I don’t know, Mike. You’re a composer , and you actually know how musicians and the bookers of orchestras think. So I take your point, when you swat down young Santiago Ramos for his defense of the New York Philharmonic’s February trip to North Korea. Beautiful music can be put to the service of evil—the Nazis and the Soviets had some reasonably good orchestras, didn’t they?—and something beautiful taking money to serve up its beauty for the delectation of evil men, well, that’s pretty much the definition of prostitution, isn’t it?
And yet, Mike, there’s a small defense of art that I’m unwilling to let go entirely. Music is the most contentless of the arts—as I remember, that was just about the only claim I made back in “The Soundtracking of America” that didn’t induce violent thoughts in you—and thus the beauty of music can reach even dictators preternaturally sensitive to rebellious thoughts. And with that connection to beauty, there is at least some drawing of the self out to the real world.
The potential gain of the Philharmonic in North Korea is small, I know. But the cost is low: I don’t see any “diplomatic victory” in the visit; everybody knows Kim Jong-il is a murderous dictator who is destroying his country, and no visit from an orchestra is going to change that. So why not try drawing him out with a little music?
The answer, I suppose, is that it can be read as disrespect for the man’s many victims. But must it be read that way?
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
