Page 277 - 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. 277
what is happening to music criticism?
mination of the employment contract of a member of the chorus is surely
a unique case.
I nevertheless believe that a significant step forward has been taken
as regards critical integrity. In my earlier paper, in the part dealing with
opera criticism, I highlighted the problem of maintaining a healthy min-
imum of critical credibility, illustrating it with the example of a critic in-
volved in writing reviews of an institution with which he had, that same
season, signed a series of “significant” contracts and received a number of
other benefits, all of which was clearly reflected in his writing. The situation
has significantly improved since then as regards the avoidance of conflicts
of interests. Although we still find examples of a critic being linked, pro-
fessionally or otherwise, to the institutions he covers, these are quite rare.
It should also be acknowledged that music criticism in Slovenia, un-
like criticism in certain other fields of the arts, has for the most part man-
aged to maintain evaluation as an essential element of criticism. Despite oc-
casional excesses, I believe that Slovene music criticism to date has fulfilled
its role quite well. The question now is where does it go from here? The ab-
sence of criticism is certainly not a good thing for the arts, not only for de-
velopmental and aesthetic reasons but also as regards placing the arts in
the social sphere as part of public discourse. It is time that this were recog-
nised by cultural policy, which should respond, not, as has been proposed,
by creating specialised media for arts criticism, welcome though this might
be, since this would mean placing criticism under the exclusive focus of the
interested public, which is still a marginal position. Instead, we should sub-
sidise arts criticism, above all in those print media with the widest circula-
tion and put the arts back on the agenda of socially relevant topics.
Bibliography
Literature
Andreis, Josip. “Muzička kritika.” Muzička enciklopedija, vol. 2., 244. Zagreb: Ju-
goslovanski leksikografski zavod, 1958.
Anon. “Music Criticism.” Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com
/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/music-criticism.
Elkins, James. What Happened to Art Criticism? Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press,
2003.
FW. “Do we still need music critics?” Artmuselondon (31 January 2020). https://
artmuselondon.com/2020/01/31/do-we-still-need-music-critics/.
277
mination of the employment contract of a member of the chorus is surely
a unique case.
I nevertheless believe that a significant step forward has been taken
as regards critical integrity. In my earlier paper, in the part dealing with
opera criticism, I highlighted the problem of maintaining a healthy min-
imum of critical credibility, illustrating it with the example of a critic in-
volved in writing reviews of an institution with which he had, that same
season, signed a series of “significant” contracts and received a number of
other benefits, all of which was clearly reflected in his writing. The situation
has significantly improved since then as regards the avoidance of conflicts
of interests. Although we still find examples of a critic being linked, pro-
fessionally or otherwise, to the institutions he covers, these are quite rare.
It should also be acknowledged that music criticism in Slovenia, un-
like criticism in certain other fields of the arts, has for the most part man-
aged to maintain evaluation as an essential element of criticism. Despite oc-
casional excesses, I believe that Slovene music criticism to date has fulfilled
its role quite well. The question now is where does it go from here? The ab-
sence of criticism is certainly not a good thing for the arts, not only for de-
velopmental and aesthetic reasons but also as regards placing the arts in
the social sphere as part of public discourse. It is time that this were recog-
nised by cultural policy, which should respond, not, as has been proposed,
by creating specialised media for arts criticism, welcome though this might
be, since this would mean placing criticism under the exclusive focus of the
interested public, which is still a marginal position. Instead, we should sub-
sidise arts criticism, above all in those print media with the widest circula-
tion and put the arts back on the agenda of socially relevant topics.
Bibliography
Literature
Andreis, Josip. “Muzička kritika.” Muzička enciklopedija, vol. 2., 244. Zagreb: Ju-
goslovanski leksikografski zavod, 1958.
Anon. “Music Criticism.” Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com
/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/music-criticism.
Elkins, James. What Happened to Art Criticism? Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press,
2003.
FW. “Do we still need music critics?” Artmuselondon (31 January 2020). https://
artmuselondon.com/2020/01/31/do-we-still-need-music-critics/.
277
