Page 275 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2024. Glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes ▪︎ Music Criticism – Yesterday and Today. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 7
P. 275
what is happening to music criticism?
corrective for the artist. The specialist music teacher corrects the mis-
takes, whereas the critic only finds them.46
Every value judgment must be justified. The judgement expressed by
the critic must be supported by an answer to the question of why they think
that way. Criticism must express a clear position and must be comprehen-
sible, which is, of course, the most difficult thing. Only a clear idea can also
be a clearly expressed idea.
Criticism is aimed at a specific audience and must therefore be written
in such a way as to be accessible to the target audience. Calvocoressi says:
Thus, for an accurate understanding, the public must be familiarised
with the critic’s vocabulary, through his publications. This is a perma-
nent imperative condition for a critic to make himself understood and
believed by the public.47
It is also important to take context into account. We cannot judge mu-
sical life in Ljubljana the same way we judge musical life in, say, Berlin. We
cannot judge a professional ensemble the same way we judge an amateur
ensemble. Yet the taking into account of context must be clearly defined in
criticism.
Criticism in Slovenia
The remarks on the development and state of music criticism around the
world that introduced this paper also apply to Slovenia, except that the con-
sequences of social changes are perhaps even more evident here than else-
where. In the years following the Second World War, culture enjoyed a
privileged position in this country. This is partly because it was important
to the communist authorities as one of the mechanisms enabling the ide-
ological control of society, and partly – perhaps – because of the extreme-
ly important mobilising role that culture played during the national libera-
tion war. That is why the present confrontation of culture with the embrace
of capital is all the more stressful, while the small size of the Slovene cultur-
al space is an additional aggravating factor.
Today the fundamental question for Slovene music criticism is: does it
still exist? Like everywhere else in the world, serious music criticism is dis-
appearing from print media and other media. Music criticism has practi-
cally been eliminated from Delo, once the country’s most important na-
46 Ibid., 107.
47 Ibid., 105.
275
corrective for the artist. The specialist music teacher corrects the mis-
takes, whereas the critic only finds them.46
Every value judgment must be justified. The judgement expressed by
the critic must be supported by an answer to the question of why they think
that way. Criticism must express a clear position and must be comprehen-
sible, which is, of course, the most difficult thing. Only a clear idea can also
be a clearly expressed idea.
Criticism is aimed at a specific audience and must therefore be written
in such a way as to be accessible to the target audience. Calvocoressi says:
Thus, for an accurate understanding, the public must be familiarised
with the critic’s vocabulary, through his publications. This is a perma-
nent imperative condition for a critic to make himself understood and
believed by the public.47
It is also important to take context into account. We cannot judge mu-
sical life in Ljubljana the same way we judge musical life in, say, Berlin. We
cannot judge a professional ensemble the same way we judge an amateur
ensemble. Yet the taking into account of context must be clearly defined in
criticism.
Criticism in Slovenia
The remarks on the development and state of music criticism around the
world that introduced this paper also apply to Slovenia, except that the con-
sequences of social changes are perhaps even more evident here than else-
where. In the years following the Second World War, culture enjoyed a
privileged position in this country. This is partly because it was important
to the communist authorities as one of the mechanisms enabling the ide-
ological control of society, and partly – perhaps – because of the extreme-
ly important mobilising role that culture played during the national libera-
tion war. That is why the present confrontation of culture with the embrace
of capital is all the more stressful, while the small size of the Slovene cultur-
al space is an additional aggravating factor.
Today the fundamental question for Slovene music criticism is: does it
still exist? Like everywhere else in the world, serious music criticism is dis-
appearing from print media and other media. Music criticism has practi-
cally been eliminated from Delo, once the country’s most important na-
46 Ibid., 107.
47 Ibid., 105.
275
