ABSTRACT
Arguing somewhat nostalgically from the perspective of history, Riemann observes that an undisciplined and market-driven element in modern musical culture has resulted in very little of worth, and that those works that actually do merit serious attention are set aside in favor of trivialities. With the rise of the virtuoso conductor, the demise of home music making, and the ease with which composers can make names for themselves, the practice of music “has been profaned.” Further, the phenomenon of specialization has resulted in the separation of the skills that once resided in the single performer-composer. An overloaded, unnatural music that delights in technique for its own sake is the outcome. Th e public and critics alike, who are in no position to judge such supposedly meaningful music on a single hearing, are misled about its worth, whereas performers and conductors feel obliged to perform it. After having described the existing situation, Riemann proposes an antidote on the model of Johannes Brahms, a composer who, in his recognition of the worth and relevance of music as ancient as that of the Renaissance, parallels the young discipline of Musikwissenschaft, represented prominently by Riemann himself.
