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  • Essay / Conducting and Politics: A Comparison with Igor Stravinsky

    Igor Stravinsky, often hailed as one of the greatest and most influential composers of the 20th century, influencing other legendary composers such as Aaron Copeland , noted that “conducting, like politics, rarely attracts original minds. His strong rhetoric undoubtedly conveys the idea that conductors can be "unequipped" and ultimately unqualified to do their jobs while retaining their position of "arbitrary authority" because they are good at " politics of power. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essayIn addition to the last statement, it is clear from the beginning of the document that, according to Stravinsky, politics and conducting have a lot in common. In the first sentence, he states that both are "more intended to make careers and exploit personalities than to constitute a profession intended to apply an exact and standardized discipline", meaning that there is not one certain set of rules to respect. when conducting music or politics, which also means that it implies that both are informal in nature, since the lack of a defined set of rules and manners constitutes a formality. He goes on to say that "women in society (including critics)" are more akin to observing aspects of the conductor other than his "musical qualities". This could be a possible clue that critics and other spectators are perhaps more amused by the informality they see conducting the orchestra rather than by the musicians themselves. To go further, we can even say that Stravinsky's aim was to convey the idea that the conductor thus distracts the audience and transforms them from listener to spectator. We can then deduce that he is not only comparing conducting and politics, but he is also juxtaposing conductors and conducted musicians because he mentions that a conductor can be "less well equipped for his work than his musicians", which helps to reaffirm the fact that a conductor occupies a less valuable position than those who actually play. He then mentions that "his career [as a conductor] does not depend" on the musicians, an almost ironic statement considering that a conductor is generally held in the highest esteem even though he can being an “incomplete musician”. » With the emergence of the second paragraph of the document, Mr. Stravinsky diagnoses the drivers of the "disease of the ego", stating that it was "naturally bred to begin with", further asserting that "the disease grows like a tropical weed under the sun.” sun of a flattering public,” which is a metaphor that symbolizes how the public contributes to the growing popularity of this phenomenon; how they practically encourage the conductor "to impose purely selfish, false and arbitrary authority" and how they seem to exaggerate the "real value" of the conductor "as opposed to the business of music." values ​​of seeking attention, as Stravinsky mentions that "the cult of the 'great' conductor also tends to replace the search for listening", specifying that even "critics who usually fall into the trap of describing the appearance of a conductor rather than the way he does it" the sound of the music" and that "the important part of the performance becomes the gesture". His argument was that people rely too much on how the conductor, who knows he has the audience's attention, to give..”