What could have been

I was thinking about this idea of England being a land without music, specifically in regard to the reading by Nicholas Temperley, The Lost Chord. It sounds like the potential careers of so many musicians and potential composers were never even allowed to get off the ground, completely stifled in child hood. As was mentioned in class today, it really is sad to think about what could have been. England could have been known for its music during the Victorian era if there hadn’t been such a stigma about gentlemen and music/performance, even women and music/performance.

And those individuals who were able to study music and compose, were left abandoned by their mother country. For whatever reason England just couldn’t get behind their own music. As the reading by Christina Bashford points out, it’s not that music wasn’t being composed, it absolutely was, but many of the English composers were forced to turn to popular music and teaching because of a lack of support from the people. There is now such a void in the music history of England and no one will ever know what great budding musical gifts this country may have had.

In regard to amateur music making and performing, England sounds like a lovely place to have been. The reading made it sound so picturesque, sitting outside in the spring and playing chamber music. What a delightful way to enjoy an afternoon. It makes me wish we had a similar tradition today. How wonderful would it be to socialize in that way? Neither one of my parents are particularly musical so I was never really encouraged to play an instrument, but I imagine it would be so fulfilling to be surrounded by such a large group of relatively proficient musicians; proficient enough to sit down and play Mendelssohn or Haydn, and just play the day away.

Clearly the British were musical people; I don’t think it’s really all that common today to find in a typical social gathering 2 violinists, someone to play viola and another to play the cello. There are too many other things that take our attention away from musical studies, for example, standardized tests, video games, TV, etc… I think it would be charming if this practice of making chamber music was to come back in style. But history does tend to repeat itself, even music history, so maybe one day it will.