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Today, “The genius of the Moderns” by Lionel Esparza, published on April 21, 2021 by Éditions Premieres Loges.
Christian Dorsan, contributor to the 20 Minutes reading group, recommends
Le Génie des Modernes
, published on April 21, 2021 by Éditions Premieres Loges.
And the author, Lionel Esparza, answers his questions about the decline of classical music.
Her favorite quote:
“The lyric stage was the main collective distraction, a mirror where societies represented, admired, tested themselves, a vector of national passions (…) the epicenter of the society of the spectacle and the heart of the factory of men. "
Why this book?
Because before the resumption of theaters, it is interesting
to have visibility on classical music. The emotional relationship that we have with her is ambivalent: abandoned by the public, she appears as a distant relative to whom we no longer visit but whose disappearance would affect us. Classical music is no longer part of the cultural repository, the audiovisual and the production of other types of music have made it obsolete. It suffers from a dusty image and we are wrong to contrast current music with so-called classical music.
Because Lionel Esparza explores all the tracks of this disenchantment with
the classic: the gap between this culture and that said to be popular, the advent of radio and the record trade, the non-diversification of creations, the quarrels of the chapels, the programs frozen on a known repertoire… Lionel Esparza tells us that music was once considered as entertainment, a show on stage as well as in the hall, a noisy living space where the work presented was hardly listened to.
Because you will learn that composers
have long been considered valets in the service of their patron and had no recognition.
It was not until Beethoven that the music was heard at its true value and Liszt so that the musician enjoyed a special status among music lovers.
Because Lionel Esparza enlightens us on the spiritual role
of music: "This is precisely the subject of the book, he insists when asked: how the secularization of European societies has progressively achieved, as a stage that one could say intermediary, the recycling of forms of transcendence, religious at the outset, in the so-called scholarly or "legitimate" arts.
Music became all the more spiritual as society was less religious ”
Because to speak of the decline of the classic amounts to speaking
of the cultural reference frame and its profound changes: “We cannot ignore that music is part of a cultural environment in which it participates,” he continues, “even if it sometimes appears as a enclave. Thinking about it therefore obviously requires considering the entire artistic and cultural landscape. "
Because the future of classical music seems rather bleak.
We asked Lionel Esparza the question: your observation is rather lucid, what picture can you sketch for the future?
“Difficult to say: I believe that the health crisis does not change anything, it is content to accelerate the processes.
Including that of a disaffection for the most demanding forms of music.
This is neither good nor bad;
it is an observation to which the actors, musicians in the first place, will have to adapt.
"
The essentials in 2 minutes
The plot.
Lionel Esparza explains with passion the reasons for the decline of so-called classical music.
Far from being a simple observation, it invites us to understand this deep crisis.
Characters.
Musicians, composers, critics, philosophical writers but also music lovers, the whole rich universe of music.
Places.
Europe.
The time.
From the baroque to the present day.
The author.
Lionel Esparza is the host on France Musique of the program Relax and is also a columnist in the Opéra magazine.
This book was read with
astonishment, passion, interest, this essay goes beyond classical music to talk about humanity and its decline towards a leisure society that seeks ease of mind at all costs.
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