Post-Classical?
The term “post-classical” is a new one for many of us who are “classical” musicians and educators. We asked Joseph Horowitz, the Symposium keynote speaker and author of (among many other books) The Post-Classical Predicament to explain his understanding of term. Here’s his reply:
The 19th century Boston critic John Sullivan Dwight, who more than anyone else defined “classical music” for Americans, did so in juxtaposition with “popular music,” with the concomitant notion that classical music was supreme. (Dwight called Stephen Foster’s “Old Folks at Home” a “melodic itch.”) Dwight’s
understanding of “classical music” illustrates why this term is poisonous today; it implicitly deprecates popular and indigenous music of every kind, Western and non-Western. We are challenged to find a term to
replace it. For some time, I have opted for “post-classical” to designate a new and more variegated musical landscape into which classical music fits. I consider, eg, Philip Glass and Gidon Kremer “post-classical”
musicians, and so are many others who matter nowadays. The term has been picked up with some alacrity by others.