Milton Babbitt died yesterday
who cares?
the composer was a specialist
"
the composer today expends an enormous amount of time and energy - and usually, considerable money - on the creation of a commodity which has little or no commodity value
towards this condition of musical and societal isolation a variety of attitudes has been expressed usually with the purpose of assigning blame, often to the music itself
but to assign blame is to imply that this isolation is undesirable and unnecessary
only in politics and art does the layman regard himself as an expert, with the right to have his opinion heard
in the realm of music, the listener feels secure in the assumption that his firmly stated, "i didn't like it" should be protected from further scrutiny
i am aware that tradition has it that the average listener, by virtue of some undefined, transcendental faculty, is thought to be always able to arrive at a musical judgment absolute in it's wisdom
why should the layman be anything other than bOrEd or PuZZled by what he is unable to understand, whether it be music or mathematics?
why do we refuse to recognize the possibility that music has reached a stage of development already reached by other arts and sciences?
the time has passed when the normally well-educated man without special preparation could be expected to understand the most advanced work in mathematics, philosophy, or physics
i dare to suggest that the composer would do himself and his music an immediate service by a total and voluntary withdrawal from this public to one of private performance and electronic media, with the result of the complete elimination of the public and social aspects of musical composition. by so doing the composer would be free to pursue a private life of professional achievement, as opposed to a public life of unprofessional compromise and exhibitionism. failure to do so will lead to a situation in which music will cease to evolve, and in a more important sense, cease to live
"
goodbye sir
(Quotes from: Babbitt, Milton. "Who Cares if You listen?," from High Fidelity, VII/2 (February, 1958), 38-40, 126,27. . . liberties in the transfer have been taken)
