Nov 8th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Wieseltier: Black President Is the End of Classical Music
These are the kind of thoughts that your editor is supposed to stop you from writing. Leon Wieseltier:
I woke up the next morning still under the spell of solidarity and love. I decided to make the spell last. I gave away my tickets to a performance of some late Shostakovich quartets, because for once I was not interested in the despair. Instead I spent the day listening to the Ebonys and the Chi-Lites and the Isley Brothers. For lunch I went to Georgia Brown’s for fried green tomatoes.
I was waiting for the next sentence to be about watermelons, but he spared us that at least.
61 Responses to “Wieseltier: Black President Is the End of Classical Music”
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November 8th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Pretty stupid. After all, who knew more about classical music? President Bush or classically-trained pianist Condoleeza Rice?
November 8th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
See, Matt, this is where your ignorance of hostory bites you in the ass. I know exactly where Leon is coming from, although my tolerance for fried green tomatoes is nil.
Shostakovich was a composer whose oeuvre was dominated by his subjective reaction to totalitarianism. Sounds awful, but his extraordinary imagination and craft usually make up for it. By the time he knew he was dying, in the late 1960s, it didn’t seem like there was a light at ther end of the tunnel. (He knew the Nixon-Brezhnev detente was hollow.)
I liked Shostakovich’s music much better before the uinited States fell into its own totalitarian regime. Once I also had to deal with unaccountable Big Brother, a lot of his stuff began to ring somewhat false. I didn’t care any more because he wasn’t showing me a way out, only a way of coping, which although impressive was also uniquely his own and not transferable.
Now we may think briefly, once again, as we did sixteen years ago, that the clouds may lift. The last thing I want to listen to right now is the late Shostakovich quartets, although I just enjoyed his last work, the Viola Sonata, which is unexpectedly serene and hopeful.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Let us not forget the black composers of work even the ‘classical’ or academic world loves: Scott Joplin, William Grant Still, Duke Ellington…The work of the Marsalis family..American ‘classical’ music couldn’t exist without black composers and musicians.
And here is some of the most uplifting music ever, and yes, it’s the Shostakovich Piano Concerto #2, Christina Ortiz..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhItVunk-sY
November 8th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
A little close reading of Wieseltier might be in order. He doesn’t say that a black president is the end of classical music, nor does he imply as much. What he does say is that for that great night, the night of Obama’s victory, he “for once . . . was not interested in the despair” of Shostakovich, but preferred a day of listing to the Ebonys and the Chi-Lites and the Isley Brothers.
I expected more of Yglesias than this cheap shot, based on (as Wilhoit says) a historically uninformed speed read of what’s actually a rather subtle piece by Wieseltier.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Leon doesn’t have an editor; he’s the back-of-the-book editor, basically, he edits himself. I think Rick Hertzberg and Michael Kinsley used to complain about him(subtly in the case of Kinsley, not-so-subtly in the case of Hertzberg) when they were editing The New Republic.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
MY, this is a weird one. I realize you don’t like Wieseltier for various reasons, but really, there’s nothing demeaning about wanting to put on some Isley Brothers in the aftermath of Obama’s win. I went to an event here in Hanoi today where a local band did a cover of a Stevie Wonder number, and it got me juiced for the same reasons. This is racist? To quote the great man himself: “I mean, come on! Come on!”
November 8th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Oh twaddle.
There’s all sorts of stuff to the effect that baroque music – particularly Bach – and jazz resemble each other.
Which gives rise to the proposition that, “If it ain’t baroque,then don’t fix it!”, which is probably as sound a policy objective for the Obama administration as could be achieved under current circumstances.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
“ your ignorance of hostory”
Oh no! It’s spreading!
November 8th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Another point to consider:
There’s lots of stuff to the effect that rap music actually resembles Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse. See e.g:
Which gives rise to the suggestion that – if we were to treat Grendel as a terrorist – we could rap our way out of the War on Terror.
Just a suggestion.
November 8th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
It’s not as horrible as MY makes out, but Wieseltier’s equation of “black music = happy music” is the combination of awkward and condescending that makes the Black People Love Us site so hilarious. Wieseltier could have just as easily pivoted from Shostakovich to Mozart (of course Mozart isn’t “happy” all the time, but neither are the Chi-Lites).
November 8th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Yeah, I usually don’t care much for Wieseltier, but his sentiments here strike me as kind of like this old Onion article, only in response to something awesome instead of something terrible:
Feeling helpless in the wake of the horrible Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that killed thousands, Christine Pearson baked a cake and decorated it like an American flag Monday.
November 8th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
The editor would also probably stop me from making the irrelevant observation that Obama’s daughters (and Rahm Emanuel too!) have spent a lot of time in ballet class. I have no idea what that has to do with anything except a vague Russian/classical association in my mind, but it was the first thing I thought of.
November 8th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Matt, this posting is worse than a cheap shot. Wieseltier’s column says nothing of the sort — period. If you don’t care for the writer (let me guess why: could it be that he’s a rightish Zionist?), please do your readers the favor of sticking within the bounds of the factual, and not portray his celebration of the election of Obama into its precise opposite.
November 8th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Maybe he just thinks Shostakovich is sad music.
November 8th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
You just made me play ” Harvest For The World”:
All babies together
Everyone a seed
Half of us are satisfied
Half of us in need
Love’s bountiful in us
Tarnished by our greed
Oh, when will there be
A harvest for the world
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Hey
A nation planted
So concerned with gain
As the seasons come and go
Greater grows the pain
And far too many
Feelin’ the strain
Oh, when will there be
A harvest for the world
Yeah, yeah
Gather every man
Gather every woman
Celebrate your lives
Give thanks for your children (No)
Gather everyone (Gather everyone)
Gather all together (Gather all together)
Overlookin’ none (Overlookin’ none)
Hopin’ life gets better for the world
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh
Dress me up for battle
When all I want is peace
Those of us who pay the price
Come home with the least
And nation after nation
Turnin’ into beasts
Oh, when will there be
A harvest for the world
Yeah, hey
When will there be
I wanna know now, now
When will there be a harvest {Harvest for the world}
November 8th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Now it’s ” That Lady”. Thanks man. It really brightened my morning.
November 8th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I’m totally with MY, and I think commenters are being obtuse.
It is conceivable that all he meant by the Shostakovich / Chi-Lites story was the he finds one form of music hopeful and the other not.
But what the hell is your explanation of fried green tomatoes at Georgia Brown’s? A black guy is president, so he eats soul food. Come on.
November 8th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I propose the ‘Biden Test’ for cases like this: if it sounds like something Obama’s Vice President would be likely to say, then don’t worry about it, it’s not a big deal.
November 8th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Re: I liked Shostakovich’s music much better before the uinited States fell into its own totalitarian regime.
The the US were ruled by a totalitarian regime Barak Obama would not be president-elect. He would be siting in a gulag, or perhaps six feet under.
Good grief.
November 8th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
This was pretty hackish on your part Matt. Remember to keep your elbow under the ball and follow through.
November 8th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Gee. I’m just basking in the warm glow of knowing that I will not spend the next four years in abject terror of the U.S. launching an aggressive nuclear attack on Iran, or any other nation, because the neocons always wanted to do that. Not sweating the small stuff.
November 8th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Day after the election I pulled out my MoTown collection and patted my mutt on the head. What the hell is this guy talking about?
November 8th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I don’t know which is the scarier possibility: that Wieseltier actually did these things or that he just made them up.
November 8th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Won’t have been the first time that Shostakovich has had a rocky experience with establishment toadies like Wieseltier.
November 8th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Following Divguy, I’d like to see actually include the next fucking sentence of LW’s quoted text in their criticism of Matt’s reading. I mean really.
November 8th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Let us not forget the black composers of work even the ‘classical’ or academic world loves: Scott Joplin, William Grant Still, Duke Ellington…The work of the Marsalis family..American ‘classical’ music couldn’t exist without black composers and musicians.
And here is some of the most uplifting music ever, and yes, it’s the Shostakovich Piano Concerto #2, Christina Ortiz..
True.
But on a similar note, I have always envisioned GWB to listen to shit kicker music, not classical, kind of like the music that they play at the RNC convention. Think Charlie Daniels — to get a wiff of his ideas, just visit his site or his wiki entry.
November 8th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Fried green tomatoes is black?
November 8th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Next tme Wieseltier should go to http://www.blackcomposer.com for a comprehensive listing of black classsical composers on CD. More than 150 names are included.
He should be able to even find uplifting works.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Who’s in the mood for most late Shostakovich string quartets if you’re feeling positive (except maybe #14)?
I also don’t see the prob. w. putting on some Isley bros to celebrate an Obama victory. It’s what Obama likes to listen to.
I’m more likely to read Leon what’s his face after this silly post.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I’m with DivGuy. LW is saying “A black guy is president so I’m going to spend some time doing black things…” And that is not an admirable sentiment.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I guess we should be glad he’s not playing ABBA!
November 8th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
Matt, this is one snark too far. Wieseltier’s piece is (uncharacteristically) excellent. There isn’t a wink of racism in it and you make pf yourself a PC liberal caricature by suggesting so.
November 8th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
The musical groups mentioned are a bit before Obama’s time, I think, and what does Georgia Brown’s have to do with Hawaii- born, Indonesia and Hawaii raised by white folks from Kansas Barack Obama? (Actually, it’s spelled O’bama, so lets go drink some Guinness, eat some taters and listen to that Irish traditional band or some Sinead O’Connor — haven’t you ever heard of the black Irish?)
November 8th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Having skimmed the article (you want anything more you have to pay me), I don’t doubt that Wieseltier is well-meaning and that he himself acknowledges that these are “dopey symbols” — but talking about how you ate fried green tomatoes at Georgia Brown’s really goes one step too far into “Stuff White People Like” if not “Black People Love Us” territory.
November 8th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Give me a break! Obama knows what the inside of Orchestra Hall looks like.
November 9th, 2008 at 1:42 am
Anyone here who does not know the SPECIFIC Shostakovich quartets mentioned in the piece in question has no business drawing conclusions or tossing around accusations of racism. The pieces in question ARE rather depressing.
This most pointedly includes Mr. Yglesias, who should probably avoid blogging about matters he does not know the details of.
As an aside, I’m a big fan of Mr. Yglesias, despite this silly post. Wieseltier did not say anything anywhere close to what Yglesias is accusing him of.
November 9th, 2008 at 1:44 am
I’m not sure if LW meant it the piece to be condescendingly racist in a liberal guilt sort of way or not, but it is just a weird piece, like everything else he writes.
November 9th, 2008 at 1:53 am
If you don’t care for the writer (let me guess why: could it be that he’s a rightish Zionist?),
I think a lot of people don’t care for Leon because he writes like, well, Leon, rather than because of his political opinion. I don’t like him for both, but the way he writes is much, much more annoying.
November 9th, 2008 at 1:57 am
When Bill Clinton won in 1992, the music I listened to was Act II of Tosca. (The 1965 Callas/Bergonzi/Gobbi performance, I think.) This discussion reminded me of it, so I’m listening to it again now. Some might say that
is a bit of an overreaction, but it’s a thrilling election!
November 9th, 2008 at 10:57 am
How ’bout Only in America – lame tune but nice uplifting sentiment.
November 9th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
C’mon people, the defense of Wieseltier here reminds me of that the creator of the “Obama Bucks” image invoked.
“It was just food to me. It didn’t mean anything else.”
November 9th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
tsg:
It reminds you of printed GOP propaganda invoking the best-available stereotypes for an explictly, palpably racist purpose? Honestly?
I didn’t go listen to P-Funk after Obama won or anything, but I certainly thought about the idea. I guess I must be a racist, too, since I felt like celebrating a black man’s election by invoking something, well, black.
I suspect there are quite a few racists out there, at least by this definition.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:11 am
LW is called out on a blog, and suddenly a lot of new posters show up who praise LW and use words like “twaddle.”
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
November 10th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Music that goes real well with Chicken Marengo . . .
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