Now that the labor strife is over and the new season at the Metropolitan Opera (below) will open on time after all, it is time to lighten up and shout out a bit.
But no one should be naïve. And no one should get too complacent. Even with the labor negotiations now settled, the future may not be so rosy for the Met, or for other big opera companies:
Still, this season will go on, starting on Oct. 27 with Giuseppe Verdi‘s epic “Aida.” So to see how much you know about the Met –- The Ear finds that opera fans, like sports fans, are vast repositories of historical trivia and statistics.
Try this quiz, based on historical facts, about the Met that was posted by NPR (National Public Radio:
But a word of advice or warning: Make sure your speakers are turned on or use headphones, since sound is an integral part of the quiz:
It also asked both readers and professional performers to name some of the greatest American music, symphonies or other genres, that deserve a wider hearing and more performances.
The posting got well-deserved responses from readers and professional musicians. And the answers are still pouring in.
Here is what The Ear wants to know: Why don’t we hear more about these candidates for The Great American Symphony? In fact, we don’t we get to hear them in performance.
Is it because they are inferior? Or overlooked?
Or is classical music subject to a bias that favors Europe over American, the Old World over the New World?
We hear Samuel Barber’s Violin concerto often enough. So, why not his symphonies? (You can hear part of Barber’s Symphony No. 1, performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and conductor Leonard Slatkin in YouTube video at the bottom.) And the same applies to many other composers.
Here is a link to my original post, with stories featuring links to NPR blogger Tom Huizenga and to “All Things Considered” host Robert Siegel’s interview with American conductor JoAnn Falletta (below) about this:
Here are some other important links to follow-up, with audio samples, to other candidates for The Great American Symphony. Be sure to read the enlightening reader COMMENTS in all of them:
Here is one that includes offerings by that American-born and American-trained champion of American music conductor Marin Alsop (below):
And the masterful cultural historian Joseph Horowitz (below), who spoke so engagingly in Madison two seasons ago during the centennial of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet offered these thoughts: