Pressure

Alex Ross wrote:

"The social and cultural pressures for a modern American classical prodigy are so unlike those faced by Mozart that no comparison is possible."

I've been pondering this for a few days and wonder exactly if social and cultural pressures for a modern American classical prodigy exist.  If so, what are they?

A.C. Douglas says that today's society is not like Mozart's, when "fine music was admired and cultivated, and almost part of the very air one breathed".  (I'm assuming that by "fine music" he means classical/concert music, in which case I agree with him 100%.  However, there is much fine music that is admired and cultivated today, it just lies outside the "classical canon".)  If today's society doesn't admire and cultivate "fine music" - in other words, doesn't really give a damn about it - how does it create any pressure for a prodigy?  What societal pressures exist for American classical musicians who are (or aren't) prodigies? 

If someone actually wrote the fabled "Great American Symphony", would America really care?  Would it be more than just a blurb in USA Today - more than a featurette on 60 Minutes?  If the composer didn't attach reference a high-profile world event, would it be picked up by the world's orchestras?  If it did enter the standard repertoire, would American society be substantially altered?  Is there any pressure for somebody to compose such a piece?  How many Americans care (or even know) that in Hilary Hahn we have arguably one of the greatest prodigies in a long time?  How many Americans would care (or even notice) if she never performed in an American concert hall again?  I think we all know what the unfortunate but true answers to those questions are. 

Sports and film prodigies matter to American society.  Is the pressure on Jay Greenberg really comparable to the pressure that was on, say, Tiger Woods when he burst on the scene?

Yes, there is pressure on American classical musicians nowadays, but is it really coming from American society or from inside its own niche?

Comments

[Lisa Hirsch]

I guess one of my questions is about who actually cared in Mozart's time. I don't know offhand who attended concerts of his new music. I do know that nobles and churchmen cared about new music in general. But I suspect that there were plenty of people who didn't know and didn't care. If you didn't live in a major European city - Salzburg, Vienna, Prague, Paris, London, Rome - what were the chances of your ever coming in contact with his music? I don't know enough about the performance history of Mozart's music to begin to answer this and related questions.