In a message dated 00-06-20 23:48:47 EDT, you write:
>
> > However, I think it is good
> > to remember that the reason classical music is the foundation for a
> college
> > music curriculum is the same as the reason great literature is the
> > foundation
> > for the English Department's curriculum. It's not that you can't learn
> to
> > read using other kinds of books, newspapers, or whatever. It's the
fact
> > that
> > an educated person needs to know great literature, and likewise as
> educated
> > person needs to know great music. Whether or not one makes a career
out
> of
> > classical literature or classical music is another affair!
> >
> Whoa..........this sounds a little elitist to me.............great
> literature
> is still written today, just as it was 300 years ago..........Likewise,
> great
> music is created and written today, jsut as it was 300 years
> ago................a truly educated person will be able to approach and
> embrace all styles of music, literature and art from all eras and not just
> one. A good education involves training one to find the beaty and genius
in
> all styles and genres of art...........regardless of when it was created.
> Mary Beth Felker-Osborn
i don't think that is elitist. we know certain music is great because it has
stood the test of time. perhaps great literature and great music is being
written today, but in the moment we are not always able to discern what is
great and what isn't without a little distance. it can be that certain works
being created today will slip by us, but will be the classics of the 22nd
century. Mozart was not appreciated in his lifetime, and Bach was hardly
known outside of a pretty limited area; about a century after his death much
of his work had been forgotten until Mendelssohn resurrected it.
Merry Foxworth
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