Klarinet Archive - Posting 000150.txt from 1998/01

From: "@-----.se>
Subj: SV: Vienna Phil. and women
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 1998 08:17:15 -0500

As a European citizen (being a Swede) I am a little astonished that =
several authors on this list seems to believe that Europe is one =
cultural/political entity. It is certainly not although we are trying =
within the new entity the European Union (EU) to come closer to each =
other. As a Swede I find it much easier to come to grips with people =
from the US than with people from let us say France, Italy and Germany =
although I speak French and German as well. Every country has developed =
its own behaviour and culture. Thus orchestras in northern Europe like =
Sweden are almost only funded by the public (the Gothenburg Symphony =
orchestra being sponsored to a minor degree by Volvo and others, whereas =
the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is only funded by the Swedish =
national broadcasting corporation). Whereas some of the orchestras in =
southern Europe are funded more by private initiatives. VPO belongs to =
the orchestras being funded by the public, with a strong relationship to =
the Vienna Opera house.

Having read now what has been stated publically by some of the members =
of the VPO, it is not only a question of male versus female musicians. =
There has also been a claim that the kind of music played by VPO can =
only be played by male people of centraleuropean origin, since others do =
not have the same feeling for the music and the sound needed. =
www.parnasse.com/vpo.html . (Please note that the excerpts are =
translated from German.) That excludes automatically people from my =
country as well as the US, not to speek about people from Asia. This =
answer was given to a question on why there is nobody of Asian origin in =
the orchestra, although there are musicians in Austria of Asian origin =
that are educated and trained in Austria. I wonder if dr Leeson being an =
expert on Mozart would accept that, although quite obviously K622 was =
originally written for clarinetists brought up and trained in Germany or =
Austria (including what was the German speaking countries at that time), =
nobody except males from these countries could ever do justice to this =
peace depending on "sound and soul".

Bert Amten

-----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
Fr@-----.com>
Till: klarinet@-----.us>
Datum: den 4 januari 1998 04:52
@-----. and women

>At 06:11 PM 1/3/98 -0600, Neil Leupold wrote:
>>...I forgot about the plain impact that money has on this issue
>>and the distinction between public vs. private funding. Does this
>>distinction exist in Europe as well? Is the Vienna Philharmonic
>>Orchestra in some way funded by the European Union? Or does the
>>Unions governing body simply have regulatory powers in matters of=20
>>labor dispute throughout its jurisdiction, regardless of funding=20
>>sources?
>>
>I really don't know, although I suspect European orchestras are even =
MORE
>publicly funded than ours. I believe I read that Abbie Conant's =
lawsuits
>were directed in part against the city of Munich.
>
>
>>> distinction here. "Hiring" must be based ONLY upon qualification to
>>> perform the job, "joining" can include other factors.
>>
>>Also another interesting point (above). Would a U.S. orchestra ever=20
>>be able to get away with the lip service to "equal opportunity" that=20
>>the Vienna Phil. seems to?
>>
>Not today. But the U.S. is relatively enlightened in that regard. As
>someone else has already pointed out, reacist/sexist attitudes are =
quite
>common in Europe that would be considered completely unacceptable here.
>And there are hundreds of years of precedent to back them up.
>
>
>
____
>Bill Hausmann =
bhausman@-----.com
>451 Old Orchard Drive =
http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
>Essexville, MI 48732 =
http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
> ICQ UIN =
4862265
>
>If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.
>

   
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