Britten - Beethoven - Stravinsky - Shostakovich

New English Review



For our donors from the UK:



Recent Publications by New English Review Authors
	The Literary Culture of France by J. E. G. Dixon
	Hamlet Made Simple and Other Essays by David P. Gontar
	Farewell Fear by Theodore Dalrymple
	The Eagle and The Bible: Lessons in Liberty from Holy Writ by Kenneth Hanson
	The West Speaks interviews by Jerry Gordon
	Mohammed and Charlemagne Revisited: The History of a Controversy Emmet Scott
	Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate's Defense of Liberal Democracy Ibn Warraq
	Anything Goes by Theodore Dalrymple
	Karimi Hotel De Nidra Poller
	The Left is Seldom Right by Norman Berdichevsky
	Allah is Dead: Why Islam is Not a Religion by Rebecca Bynum
	Virgins? What Virgins?: And Other Essays by Ibn Warraq
	An Introduction to Danish Culture by Norman Berdichevsky
	The New Vichy Syndrome: by Theodore Dalrymple
	Jihad and Genocide by Richard L. Rubenstein
	Second Opinion by Theodore Dalrymple
	Not With a Bang But a Whimper: The Politics and Culture of Decline by Theodore Dalrymple
	In Praise of Prejudice: The Necessity of Preconceived Ideas by Theodore Dalrymple
	Defending The West: by Ibn Warraq
	Nations, Language and Citizenship: by Norman Berdichevsky
	Romancing Opiates by Theodore Dalrymple
	Which Koran? by Ibn Warraq
	Our Culture, What's Left of It by Theodore Dalrymple
	What The Koran Really Says by Ibn Warraq
	Life at the Bottom by Theodore Dalrymple
	The Origins of the Koran by Ibn Warraq
	Why I Am Not Muslim by Ibn Warraq
	Spanish Vignettes: An Offbeat Look Into Spain's Culture, Society & History by Norman Berdichevsky
	Leaving Islam Edited by Ibn Warraq
	The Danish-German Border Dispute, 1815-2001: Aspects of Cultural and Demographic Politics by Norman Berdichevsky
	What's Love Got to Do with It?: Emotions and Relationships in Pop Songs by Thomas J. Scheff

The Iconoclast

‹‹ The Golden Bough, Once Again

An Egyptian Jew in Exile: An Interview with Bat Ye’or ››

Friday, 30 September 2011

Britten - Beethoven - Stravinsky - Shostakovich

by David Wemyss (October 2011)

At a dinner party recently, it was suggested to me that classical music was supposedly elitist but largely populated by composers on the left. The consequent conversation was edifying, and I thought I would share its main themes with readers of the New English Review. For stylistic reasons, I have resisted the temptation to present this article as a semi-fictionalised dialogue and have opted instead for a fairly conventional essay form, concentrating on the four composers named above. They were the ones we kept coming back to as the evening progressed. In vino veritas! more>>>

Tags: David Wemyss, music and politics

Submit Your Comment

Posted on 09/30/2011 2:47 PM by NER

Permanent Link | Email Article | Print | Back to Top

Comments

30 Sep 2011

John M. J.

Yet one will always wonder, as Harvey Sachs did in his book 'Music in Fascist Italy', just how much the acquiescence of such composers as Respighi and Casella (he of the beautiful Harp Sonata, Opus 68) affected the music they wrote. In the same way Sachs also asked how much the music of the completely apolitical, like the conductor and composer Victor de Sabata, was affected by the very presence of Fascism in their lives.

That music reflects the internal and external worlds of the composer is highly probable. The question is: by how much and in what ways?

Most Recent Posts at The Iconoclast

20-May-2013
Assad Overestimates The West When He Claims It Wants The War To Continue 20-May-2013
The Murders By Nazis And Eager Collaborators Were Accompanied, All Over Europe, By A Great Theft 20-May-2013
David Goldman On The Naive And Sentimental Of Both Parties 20-May-2013
In Syria, A "Catastrophe" For The Camp Of Islam Helps Non-Muslims 20-May-2013
The Hectic Vacancy Of Kerry's Frequent Flyerdom, And Not A Stop To Think 20-May-2013
Iraqi Shi'a Now Fighting In Iraq 20-May-2013
Colony Collapse Disorder In Iraq, Where The Atmospherics Of Islam Promote Violence 19-May-2013
IEDs Now To Be Merely One More Thing To Accept? 19-May-2013
Ken Burns Offers His "Hidden Gems" Of New England, Or, Infra Dig We Must 19-May-2013
A Musical Interlude: Love Me Or Leave Me (voc. Teddy Grace) 19-May-2013
The Resistible Rise And Partial Fall Of Evelynn Hammonds 19-May-2013
Walid Shoebat Knocks The Dottle Out Of Pipes 19-May-2013
White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite may have been been more involved in London bombs than originally thought. 19-May-2013
The Crypto Biological Threat 19-May-2013
Mother of two of the Oxford sex gang defends her sons and blames victims

Search The Iconoclast

Enter text, Go to search:

The Iconoclast Posts by Author

Ali Sina (1) Artemis Gordon Glidden (881) Bat Ye'or (4) Brian of London (11) Christina McIntosh (383) David Wemyss (1) Dexter Van Zile (72) DL Adams (21) Dr. Michael Welner (3) Emmet Scott (1) Esmerelda Weatherwax (6384) Fred Taub (1) G. Murphy Donovan (13) Geert Wilders (5) Geoffrey Clarfield (30) Hugh Fitzgerald (15357) Ibn Warraq (3) Jerry Gordon (1426) John Constantine (7) John M. Joyce (348) Jonathan Hausman (3) Kenneth Timmerman (3) Mark Anthony Signorelli (11) Mark Durie (2) Mary Jackson (5004) Matthew Hausman (1) NER (1351) Nicolai Sennels (1) Nidra Poller (21) Nonie Darwish (2) Norman Berdichevsky (60) Rebecca Bynum (5333) Richard Butrick (2) Richard L. Benkin (20) Richard L. Rubenstein (27) Robert Harris (30) Sam Bluefarb (1) Ted Belman (5) The Law (68) Theodore Dalrymple (337) Thomas J. Scheff (4) Walid Phares (5) z - all below inactive (7) z - Ares Demertzis (2) z - Andrew Bostom (74) z - Andy McCarthy (536) z - John Derbyshire (1013) z - Marisol Seibold (26) z - Mark Butterworth (49) z- Robert Bove (1189)

The Iconoclast Archives

2013
January February March April May 2012
January February March April May June July August September October November December 2011
January February March April May June July August September October November December 2010
January February March April May June July August September October November December 2009
January February March April May June July August September October November December 2008
January February March April May June July August September October November December 2007
January February March April May June July August September October November December 2006
January February March April May June July August September October November December

sun

mon

tue

wed

thu

fri

sat

RSS