Tribal lore
Sir: In perpetuating this topic (Letters, 22 August) I do not wish to ascribe more im- portance to Sir Denis Brogan's views on music than they deserve, but feel that a scholar and historian of Sir Denis's eminence cannot have made his original remark on the lack of absolutely first class Jewish com- posers without some factual basis. So I should like to ask him some questions.
Will Sir Denis name his group of abso- lutely first class composers? We have already been promised Bach and Stravinsky (but not Britten and Shostakovich, both very much alive). Having told us that Mendelssohn and Mahler are to be excluded (but not on the basis that they were Jewish) will Sir Denis also add a brief note as to why, using his 'absolute' standards, he includes or ex- cludes Mozart, Haydn, Takemitsu and Scar- latti. I should perhaps add that for my own amusement I have been trying to compile a list of absolutely first class composers for some nine years using as criteria my opinions and prejudices (in contrast to Sir Denis) and my list is still not complete, nor likely to be while my ignorance of vast areas of musical history remains.
Will Sir Denis please enlighten us as to the reasons why the Jews have not produced these absolutely first class composers? We have now been informed twice over that he can produce these reasons if he takes the time off to do so—this is too much for the average music lover to bear! However.jf Sir Denis can write an article in support of his assertions which makes sense I, for one, will be fascinated to read it. Can I suggest that he starts his research in The Oxford Com- panion to Music pp 541-5 (Jewish Music)?
Finally may I observe that Sir Denis appears to suffer from exactly the same com- plaint as Darsie Gillie's 'anxious and proud Viennese Jewish acquaintance' without any of the extenuating circumstances which one could invoke to excuse that gentleman's hopelessly biased chart. The absolutely first class composers are not confined to one race, one epoch or one area; and much less to the limitations of one man's sensibility and scholarship.
Previous page
