WHAT IS
CLASSICAL MUSIC? WHO LISTENS TO IT?
Vignettes from the American scene
Frank T. Manheim
The term, "classical music" did not yet exist in the
1913 Webster Unabridged Dictionary. Music critics and writers
into the 1920s like the American Henry Finck and the French epitome of
broad culture, Romaine Rolland, widely read in America, spoke only of
"music". The British writer, Constant Lambert, before he died at an
early age, created a stir by claiming that what we now call "classical
music" was in decline (Music Ho, 1934). He too didn’t call it by
that name.
By 1934 the term, "classical music", had come into
use in America to distinguish "serious" music from popular styles that
were burgeoning on 78-rpm shellac records and AM radio. In the 1930s and
1940s classical radio reached huge audiences by today’s standards.
Metropolitan Opera broadcasts began in 1931 and NBC’s radio
orchestra broadcasts reached millions of regular listeners. According to
Pegolotti’s biography of radio and early TV host, Deems Taylor (2003), a
few of Taylor’s broadcasts reached audiences of 8 million.
A 2004 report of the Arbitron Company lists
299 "classical radio stations" out of a total of 13,898 U.S. radio
stations (http://www.arbitron.com/downloads/radiotoday04.pdf).
The national leader in listeners in 2003 is said to be the commercial,
24-hour classical station, WGMS FM (103.5) in Washington D.C.
WGMS’s following of over 500,000 weekly listeners was built in part
by its charismatic (and quirky) former morning host, Dennis Owens.
What is "classical music"? Most people will probably
identify with modern dictionary definitions, like World Net
Dictionary: "traditional
genre
of
music
conforming to
an
established
form and
appealing
to
critical
interest
and
developed
musical
taste";
Oxford Concise Dictionary: "Music generally regarded as having
permanent rather than ephemeral value. ‘classical music’ is used as a
generic term meaning the opposite of light or popular music. Another
meaning is music composed roughly between 1750 and
1830 (i.e. post-Baroque and pre-Romantic) which covers the development
of the classical symphony"; and Merriam-Webster: "Of, relating
to, or being music in the educated European tradition that includes such
forms as art song, chamber music, opera, and symphony as distinguished
from folk or popular music or jazz".
Definitions and music are changing. Billboard
Magazine, which tracks sales of musical recordings in America, put a
23-year old baritone named Josh Groban at the top of its "classical
music" division in January 2004. Groban interrupted his conservatory
training at age 21 when his first recording, sponsored by Canadian music
popularizer, David Foster, hit platinum (1 million records).
Groban is among a new trend of "classical crossover"
tenors that include the Italian, Alessandro Safina, Briton, Russell
Watson; and Greek, Mario Frangoulis. The crossover group, Amici
Forever - The Opera Band is now No. 2 on Billboard’s
classical division. The classical crossover artists sing classical
numbers in audience-pleasing style, often with electronically enhanced
or lush orchestral accompaniment.
Next after the above genre of recordings are a string
of movie scores "Freaky Friday," (Walt Disney Pictures), "Seabiscuit,"
(Universal Studios Home Video), "Finding Nemo," (Disney), "Pirates
of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," (Disney), "Rugrats
Go Wild," (Nickelodeon Video), "Bruce Almighty," (Universal
Studios), and "American Wedding ", etc. (Billboard Magazine,
early January, 2004).
The point is that "core" classical recordings
(Beethoven, symphony orchestras, etc.) are getting stiff competition.
Groban alone now probably outsells most of the more traditional
classical recordings together. That does not deter a strong core of
classical music lovers. Moreover, the fact that classical recordings are
among the least expensive recordings available in any genre (especially
on the NAXOS label), is attracting first-time classical experimenters.
Billboard classical division record sales in 2003 made up 2+ percent of
total recordings.
Let’s consider what really sets "true" classical
music apart from popular music, folk music, or church hymns. Drawing
from various standard sources, I think it safe to say that classical
music is or is supposed to be "through composed". That means it should
incorporate original music development through its length. It is
normally addressed to people with either a cultivated taste, or seeking
deeper content in music than would be normally gained from popular
styles.
Popular (including country) and folk music, or hymns
can attract a following by catchy words, familiar musical patterns or
effects, fragments of melody or rhythm. They are commonly enhanced by
the personality of a performer and/or high amplification. Great musicals
often have passages that one could call "classical". Their setting and
intent put them in an intermediate category.
Labelling a composition "classical" doesn’t guarantee
inspiration or permanence. Classical music may inspire audiences from
beginning to end. Dvorak’s New World Symphony left the audience
at its New York Philharmonic premiere in 1893 exhilarated and ecstatic.
Or a piece may please only its composer and perhaps a few aficionados.
And that, of course, is one of the problems being increasingly discussed
these days.
I want to close this essay with an intriguing
vignette about one reason why older styles like baroque and early
classical "classical music" have increased in relative popularity on
American classical radio stations. The 24-hour FM classical radio
station, WCRB (Waltham MA), earlier followed a fairly standard
classical format. But the decline in listenership that affected many
stations in the 1990s in the U.S. led WCRB’s management to make
consumer surveys and make marked changes in its programming.
Soon knowledgeable long-time listeners filed
complaints on the station’s web site, first about the loss of the
playlist. Then they noted that vocal music, J.S. Bach, music of the
great romantics (Brahms, Tchaikovsky) and even Beethoven were
disappearing. Moderns had gone well before. Now there were short, rarely
heard early Haydn and Mozart symphonies, many baroque works, and even
pieces by rarer early classical composers like Sammartini, Hasse and
Johan Stamitz.
What happened? Had sophisticates taken over the
station to indulge their special historical tastes? Just the opposite.
The manager discovered that motorists clogged in traffic queues in the
greater Boston area wanted to relax with classical music. But stormy
Beethoven symphonies, or emotional flights by romantics like Schuman or
Brahms were not on the preferred list. Commuters said no to the
contrapuntal complexities of J.S. Bach. Even the human voice could be
stressful. It proved to be the transparent textures, simple melodic
structures, grace and harmonious resolutions of baroque music and early
classicals that provided the preferred atmosphere. This was especially
true for listeners who were new to classical music.
The station manager eventually created special
commercial software that programmed classical music. He did away with
the playlist that could reveal his programming design. The station
finally removed its interactive listener forum from the web, because
more knowledgeable listeners continued to give the manager grief – but
added little to the numbers.
WCRB is an extreme case. Boston station, WGBH,
retains strong connections with developed music culture in Beantown. But
listener opinion now counts far more than it did 25 years ago, even with
more sophisticated stations. No programming with the astounding
popularity of the British ClassicFM group has emerged, but as more
American managers listen to the voice of the audience, interesting
developments may lie ahead. Can U.S. stations learn from the ClassicFM
experience and retain the enthusiasm of aficionados while attracting
newcomers to classical?
Frank T. Manheim © July 2004