and let’s read this:
Lexicon of Musical Invective: Critical Assaults on Composers Since Beethoven’s Time
By Nicolas Slonimsky Amazon Link
The prelude by the author ‘Non-Acceptance of the Unfamiliar’ gives a nice bird-eye view for all the trash talks upcoming in the later chapters. Critics find faults from every perspectives, and came up with thousands of ways to say “this piece is bad”. It can be ’too modern’, ’not melodic enough’, ‘sounds like Chinese/animal noises/etc’, ’too loud/weak’, or even, comparable to math:
Professional music critics rarely possess any aptitude for mathematics. Hence they like to compare musical processes unintelligible to them with the equally darksome methods of mathematical thinkings: eg “the music of Wagner imposes mental torture. They’re only algebra has a right to inflict.”
The following are some excerpts I found interesting. For full enjoyment, buy the book! Critics can be witty and polite:
Oscar Wilde says in The Picture of Dorian Gray: “I like Wagner’s music better than anybody’s. It is so loud that one can talk the whole time without other people hearing what one says.”
But sometimes, just starkly rude:
Max Reger dispatched to the Munich critic Rudolf Lewis:
“Ich sitze in dem kleinsten Zimmer in meinem Hause. Ich habe ihre Kritik vor mir. Im nächsten Augenblick wird sie hinter mir sein.”
Interesting enough, the book doesn’t include anything for Schubert (ah, the cinnamon roll). And there’s a lexicon (28 pages) for Wagner"
Ein Wagner-Lexicon, Wörterbuch der Unhöflichkeit, enthaltend grobe, höhnende, gehässige und verleumderische Ausdrücke welche gegen den Meister Richard Wagner, seine Werke und seiner Anhänger von den Feinden und Spöttern gebrauchet worden sine, zur Gemütsergötzung in müssigen Studen gesammelt.
Trash talks are much more entertaining to read than enthusiastic endorsements, of course. But just something to remember:
(i) the composers, despited being criticized harshly, are extremely famous, if not super, successful in their real life. Like Tchaikovsky was frequently commissioned by the Tsar, and he conducted the opening concert for Carnegie hall. Beethoven was so popular that when he made noises about leaving Vienna, members of the aristocracy initiated a subscription to create an annual stipend for the composer, just to keep him in town.
(ii) New music always sounds loud to old ears. The musical classics of today were the unmelodious monsters of yesterday.
(ii) the critics making harsh, absurd, biased negative reviews for legendary pieces are themselves well-educated and experienced professional music industry insider. A lot of the critics who seemed really vicious in print were actually pretty mild and normal in everyday life, and the reason they were so over-the-top was partly just to be entertaining.
Just, don’t take things too seriously.