The next episode of my online book on the future of
classical music –scheduled for Monday, October 9 — will appear on Wednesday
instead. This is due to scheduling and workload issues beyond my control. The new
episode continues with the historical background to the problems we have now. I’ve
been describing how three things helped establish the current isolation of
classical music from contemporary life: the rise of the very concept of classical
music (as something removed from everyday life), which dates from the early
19th century; the rise of modernism (which created an expectation that new
classical music would be far removed from everyday life); and the rise of
popular culture (which created artistic alternatives to classical music, and of
course to every other kind of high art).
The book episode after this one will also appear on a
Wednesday, instead of the usual Monday, in this case on October 25. I may want
to move all future episodes to Wednesdays, and if I decide to do that, I’ll
post a notice here in my blog. But — no matter which day I choose– episodes will
continue to appear ever two weeks. If you want to be notified by e-mail when
each new episode appears, please subscribe to the book! Various extra goodies (small
but tasty) come along with your subscription.
To subscribe, click here to send me e-mail, and put “subscribe to
the book” in the subject line. I’d love it if you’d tell me a little about
yourself — the subscription list is very varied, and I’m eager to know who my
subscribers are. Many, of course, are from various corners of the classical music
business.
I apologize for the delay, but the Wednesday posting will
help me a lot, at least for the next two episodes.