Last weekend, I attended a coffee concert by the baroque company The Continuo Company. At 53, I was one of the youngest visitors. Around me wrinkled faces and grey hair. I increasingly hear that ageing audiences for classical music are a problem. I think this is utter nonsense and am increasingly annoyed by this view.
Is Lowlands' future at stake because they are not selling enough tickets to senior citizens? Is Pinkpop frantically trying to bring in more over-65s, with or without a walker. No, of course not. Music is simply linked to age. K3 for the youngest, pop, disco and rap for adolescents, the Top 2000 for older youngsters and Mozart, Bach and Wagner for the elderly.
Of course there are exceptions. Young people who love classical music all their lives, 70s who attend Rolling Stones concerts, I get that too. But it's about the big picture. The big picture.
I didn't want to know anything about classical music
Let me use my own musical development as an example. In high school, I compulsorily listened to An der schönen blauen Donau (Johann Strauss Jr.). At home, I played Hotel California (The Eagles) grey. I wanted nothing to do with classical music, if only to put me off everything that was compulsory and responsible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrfhf1Gv4Tw
In my student days, punk, new age and doom (Joy Division) emerged. I dyed my red hair black; a cockscomb was still just a bit too far for me.
After that, my attention to music faded. Work and family swallowed up all attention. Busy, busy, busy. Until I was approaching fifty, the children had left home and I rediscovered music.
An experience I will never forget
My history will not be representative of everyone. But what I do believe is that a lot of people only start enjoying classical music after the age of forty-five. I guess it has to do with life wisdom. With maturity. With the depth of music. The first time I Winterreise Of Schubert heard. Wonderfully beautiful. Goosebumps. An experience I will never forget.
It is not for nothing that classical composers effortlessly stand the test of time. When is Dido and Aeneas also written again. Oh yes ... around 1680.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9TAl3Bb1EU
Just playing that beautiful music ....
Fine all these attempts to make classical music hip. Piano concerts with video animations. Half-naked cellists. From me, it's all allowed. Although: there are limits. Recently, during a concert, a viola player instructed the audience to imagine images accompanying the piece she was playing. She then started asking the audience what those images were. I had to hold my wife or she would have left. Just let us enjoy ourselves undisturbed. Just play that beautiful music very beautifully. Isn't that enough?
What it is also about is this: older people are no worse or lesser audience than younger people. Their visit is just as valuable.
And don't forget that in 10, 20, 30, 40 years, there will be new graying heads visiting the concert halls again. It is a development that constantly repeats itself. Kind of like the seasons following one another.
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