Dear Hope
>There is more than one version of this story. .
>
>It seems to me that this matter may not be an appropriate topic for MLIST.
>This list has never before discussed the politics of the Middle East -- an
>extremely divisive issue having NOTHING to do with musicology, and one on
>which MANY people have extremely strong feelings.
I hope sincerely that I'm not playing advocatus diaboli here, but your
(unquoted) conclusion that we should eschew discussing the Middle East per
se -- with which I entirely agree -- does not follow from the precise
premises you proffer. In particular, it seems to me hyperbolic or
inaccurate to suggest that this incident has *nothing* to do with
musicology. The conditions under which musicians must perform concern us, I
should say. Have we not discussed issues wagnerian, including the WWF
smackdown on the green hill in recent years? And the Israeli ban on Wagner?
If not, could we not do so?
Perhaps that's the most important question. Quite understandably, I
think you're invoking a slippery slope. Once the topic is raised, it must
of its own inertia lead to an a-musicological donnybrook. It is exactly
that which I would like to contest. I say "like to" advisedly, since I'm
not sure that I can. In part, as American philosopher Doris Day once
pointed out in a slightly different context, "the future's not our to see."
But, too, I think the issue that by now hangs over virtually any open-forum
scholarly discussion is, paraphrasing a slightly earlier songbird, the
spectre of politics haunting musicology.
I'm both a fatalist and an optimist on this score. The former, because
music scholars who can't focus on music deserve exposure. The latter,
because I should think the great majority of musicologists, very much
including participants in this list, have, as the vernacular has it, had it
up to here with bellicose digressions.
All of which, a convoluted but sincere way of saying I truly hope your
fears are unfounded.
Cheers & Best,
Michael
"Froh aber Fafner"
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Mar 06 2002 - 15:48:01 PST