3 thoughts on “The Mysterious Barricades in Classical Music

  1. Don Paterson says:

    Surely every serious classical music listener knows of ‘The Academy’. It’s worth a trip to Trafalgar Square just to view and walk St Martins-in-the-Fields. Dating from the 1720s, its classic columned portico surmounted by a spire was the inspiration for countless New England churches and elsewhere in the USA and world for that matter. The ‘Academy’ is a very recent attraction by comparison…

  2. Frank Dominguez says:

    That’s just the point, though: not all of our listeners are “serious,” i.e., extremely knowledgable listeners. We care about all our listeners, to be sure, and value each and every one of them, whatever category they fit. I’m just intrigued by how some of these terms might sound to the uninitiated.

  3. Erin says:

    It has been my experience that the attitude of so-called “serious” classical music fans can be far more mystifying than terminology to casual listeners. I listen to WDAV online at work, at the front desk in a medical office. “Serious” listeners occasionally come in and start spouting about composers and style and technical details about the piece that’s playing. Basically showing off. Then they condescendingly ask if I know much about music, at which point I inform them that I have a master’s degree in trumpet performance. This is one of my pet peeves, as I think the elitist attitude behind this behavior alienates more people from classical music than all the French titles, Russian composers’ names, and technical jargon combined. It is music, people! It’s for everyone!
    As far as strange names go, however, Bach’s Wachet Auf never fails to elicit a giggle.

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