[Tango-L] a little about modern opera music (and true artists)

[astrid]

Nina:
> I disagree with the idea of how much power money has over art. > To me,
the difference between a true artist and people who do art is
> that an artist simply cannot NOT do it.  It is not a matter of
> choice.  As a consequence, it is also not a function of
> money.  Instead, the success is a result of the conviction that the
> artist has about what he or she is doing.  There is a huge power in that.
>
  The power
> of this music and the conviction of the musicians go beyond the
> trappings of this mortal world.  True art enslaves the will.

I loved your description of true art, Nina. But I did not say that this kind
of true artist does not exist. What I said is that the other kind of
commercial "artist" is often much better known, gets more support and sells
better than the true artist. But the true artist will go on creating anyway.
True artists who are also well known and successful prehumously are quite
rare.
E.g. in Japan (Tokyo is lately developing into a new art center, we get more
and more of the great names coming here in recent years, even for debuts) a
certain cellist is hugely popular. He comes here every year, several times,
plays his very schmaltzy overaccented music in one of the major halls,
wearing the prototype "artist's hairstyle" and flamboyant Japanese designer
clothes on stage... People love him because his music is very easy to
understand for those who don't have much sense for the finesse and subtlety
of classical music, I'd say. On the other hand, has anyone outside Italy
ever heard of the "Interpreti Veneziani", a fascinating chamber orchestra
that plays inside a church, for exemple? They say, they play old Venetian
composers, reviving their music, and they belong to Venice. Fantastic.

This is what I said. And it is also a wellknown phenomenon in history that
the true artist cannot stop producing art, even if nobody buys it, even if
he has to borrow from everybody, even if he is starving or going insane with
the force coming through him...

That is why I stated the exemple (which you deleted) of the teacher who is
afraid she cannot call from overseas who she really wants to call as a
dancer to Japan for a workshop. Because what becomes popular is dictated by
the masses if money is involved. I found this out to my surprise when the
other day just the two of us went out for coffee together after class. I
told her who I would really love to meet and learn from (instead of the
famous Hollywood dancer she called over last time, which I did not say) To
my surprise I found out that my teacher loves the same dancer, and does not
even like the one she called last time. But that workshop was more packed
than any of the others.

On the other hand "supporting the artist" seems to have become another
groovey thing to do, and lately I have heard some people , instead of saying
"I am going to listen to XY", or "I am looking forward to the performance of
soandso", say:"I am supporting this event". Which sounds to me like they are
not going there because they truly appreciate the art, but more like they
have developed a "spectator's ego". Which may not be a bad thing, just a
little strange. So, ironically, that artist may now end up with an audience
which does not really appreciate his art but wants to keep him from
starving.

Astrid
>