Interesting short article in the 'Politisches Feuilleton' of the German radio station Deutschlandfunk, correctly complaining that the way in which society often looks at the classical music world, is entirely wrong. It is the capitalist, materialist way of treating classical music not as an art form, but as a business, so that it is run as a business is run, thereby completely bypassing the nature of what the art form is. Namely, classical music is neither entertainment (although it forms a relatively small part of it), nor a business which is motivated by making profit, but an art form as a common good for the whole of society, in which money is invested to make it available. So, losing money by funding classical music is not losing at all, but an investment as paying for motorways is an investment, or the police force or the army. Nobody complains that the police force doesn't make any profit. The crisis of the art form has more than one source, but the entirely ignorant way its funding is treated, is one of the most serious ones. This hangs together with the idea, that classical music is a museum culture and has less and less relationship with the modern world, which ignores the strong influence the art form has on human psychology, which is resonating with everything classical music has to offer, since its dynamics are universal and not locked-up in history.
Looking at the art form as a museum culture, as a business, and as entertainment for the happy few, is a lethal combination of ignorance and indifference - in other words: decadence and barbarism. It is like throwing the family jewels in the dustbin because gold, diamonds and antiques don't show enough similarities with plastic, stainless steel and diswashers.
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