, and being an orchestral musician and a music educator I couldn't really pass it up. Sheldon Morgenstern obviously has had a rich and well-traveled musical career and knows the ins and outs of the business, but I am not sure what the real purpose of this book is supposed to be. I read it hoping for some tools, ideas and insights/philosophy that I could take into my upcoming school year teaching instrumental music, conducting young orchestras, and playing in my local symphonies (which have their own special issues). Judging by the title I was also thinking I would get some solid stories and analysis or even learn more about why and how Classical music is declining in my country.

What came out was a mix of memoir and opinion, none of it really very focused or well-constructed, that reminded me of the classes and workshops I have taken more than once that were led by masters in the field of music and education that quickly devolved into hours of them ignoring any written syllabus or agenda and really just telling stories about their careers. It was entertaining enough for me to read to the end, but I gave up early on hoping to get anything of real value out of the experience. I felt like a student who would be sitting with others having drinks at a table with Mr. Morgenstern while he regaled us with his opinions on everything under the sun in the music world. Fun, but not very fulfilling. And it ultimately never works as a memoir or a "requiem" or a portrait of the condition of Classical music in the US. Each chapter, however, does at least have a general "theme" around which he is able to categorize his anecdotes.

[Steven H]

A CONDUCTOR AND MUSIC DIRECTOR LOOKS AT THE CLASSICAL SCENE

Sheldon Morgenstern is emeritus Musical Director of the Eastern Music Festival, and is still an active conductor, who currently lives in France. (The title of the book is a quote from Danny DeVito, in an episode of the TV show, 'Taxi'; pg. 90)

He wrote in the Preface to this 2001 book, "My conducting and teaching career has spanned four decades of tremendous change, and I have spent my adult life encouraging your people to pursue careers in music. Was I wrong to? Would they have been better off without my stoking dreams that are so out of step with present realities? Perhaps. But the realities present such an ugly contrast with what might be... that I feel compelled to speak. This book is my attempt to give voice to the great passion I still feel for classical music... I hope it will be read as a call for change---before it is too late." (Pg. xii)

He notes, "I was beginning to understand that even the finest orchestral musicians can lose their sense of inspiration after their three hundredth or so performance of a Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, or Mahler symphony. And yet these are all that keeps some of our North American professional orchestras alive---this is the music that sells the tickets." (Pg. 27)

After discussing a symphony board chair's opinions, he comments, "He actually believed that the arts should and could pay for themselves. That, of course, is possible if you can get two thousand people to pay perhaps a hundred dollars per ticket for EACH concert." (Pg. 52) He adds, "The GSO experience taught me a lot about how boards run... they put artistic concerns at the bottom of the ladder... The first issue is money, the second is art." (Pg. 53) He observes, "Audiences were dwindling because of the lack of arts education in the schools, and outreach programs by string quartets, brass quintets, and woodwind quintets seemed the only way to bring classical music to our young and to kindle their interest in orchestral performance." (Pg. 68)

He laments, "Being a North American music director today requires going to board, staff, and committee meetings, making fund-raising calls, giving interviews, making television and radio appearances, and attending to the numerous other details of artistic administration. In most orchestras today the back-row second violinist has more time to practice than the music director has time to study. If he or she has [more] time to study ... many orchestras would be substantially better." (Pg. 109)

He criticizes the current "star" system: "I question the ability of so many in this tiny elite group... to sustain their performance standards. How can anyone have time to improve or even maintain his or her artistry while performing a hundred or more concerts a year?... And what of the orchestra members who accompany these people? How does the section violist of a good orchestra feel when he realizes he doesn't earn as much in a year as the superstar gets for one night?... Most of today's superstars pay lip service to education, but they are not really involved in it to any substantial degree." (Pg. 150)

Morgenstern's provocative comments will be of considerable interest to all we lovers of classical music (whether or not one AGREES with all of them!).

[Witoldzio]

I didn't not expect a biographical book. The title is misleading. However, I enjoyed the book as what it was, a memoir. In addition to anecdotes about music and the history of the Eastern Music Festival, I learned a lot about the financial mechanisms behind larger and smaller arts organizations. The topic of art sponsorship and the importance of art in society is as valid now as it was 50 years ago. Things have been only getting worse for decades and are indeed approaching the level of hopeless. It is not like that in other countries. Sheldon Morgenstern's voice in this ongoing debate remains valid.