Do stop it with the "sweet"...

I've reviewed Anna Beer's book Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music for today's Sunday Times. It's a great read, exploring the lives and times of eight remarkable people who were significant both to their day and beyond: Francesca Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, Marianna Martines, Clara Schumann, Fanny Hensel, Lili Boulanger and Elizabeth Maconchy. The whole review is here. (There's a paywall. Which, let's face it, is probably the only way forward.)

The only thing I really didn't like was the title: "sweet airs" is exactly the sort of nonsense that women who compose have had to face across century after century and not far off "tinkling prettily" (a term I've seen applied to two very different composers whose works, had they been by men, would probably have been lauded instead for their Bergian expressivity or their contrapuntal rigour). Perhaps in this case it was picked for irony...

And meanwhile, it's Bartók's birthday

Here is Sir András Schiff talking about Bartók, whose birthday is today.

The music shall continue. Great art is eternal...

A farewell to the home pages

The Independent produces its last print edition tomorrow. Many unknown quantities remain regarding the future - as I'm a mere freelancer I work from home and I know nothing, but a great many superb journalists are losing their jobs and/or their columns, there's been a roaring silence thus far concerning future arts coverage and let's say I'm not holding my breath regarding classical music articles.

So here's what's probably my last piece, barring some miracle, and I'm glad to say it's a Glyndebourne preview. They've got an absolute peach of a season coming up and I enjoyed a lovely chat with Gus Christie - but it has to be noted that if you want a top-price seat for Meistersinger it'll cost rather a lot. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/glyndebourne-preview-seats-at-britains-best-known-opera-festival-this-summer-will-cost-up-to-300-a6946276.html

My heart is with my friends and colleagues today, editors, writers and columnists, people at the very top of their profession who in some cases have devoted almost their entire working lives to that newspaper and never ceased trying to make it the best in the business. I'm proud to have worked with you for 12 years and I am going to miss you very, very much.

Over and out.

In which footy fans try opera...

The irrepressible Michael Volpe, head of Opera Holland Park, has made a little film, available on BBC Arts, about what happened when he took some fellow Chelsea fans for their first-ever experience of opera, specifically La traviata.

Some remarkable things began to happen quite early in the journey, not only to them...

First thoughts on the first Culture White Paper in 50 years...

The government has published its first White Paper on Culture for more than 50 years, only the second one ever, and it is full of good stuff. Unfortunately, an adequate resemblance of its contents to the picture on the ground has thus far passed me by.

There are BME children playing violins on the cover, a trendy stakeholder hashtag #OurCulture, quotes from Shakespeare, strong words about inclusiveness, an insistence that every child should have the opportunity to encounter culture both in and out of school. There is, too, a thing called 'GREAT Britain' which seeks to increase the UK's 'soft power' in the world in general, through the impact and repute of its cultural life. Culture is the third most important concern for those wishing to visit the UK, it seems (only 17% of people cited the weather as an attraction), and the figures of its worth to the economy are writ large, in pink.

The good news is that a reasonably convincing attempt has been made to quantify the true value of culture - to the economy, to society, to people's quality of life, to our health, to the country's world standing and more. It's a difficult thing to pull off, but they have managed it, and done so with clarity, if not with a huge amount of detail as to how they intend to achieve their objectives, beyond working with the right people and organisations in such areas as diversity and devolution.

It is brilliant to see this being recognised at government level. But what is said, and what actually happens, still seem dangerously at odds. Try this, re public libraries:

Public libraries are an important part of our local communities. The Leadership for Libraries Taskforce was established in 2015 by the government and the Local Government Association. Its objectives are to support collaboration, best practice and development across England’s public library service. 

Oh yes? Did you know that several hundred public libraries have been forced to close in the past 5 years? Have a look...

The single biggest problem we're facing here, I think, is a lack of joined-up thinking. You can't make something happen by waving a lordly hand and saying "Make It So". It's fine to trumpet high ideals, but you cannot simultaneously cash-starve the local authorities that you expect to deliver them. They also have to take care of the elderly and the sick, organise rubbish collections, collect parking fines and find enough places in schools for local children, among other tasks. Many of them have been forced to slash their arts budgets because they simply can't afford them any more. For instance, an orchestra on tour or playing in residencies up and down the country may find that when once they were guaranteed a fee for a local appearance, instead they have been asked to share the risk with the local authority that runs the hall in question, and some are now being asked to shoulder all the risk if they want to keep playing there. Which they can't. And local authorities are closing libraries because they can't afford to keep them going.

A spirited response has come in from Deborah Annetts, chief executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians. She, too, has homed in on the gulf between ideal and reality - in particular, where provision of music in schools is concerned, and where intellectual property issues need to be to the fore. She says:

‘We are delighted to see the Government re-state its real commitment to music and the wider cultural sector. It is clear that Ed Vaizey and the wider Department really understand the importance of the creative industries to our economic success; something also recognised by the Chancellor George Osbourne.

‘We particularly welcome the recognition that there is a need for “facilities that allow artists to develop and create new work”, something that will be of critical importance in supporting new composers and performers.

‘We are however concerned that this White Paper stands in isolation from the wider ecology of the cultural sector. The absence of a commitment around creators’ rights and intellectual property – something that lies at the heart of our profession – is particularly notable.

‘Likewise, the investment in music education hubs and the Mayor’s Music Fund in London continues to be welcome, but music delivered as part of the curriculum in our schools is increasingly under pressure. With a newEnglish Baccalaureate (EBacc) replacing theold EBacc, the future of the arts subjects in schools and in the classroom is at risk. This is where the skills and talent pipeline of the future come from, the entrepreneurs, micro and small businesses of the future and it is an enormous cause for concern for the future of the creative industries.’

Read the whole Culture White Paper here.

No doubt a lot more responses will be turning up before very long.