Klarinet Archive - Posting 000077.txt from 1998/01

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Vienna Phil. - women not allowed
Date: Sat, 3 Jan 1998 14:28:27 -0500

On Sat, 3 Jan 1998, Craig E. G. Countryman wrote:

> Robert E. Winston wrote:
> "'[We] only take white men to play white music by white composers for a
> white audience.' -Attributed to Werner Resel, VPO Chairman and cellist"
>
> I don't understand this quote. If Werner Resel is chairman of the VPO
> than obiviously she would not be saying this as her(??) own opinion. Is
> she representing this as the belief of the Vienna Phil. leaders?
> Perhaps you could enlighten me by putting this in further context.

The "context" is that Werner is a man, not a woman, in which case
the quote, stated by an empowered individual in the administrative
ranks of the orchestra, should make perfect sense. He's laying
down the "party line", and it's pretty harsh, as you can see. But
then, I'm confused by the word "attribution" as opposed to "quote".
Does this imply ambiguity, wherein somebody *thinks* these were
his words but isn't exactly sure? If so, then the authenticity of
the words is suspect and has the distasteful effect of stirring
up sh*t. Did Mr. Resel really make that statement, verbatim, or
didn't he?

Neil