What periods of classical music are exempt from the spinach category?
The easiest things on the ear are Baroque and Classical music–music from the Classical period. Baroque is my favorite period of all. How did classical music–especially Baroque music–get such a snooty reputation? I think that’s because of the Madison Avenue advertising agencies. One day someone said: “Oh, let’s use Vivaldi to sell Grey Poupon mustard from a Rolls Royce.” Then they used Vivaldi to sell Coldwell Banker real estate. And William F. Buckley uses Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 as the opening theme of “Firing Line.” Now there’s quite an elite association right there. So, I think the media have put elitism and classical music together. Plus, many of the patrons of Baroque music were royalty. So a lot of the music is processional and recessional, music celebrating royal fireworks, royal water music, royal this and royal that. It’s very elegant music–very restrained, with a lot of repetition, and very tightly controlled. What are orchestras doing to shed their stuffiness?
