Behind all this is the immense economic pressure faced by all classical music institutions, attributed in great part to shifting demographics. (Less often cited are the cultural collapse of the education system all along the line for all demographics, or—is it possible?—the failure of our orchestras of technically perfect indistinguishables to produce art of sufficient power and allure to hang onto the demographic they’ve already got.) This, in turn, feeds the push to turn the symphony orchestra (theatre company, opera or dance company) into a “community service” organization. Another idea that sounds lovely, but of which I am suspect. So many “communities” of so many sorts, so many self-identities, all with their resident warriors and militant fellow-travelers on the march. How about the one I belong to? Our acronym is ESGA—Elders Starved for Great Art. And if you complain that it should be WESGA—White Elders Starved for Great Art, I’ll agree that alas, it’s all too true, but really, all are welcome. Our list of querulous demands is in preparation.

Music 2: Schenker-Shaming. It’s not often that skirmishes in the world of music theory spill out into the broader battlefields of the culture wars, and probably this one would have attracted no notice had its timing not coincided with the incendiary Moment. But it did, and while it would be easy to pass it over as a purely academic squabble with only a trickle-down effect on creation and performance, that effect is nonetheless real, especially in relation to the very tensions we’ve been discussing. Besides, the sheer bitterness of the debate has already occasioned comment in The National Review and on Norman Lebrecht’s slippeddisc.com, the most widely read English-language music blog, so it has already burst its usual bounds.

The University of North Texas in Denton is the world capitol of the realm of Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935). At UNT is the vast archive of writings by and about Schenker, digitized in recent years by Timothy Jackson, as well as the headquarters of the Journal of Schenkerian Studies, which Jackson, a tenured professor at UNT, jointly oversees with Stephen Slotow. In answer to a paper delivered by Phillip A. Ewell, a respected music theorist of color, in which Ewell attempts to demonstrate racism in the very structure of Schenkerian analytics, Jackson called for responses to Ewell’s arguments, and printed them in the Journal. In what appears to have been an avalanche awaiting the little tremor that might set it off, the inevitable open letter of protest was soon at hand, signed (“like sheep,” comments Lebrecht) by some 900 music theorists, which accounts for all but about 10% of the Society for Music Theory’s membership.

I won’t be exploring the theoretical disagreements in any depth here; I am not qualified to do so. But a basic understanding of a few core principles of Schenkerian analysis will be helpful, if only to see what Ewell was complaining about. Perhaps the most important single thing we could say about it is that, in comparison with other theoretical approaches (a matter of emphasis, not of either/or), it’s more concerned with the horizontal dimension of music, and less with the vertical. Rather than involving itself with the harmonic structure at any given moment, it sees this structure (chords, in short) always in relation to the progression of which it is a part, always in a state of becoming something else. This progression is generated by a “Fundamental Structure” (Ursatz), and elaborated outward from that via a “Fundamental Line” (Urlinie), which creates a sort of arc through the composition as a whole. Voice leading and the role of passing notes in defining and moving through “tonal spaces” play a more important role than they would in pure harmonic analysis. Further, some moments along the way are seen as more important than others, and at any given point in the vertical dimension, certain notes are deemed more important than others, and to be treated as such in performance. These all may seem elements we would take for granted in looking at a piece of music—but of course it’s far more complicated than this little sketch, and as I said, it’s a matter of emphasis. Two things are self-evident about this kind of thought: it is linear, and it is hierarchical. Or to put it in other terms: it is narrative in form, and sets priorities along the way.