For every art form and medium, the artist must constantly strive for progress. Even now, our Enlightened forefathers call out, “Macht Neue!” from their graves. Whether this means birthing new works, or finding ways to translate celebrated masterpieces, artists and patrons must now, more than ever, seek to enliven the progress of art.
The focal point of this discussion is, of course, the Metropolitan Opera’s opening production of Puccini’s Tosca, and the many and varied responses to it. Perhaps the most striking an cogent of these responses came from the Met’s Peter Gelb and from the NY Times columnist Anthony Tommasini, who fire a shot across the bows of opera WAGs everywhere: art moves forward, so get over it!
Especially now, as art in America is once again shunted to one side so that ‘the necessities’ can be supported, art administrators and especially patrons play a key role in calling for that which will make art relevant and vital; new works. The logistical considerations of new productions whilst the box office numbers are in the tank are numerous, but another Monet exhibition, Nutcracker, or Beethoven cycle, will do little for the arts in the long run.
If I were to have the privilege of reading a music history text a hundred years after my death, I for one would like to see more from our time than nostalgia and cautious subsistence.
