Canonism
I’m getting up early these days to study and think about orchestral music. One interesting book I am checking out is Bruce Haynes’s The End of Early Music. He’s coming up with some fun terms like Canonic ideology (great respect for composers, represented by cults of genius and originality / the almost scriptural awe of musical “works” / an obsession with the original intentions of the composer / a practice of listening to music as ritual / the custom of reperted hearings of a limited number of works). Of course, before the 19th century classical music itself wasn’t Canonic, but it is now.
What’s interesting to me, as a modern orchestra conductor who is trying to bring in new audiences, is that my potential audience (the new members we are trying to get) don’t think Canonically either — levels of greatness are not as important as the variety of experience. Coming to hear the Great Masterworks played in a Ritualistic Manner doesn’t seem to strike a chord with folks of my generation. But here’s the good news: for this same audience, old isn’t necessarily bad. It’s an appealing proposition to hear amazing music from any time and place played really well, meaning without relying too much on ritual.
I agree that we’re in an age of musical pluralism, as Haynes says. I would add that we’re also in an age of Hybridization. More on that soon.