And now compelled speech is canceling classical music. Heather Mac Donald is a favorite of mine, and even if classical music is not your thing, you’ll probably know that canceling a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture is a stupid way to virtue-signal any solidarity you may have with the Ukraine or opposition to Putin. Ms. Mac Donald published yesterday at City Journal, and here’s her opener:
Compelled speech is becoming
routine in academia. On campuses, faculty candidates for hiring and tenure
increasingly must attest to their dedication to diversity to be considered for
a job or a promotion. At least one university requires professors to post a
“land acknowledgement”—a statement declaring that the space being used was
originally the habitation of indigenous people—on their syllabus page.
Now the classical music
establishment is adopting that same norm. Russian musicians are being asked to
condemn President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to retain jobs and
performing engagements in the West. Staying above the fray is not an option,
and denouncing the war will not ward off cancellation. Russian musicians must
criticize Putin by name or be blacklisted.
Classical music’s recent self-abasement for its “whiteness” laid the groundwork
for this presumptive group guilt. Since the George Floyd race riots in May and
June 2020, directors of orchestras, opera companies, and conservatories have
lambasted their own field for its historical demographics, said to be
inextricably linked to racism. Music critics have sneered at Beethoven and
other composers for having allegedly leveraged their whiteness to achieve
undeserved acclaim. Mea culpas and promises of fealty to Black Lives Matter
have become de rigeuer in mission statements and fundraising pitches. Now these
coerced confessions are demanded of a subset of musicians whose Russianness
makes them as suspect as whiteness does the entire Caucasian population. Even
Russian music itself faces a political litmus test.
Ms. Mac Donald goes on to cite chapter-and-verse on the numerous
cancellations worldwide of Russian-born musicians, including the cancellation
of superstar Anna Netrebko’s upcoming appearances at The Metropolitan Opera -- and
even dead composers such as Tchaikovsky.
Madness. Full article is
here.
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