Klarinet Archive - Posting 000162.txt from 1997/05

From: Lord Rob <rteitelbaum@-----.EDU>
Subj: RE: Music, performance, and marching bands
Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 22:09:23 -0400

I must disagree with Scott's assertion that music/literature
which is commercially successful is so because of its
accessibility. The symphonies of Mahler have become
enormous commercial successes, as they are performed
and recorded throughout the world, yet they are so massive
and complex as to be "over the head" of even most
intelligent listeners. The same applies to literature. The
poems of Emily Dickinson, for example, are mind-numbingly
incomprehensible, yet there exists an international society
devoted exclusively to the admiration of her poetry, and
millions of readers worldwide are delighted by her work
largely BECAUSE it is so immensely inaccessible.

Rob Teitelbaum
Claremont McKenna College