Music in Time of War: President Leon Botstein Writes about Music’s Role in War Beyond the Battlefield in The Musical Quarterly
Leon Botstein. Photo by Matt Dine
Bard College President Leon Botstein traces the “complex and subtle connection between music and war in Europe and North America” in history and the present day in his Notes from the Editor for The Musical Quarterly’s Fall-Winter 2022 issue. “Music has long been employed to inspire fear in one’s opponents and bravery in one’s own warriors. Since the advent of technologies of mass communication, however, it is the role of music in war beyond the battlefield that invites equal scrutiny. Indeed, there turns out to be no shortage of music directed at the civilian population designed to deepen patriotic fervor, extol victory, and lament defeat without embracing capitulation,” he writes.
Leon Botstein is founder and music director of The Orchestra Now (TŌN), music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra (ASO), artistic codirector of Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival, and conductor laureate and principal guest conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO), where he served as music director from 2003 to 2011.
Post Date: 01-10-2023
Leon Botstein is founder and music director of The Orchestra Now (TŌN), music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra (ASO), artistic codirector of Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival, and conductor laureate and principal guest conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO), where he served as music director from 2003 to 2011.
Post Date: 01-10-2023