Has the 19th-century German composer Ludwig van Beethoven become a modern symbol of “exclusion and elitism” for rich, white men?
In an article published by Vox on Tuesday that quoted New York Philharmonic clarinetist Anthony McGill, writers Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding argued that the work has been propped up by white, wealthy men, whose embrace of the musical composition stood as a symbol of “their superiority and importance.”
“For others — women, LGBTQ+ people, people of color — Beethoven’s symphony is predominantly a reminder of classical music’s history of exclusion and elitism,” Sloan and Harding wrote.
The writers suggested that because Beethoven was white and most other classical musicians are white, classical music has become a form of “exclusion, elitism, and gatekeeping” for black and brown people.
“As you perpetuate the idea that the giants of the music all look the same, it conveys to the other that there’s not a stake in that music for them,” classical music critic James Bennett II told Vox.
McGill struck a more measured tone, suggesting that an overemphasis on Beethoven’s work keeps new musicians and ideas from being fully appreciated in real time.
McGill said, “If you pretend like there’s no other music out there, that Beethoven is the greatest music that ever will matter,” then new listeners will not feel welcome in the genre.
Vox is not the only left-leaning outlet pushing to examine the racial makeup of classical music composers. In July, the New York Times published a lengthy article that accused the world of classical music of failing to address racism.
“With their major institutions founded on white European models and obstinately focused on the distant past, classical music and opera have been even slower than American society at large to confront racial inequity,” read the New York Times’s article.
