American Orchestras vs. Scholars: A Persistent Disconnect
In the fifth installment of his series on American classical music at 250, Joseph Horowitz examines the enduring disconnect between American orchestras and music scholars. He notes that while museums employ scholars, orchestras do not, a gap he has witnessed firsthand through his dual career as a critic and curator. Horowitz describes his early involvement with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, where he organized a festival for the centenary of Dvorak's New World Symphony, incorporating scholar Michael Beckerman's discovery of the symphony's debt to Longfellow's Hiawatha. He highlights the collaborative efforts with scholars like Adrienne Fried Block, John Mack Faragher, and Samuel Floyd, and the inclusion of tenor Thomas Young to discuss Harry Burleigh's contributions. Horowitz criticizes the current state of scholarship, lamenting the rise of ideological silos and cancel culture, and points to William Levi Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony as a neglected masterpiece. He praises the South Dakota Symphony's Lakota Music Project as an innovative model, and calls for orchestras to integrate scholarly expertise to enhance their institutional impact.
Key facts
- Horowitz's article is the fifth in a series on American classical music at 250.
- American museums employ scholars on staff, but orchestras do not.
- Horowitz attended conferences of the Society for American Music and the League of American Orchestras.
- The Brooklyn Philharmonic's 1994 festival celebrated the centenary of Dvorak's New World Symphony.
- Michael Beckerman discovered the symphony's connection to Longfellow's Hiawatha.
- The festival included scholars and performers like Adrienne Fried Block, John Mack Faragher, Samuel Floyd, and Thomas Young.
- Horowitz has curated festivals for many orchestras, including the New Jersey Symphony and PostClassical Ensemble.
- The South Dakota Symphony's Lakota Music Project links the orchestra to Indian reservations.
- William Levi Dawson's Negro Folk Symphony (1932) is highlighted as a major discovery.
- Horowitz criticizes the current state of scholarship and cancel culture.
- The forthcoming Lakota Music Project festival in Sioux Falls is scheduled for November.
- Horowitz is Scholar-in-Residence at the South Dakota Symphony.
Entities
Artists
- Joseph Horowitz
- Peter Bogdanoff
- Michael Beckerman
- Adrienne Fried Block
- John Mack Faragher
- Samuel Floyd
- Robert Winter
- Thomas Young
- Harry Burleigh
- Hans Vaget
- Michael Kater
- Alexander Toradze
- Vladimir Feltsman
- Solomon Volkov
- Bill Alves
- F. Peter Burkholder
- Kim Kowalke
- Tim Barringer
- John Tutino
- Allen Guelzo
- Alan Lessoff
- Wiley Hitchcock
- Wayne Shirley
- Richard Crawford
- Delta David Gier
- Arthur Farwell
- Dvorak
- Longfellow
- Amy Beach
- Charles Ives
- Kurt Weill
- Silvestre Revueltas
- Lou Harrison
- Frederic Church
- Florence Price
- William Levi Dawson
- Aaron Copland
- Roy Harris
- Virgil Thomson
- Klaus Heymann
- Susan Key
- Larry Tamburri
Institutions
- New York Times
- Brooklyn Philharmonic
- BAM
- Lincoln Center
- Society for American Music
- League of American Orchestras
- San Francisco Symphony
- 92nd Street Y
- New Jersey Symphony
- PostClassical Ensemble
- Music Unwound
- NEH
- Naxos
- Metropolitan Opera
- South Dakota Symphony
- Lakota Music Project
- Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
- Dakota String Quartet
- UCLA
- Chicago's Center for Black Music
Locations
- United States
- New York
- Brooklyn
- San Francisco
- New Jersey
- Washington DC
- Sioux Falls
- Mexico
- Germany
- Soviet Russia
- Chicago