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When the Vienna Boys Choir recently performed at the Cathedral Basilica, marking the beginning of the holiday concert season, one of the selections on their program was the "Credo" from the Gospel Mass by Robert Ray. Although the director announced that the young men would be performing an American work, the ensemble, hailing from another country, did not realize that composer Robert Ray was not only an American composer, but lived in St. Louis just a few miles away. After a flurry of communication, Mr. Ray and his wife were able to attend the next performance and be recognized in person for his contribution. Mr. Ray is a composer and pianist of solid classical training whose work fuses the greatness of the past with the best of modern trends. From Vienna to St. Louis, a bridge was built, one of many established by music, spanning both cultural and historical divides.
Although we speak of music as being the universal language, perhaps it would be better to speak of it as the universal nexus, or connector. Sometimes we hear music that does not automatically speak to us, yet, as we familiarize ourselves with it, it becomes more appealing and we begin to find value in it. I recall a classmate in college who said he forced himself to listen to atonal music (music without a key or tonal center, which rarely makes sense to new listeners unaccustomed to such styles) until the music finally did make sense to him. Similarly, how many of us struggled through Bartok's Microcosmos as piano students, bewildered by the strange harmonies, only to later come to recognize Bela Bartok as one of the most eloquent voices of his generation and a profound and eminently singable melodist? No, we don't always understand the language—or languages—of music, but over time our understanding and acceptance is deepened.
I have long maintained that classical music, in particular, practiced multiculturalism long before the term was even coined. Ironically, some of those who don't understand the richness of classical music label it as a narrow genre geared only to specific groups—just the opposite. A quick glance at how classical music developed and spread quickly dispels such a notion.
First of all, what we term "Western music" sprang from many sources, many of them decidedly non-Western, including Middle Eastern liturgical chants and Indo-European melodic traditions. The earliest multiculturalism in Western music was limited to composers in one European country exploring the music of another European country, as in the case of Ravel, Debussy and Rimsky-Korsakov exploring the music of Spain from their vantage points in France and Russia, respectively. But the music of Spain is in turn a finely crafted amalgam of Arabic, Jewish, northern African, Roman and native traditions. (How many people realize that the banjo is descended from African instruments?). Each time we hear a work inspired by the Spanish tradition, we are hearing a mosaic of all these traditions.
Johann Sebastian Bach was a fervent admirer of music from cultures other than his own, and his titles firmly express his indebtedness: English Suites, French Overture, Italian Concerto, to name but three. Bach did much to popularize the music of non-German composers, at a time when communication was not immediate. Later on, composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos returned the favor through such compositions as the Bachianas Brasileiras. Jumping forward in history, Gustav Mahler drew inspiration from a variety of sources, particularly his own Jewish heritage. His Symphony No. 1 includes the famous section in which the orchestra imitates the clanging cymbals of a traditional klezmer band. Excelling in classical music provided Europe's Jewish minority a means of acquiring respect and acceptance from the broader public, and in Russia even provided a means of leaving the "pale of settlement," where Jews were often forced to live in isolation.
When Antonin Dvorak lived in the United States, he was profoundly impacted by the cultural diversity he witnessed here. His testament to what he experienced is his "New World" Symphony, one of the best loved works in the entire classical repertoire, in which he paid homage to the various cultures that made up America. From the folk songs of the pioneers, to the Black spirituals of the South, to the flash of Native Americans thundering across the plains--all are vividly portrayed in this epic work.
It was an American Jew, George Gershwin, who was able to bridge the cultures of Europe, African-American and American popular music. Such works as his Rhapsody in Blue and Porgy and Bess redefined the scope and spectrum of what "classical" music signified. Likewise, the classical composers of Latin America, such as Heitor Villa-Lobos, Carlos Chavez and Alberto Ginastera, were able to successfully graft music from Hispanic and indigenous sources onto the ever-growing trunk of classicism. Ginastera's ground-breaking Piano Sonata No. 1 even managed to successfully combine folk and indigenous patterns with the modern techniques of serialism and atonalism. (As a sidebar, the fourth movement of Ginastera's first piano concerto was even arranged and recorded by the rock group Emerson, Lake and Palmer, meeting with the composer's approval.)
In the U.S. and elsewhere, classical music, however, was too often seen as the province of only the white middle and upper classes. Thankfully, this perception has begun to change, although it wasn't necessarily easy: artists such as Marian Anderson and Shirley Verrett, among a host of others, made heavy personal sacrifices in order to open the doors of classical music performance to people of all races and backgrounds. Amazingly, today Asian artists are a defining force in the performance of traditional European classical music. Classical music is not just a coat of many colors, but is stitched from many styles, many yarns and many fashions.
In St. Louis, many wonderful programs exist to make it possible for students from all backgrounds to participate in the production of classical music. Prior to his untimely death in an auto accident while on a road performance, violinist Kim Williams labored tirelessly to establish the Cameron Youth Orchestra for African-American students. Following in his footsteps, the Orchestrating Diversity program provides both yearround instruction and performance opportunities for talented minority students, combining interaction with St. Louis Symphony players, music professors and other professional musicians. Providing access to solid music education, delivered by master performers, is key to perpetuating and expanding our heritage of classical music.
St. Louisan Fred Onovwerosuoke, orginally from Nigeria, long active in musical affairs in our area, has instituted a new series of Intercultural Music Initiative concerts, which opened their current season on November 20 at the Centene Center. Mr. Onovwerosuoke has always worked to build bridges of true understanding and cooperation between cultures, and his new venture, part of African Arts, is committed to the performance of contemporary African, Hispanic and Asian works, while maintaining links with the traditional European repertoire of classical music. Future performances during the 2011-12 season will feature the Songs of Africa Ensemble—comprised of Africans and non-Africans alike-—including a program on January 29 at Maryville University featuring music from the continents of the Americas, Africa and Asia.
True strength arises not from tearing down foundations, but from building upon them. The European heritage of classical music represents some of humankind's finest efforts, and the work of the European composers must never be forgotten or overlooked. But the broadening of classical music, a process which began not recently, but at the very inception of serious music, is perhaps the finest tribute we can pay to those who have gone before us. Music is bigger than any of us.
The St. Louis Symphony announced on December 7, 2011, that it has received $158,000 from the Monsanto Fund to support its IN UNISON® program. The chorus performs its popular Gospel Christmas program tonight, December 8, at 7 p.m. For tickets, visit SLSO's website, or call 314-534-1700. Songs of Africa Ensemble performs December 11 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the The Jack & Jill Kwanzaa Event at UM-St. Louis' Millennium Center, and on December 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 6800 Washington. For more information, go to africanchorus.org.
Gary Scott blogs about music, education and life in general at scottmind.blogspot.com.
