The State of the Smyphony
Julie VW
SMU
Contemporary Issues
June 23, 2003
Abstract
The symphony orchestra is not in danger of dying off. Research and arguments suggesting the genre will not survive tough economic times or dwindling audiences are anecdotal, and logically flawed. Looking at both sides of the issue reveals many symphonies have positioned themselves to be successful in both the short and long term.
The State of the Symphony
In May of 1987, The Cleveland Institute of Music invited Ernest Fleischmann, general manager of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, to deliver a commencement address. Instead of an optimistic, congratulatory speech, Fleischmann gave an explosive exhortation titled The Symphony is Dead: Long Live the Community of Musicians. According to Fleischmann, The symphony "is dead because symphony concerts have become dull and predictable, musicians and audiences are suffering from repetitive routines and formula-type programming, there is an acute shortage of conductors who . . . are inspiring leaders." He concluded, "if the music we love so deeply is to survive, we must accept that the orchestra is burnt out" (Lebrecht, 1997, p.212).
The Symphony Orchestra is Dead:
Long Live the Community of Musicians
Some evidence suggests Fleischmann correctly diagnosed the state of our orchestras. Last month, the Florida Philharmonic shut down, and the Louisiana Symphony declared bankruptcy. The San Jose symphony declared bankruptcy last fall, while the Colorado spring and Tulsa symphonies closed. In February, the Savaannah Symphony canceled it's season due to a lack of funding. Martin Bernheimer writes "subscriber lists are shrinking, recoding contacts lapsing, broadcast commitments collapsing, [and] competent kappellmeisters [conductors] are hailed as towering geniuses" (2001). Critics, journalists, and self appointed "industry experts" declare regularity that classical music has died; is dying; or at least won't survive the next decade. "America, unfortunately, places a low priority on symphonies," writes Bernheimer, and classical music "requires generous subsidy from the private sector if not from the city, state or national government." Norman Lebrecht, music columnist for the London Daily Telegraph observes that "Politicians will find few votes in saving [or funding] a symphony orchestra, and more kudos to be gained from getting photographed with Pavarotti in the park" (1997, p.19).
"Given the onslaught of multiculturalism, and ever increasing competition from other media and creative outlets, it's questionable whether symphony concerts represent the future of new music" wrote Andrew Clark of the Financial Times (2002).
In light of the recent political decisions to cut arts funding, the rash of troubled orchestras, general public apathy, rumors of slumping ticket sales, and a plethora of expert proclamations, I wonder, "Are things really as bad as they say?" "What's the other side of the issue?" "Is a declaration of death the only logical conclusion to draw from this evidence?" "What is the state of the symphony?"
The Florida Philharmonic:
A case study in closing an orchestra
Bill Jamieson, journalist for the The Scotsman, recently wrote,
The thesis of the death of music is scarcely new, but seldom has the speed and scale of the decline been more evident than now. And this time it is being felt across every major orchestra right to the top. Indeed, it is not at all lurid or fanciful to suggest that the conventional classical music concert will die out within the next decade.
He cites statistics about slumping ticket sales, reduced sponsorships, and under performing endowments as evidence of world wide orchestra demise (2003). However, scarey statistics often mislead a readers.
While some industry wide trends suggest general changes and patterns, symphony orchestras exist in a de-centralized market. Trouble in a few symphonies does not signal trouble to every other establishment. Local factors, such as the neighborhood, local economy, government, and management play a significant role in the ultimate success or failure of a symphonic organization. Generalizations from one orchestra to another are not possible or fair to make (Sterns 2002).
Henry Fogel, president elect of the American Symphony Orchestra League, points out that all sectors of the economy suffer from downturns. He uses statistics to suggest that orchestras live in a state of comparative health. Only 6 of 900 ensembles declared bankruptcy this year. By comparison, the National Hockey League saw 3 of its 30 teams go out of business in the past 12 months. Fogel points to the most recent horror story, the shut down of the Florida Philharmonic, as an association that suffered from bad systematic problems, accentuated by tough economic times. "The Florida Philharmonic has a history of crisis," he recently told the board of the Kansas City Orchestra. The whole foundation on which it was built was flawed,". Journalists also question the structure and systems of the organization. Gail Meadows asked, "Why the sudden surprising fund-raising needs of $16 million in 10 days?" and "Why didn't anyone recognize a problem back in January when there was TIME to raise money?". A history of instability extends back to at least the early ‘90's. In the past 10 years, six different people held the position of executive director and financial crises occurred regularly over the last five years. Board member Melba Silver blames the shut down on the lack of endowment, the lack of patrons under the age of 45, and the idea that Miami to Palm Beach constitutes a single community(Meadows 2003). Daniel Lewis, chairman of the executive confirms the issues of the Florida Philharmonic. "We built the orchestra before we had put in the proper financial infrastructure," he said. (Chang 2003)
Silver and Lewis illustrate my point; The Florida Philharmonic closed because of problems unique to that particular organization. To generalize that the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Des Moines Symphony, or Utah Orchestra will not survive this decade based on the situation in Florida is ridiculous. Perhaps the most interesting tidbit from all the hoopla over the Florida Philharmonic rest in the community's plans to build another orchestra after Philharmonic Association finishes the legal work of dissolving. This particular organization may have died, but the community will still have live orchestral music. The Symphony is not dead.
Tickets, Streets, and Budgets:
A Case Study in Values
Calvin Coolidge once said, "The business of the American people is business". Sheldon Morgenstern gives evidence of this fact in the way we name things.
In France, for example, there are very few cities or small towns that do not have a rue Voltaire, avenue Ravel, or something similar. In North America, airports, streets, and concert halls are usually named for either the largest donor or some politician - Avery Fisher Hall, Dulles Airport, and the Kennedy Center. Why don't we have an Aaron Coopland Boulevard in major cities, a Glenn Gould Expressway or a Charlie Parker Plaza? Could it possibly have something to do with the lack of value our society places of art and those who practice it?
"Money is how government signals what it thinks is important," writes Douglas McLennan (2003). The 93 million dollar cut from state arts budgets in the past two years clearly suggests a lack of commitment from legislators. Martin Bernheimer generalizes that "America, unfortunately , places a low priority on symphonies." Finally, Andrew Clark, music critic for the Financial Times believes that classical music is "ill equipped to survive in a microwave culture. Its values are those of discipline, concentration, self improvement, individualism, and spiritual/ philosophical contemplation - the values of an educated minority."
I think Morgenstein, Bernheimer, McLennan, and Clark mistakenly use anecdotal evidence to make overly broad generalizations. Americans enjoy and value the arts. Countless surveys suggest the public wants more and better arts education for our kids and in our schools. The Saint Louis Symphony enjoyed it s strongest season ever in terms of ticket sales last year, despite a price increase and the lack of a full time conductor (Garrison, 2003). Finally, a study by the American Symphony Orchestra League found that audience attendance rose from 22 million to 34 million between 1990 and 2000!
People are not less interested, but because they are interested, we created an over abundance of orchestras. Peter Dorbin, music critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer says "consider the proliferation of regional orchestra, the incredible investment many cities, including Philadelphia and Los Angeles, have made in facilities, and the slight upswing in orchestra listenership in the past decade; it hardly paints a picture of a dying art form." (Drobin 2003)
Kenneth Walton of the Scotsman points out that 78 concerts will presented by three different ensembles in his area this year. In 1970 one ensemble performed 40 public concerts. He also notes that customer loyalty no longer exists. From automobiles to canned soup people no longer purchase out of the same sense of loyalty felt by previous generations. People will go hear a particular ensemble because they want to, not out of obligation. Orchestras have to earn their audiences and can no longer count on the same people to show up week after week (2003). It is a new market, in the last ten years things have dramatically changed. "Berlioz may not be getting Mariah Carey's numbers," notes Justin Davis but then Mariah Carey isn't either."
Americans find the arts just as valuable today as in the past. Commitment is not found in what we name our concert halls and airports, but in building multiple venues and concert halls to support many ensembles and choices for the citizens of that community.
The Three Tenors:
A case study in Pop Culture
Successful orchestras and a commitment to the arts do not constitute enough the orchestral doomsday-ers. The final argument of the "classical snobs" is the result of pop culture mingling with the world of classical music. Bernheimer writes,
We live in an age of show-biz hype directed at star- struck audiences. Check the chintzy fare on beleaguered public television. The biggest draws these days are stadium mega concerts in which three aging tenors - one waving a white tablecloth - reduces true art to the lowest common denominator while corning or shrieking into microphones, blowing kisses to adoring fans, distorting eine klein junk- musik, perspiring conspicuously and sobbing all the way to the ban,. The other great attractions du jour are a 12 year old mini would be soprano flukette and a blind semi- professional tenor - heart throb who has yet to sing unamplified in a bona-fide opera house (2001).
To explain the problem with pop-classical concerts, Lebretch writes when music "is reduced do synthetic sound bites it sacrifices something of its integrity and . . . gains no active followers" (Lebbrecht 22).
I personally cringe when my sister plays a Charlotte Church compact disc, and roll my eyes when a new Mannheim Steamroller album become the topic of dinner discussions. My musical "snob- o-meter" is every bit as sophisticated as Bernheimer and Lebretch. However, both men miss the larger point.
Three Tenors stadium concerts are the result of classical music invading popular culture. By definition, pop culture occurs as a result of mass appeal which is not only transient and fleeting, and never tries to gain active followers. "Eine klein junk-musik" has always existed. Comparing pop culture to the world of a symphony orchestra is not accurate or fair.
Lebretch might argue that stadium "fantasy concerrts . . . are increasingly being touted around the media circuit, stealing valuable resources and air time form the meaningful performance of full symphonies and operas" (1997, p.17). He also worries that superstar performances change attitudes. Musicians such as the Three Tenors who shared $16 million dollars for one Los Angeles performance, will begin to demand impossible fees for their solo performances in the more traditional venues. "When . . . [they] play Caregine Hall, sponsors are needed to cover their fees and the house sees no profit." Audiences, meanwhile, demand more superstar performers. He reasons that "unless well know performers are engaged, the public will not attend, [concerts] but each start cost a fee that drives the orchestra closer to extinction" (p 24).
Lechrech devotes most of his book, Who Killed Classical Music? Maestros, Managers, and Corporate Politics to the proposition that financial greed, fame, and pop culture essentially killed classical music. Tracing the history of the music business, beginning with Bach, he yearns for the good old days when symphonies paid for themselves using the basic economic principals of supply and demand. After a story of Herbert von Karagan's financial demands on the Berlin Philharmonic, he writes "No longer was a performer's pay fixed by his or her drawing power at the box-office, but by what a power-mad conductor decided he or she ought to receive - with a dip into a public or corporate pocket (169).
Lebrech misses that fact that pop culture runs on the basic economic principals of supply and demand. Many great artists died long before their work got the recognition it deserved precisely because the economic realities of the lifetime meant their work would not be profitable. Pop-Classical concerts take nothing away from the symphonic world. The Three Tenors and Charlotte Church are part of a fad that has (thankfully) already begun to die off.
The Truth:
A Case Study of My Thoughts and Opinions
Our symphony orchestras are alive and well. Economic slumps hurt ticket sales, but most orchestras maintain financial reserves to protect against such realities. Americans value great music, and audiences continue to grow, even with dumbed down versions of great music playing in stadium concerts.
I believe people proclaiming the end of classical symphonies actually mourn the end of an era. The orchestra of the future, may not look like the orchestra of the past. Technology and demographics change the way we live, and will change the way an orchestra operates and performs. New audiences and new challenges will ensure that music stays fresh and exciting in years to come.
References
Bernheimer, Martin. (2000, October). The state of the art. MSNBC News. Retrieved on October 4, 2001 from http://www.msnbc.com
Clark, Andrew. (2002, January). Open your eyes to ‘the vision thing' [Electronic version]. Financial Times. Retrieved from http://www.ft.com/id=ZZZFXM1ZXZ.html
Chang, Daniel. (2003, April 23). Flordia Philharmonic may file for bankruptcy [Electronic version]. Miami Herald. Retrieved June 7, 2003 from http://www.miami.com/miamiherald/entertainment/5693453.html
Davidson, Justin. (2002, March). After the fall. Andante.com. Retrieved from http://www.andante.com/magazine/print/cfm?id=16272.html
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Garrison, Chad. (2003, June 9). Symphony hits high note, $4 million in ticket sales [Electronic Version]. St. Louis Business Journal. Retrieved June 10, 2003 from http://www.stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2003/06/0 9/story7.html
Horsley, Paul. (2003, June 15). Sounds of slumping [Electronic version]. Kansas City Star. Retrieved from http://www.kansascity.com
Jamieson, Bill. (2003, May 17). Time to settle the score. [Electronic version]. The Scotsman. Retrieved May 22, 2003 from http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/s2.cfm?id=557552003
Lebrecht, Norman. (1997). Who killed classical music? Maestros, managers, and corporate politics. Secaucus: Carol Publishing Group.
Meadows, Gail. (2003, May 15). Philharmonic's financing story doesn't sound right [Electronic version]. Miami Herald. Retrieved June 7, 2003 from http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/5856009.h tml
McLennan, Douglas. (2003, May 29). The end of arts funding? MSNMC News. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.com
Morgenstern, Sheldon. (2001). No Vivaldi in the garage: A requiem for classical music in North America. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
Sterns, David Patrick. (2002). Reports of their demise are greatly exaggerated. Andante. Retrieved January 28, 2002 from http://www.andante.com/magazine/print.cfm?id=15801