George Walker (1922-2018)
Dr. Fred Onovwerosuoke
Dr. Fred Onovwerosuoke writes of the passing of George Walker:
Hello folks!
My
little input is that George's passing should be no time for us to gripe
openly about the lack of play for black composers. Orchestras and other
ensembles of art/serious music must pay their overheads and thus often
subsist to serve their patrons, whose musical pallets are at best often
narrow or limited. Bias for particular/'favorite' composers is nothing
new, and not necessarily hinged on race or ethnicity, but often on
assuaging the fiscal bottomline. For example, but for Felix
Mendelssohn's selfless revivalist efforts, the great J. S. Bach that we
revere today would have been only a footnote of music history. Ditto,
Igor Stravinsky, whose composing career would have struggled, had he not
the operational muscle and financial backing of the Sergei Diaghilev,
and on and on...
Black and other financially endowed philanthropists need
to be courted, and, if need be, enlightened about the all-important
necessity of supporting the works of black or African descent composers.
While there's no verifiable account of Chevalier
de Saint-Georges (Joseph Boulogne, 1745-99) complaining about lack of
wide play of his music, don't we all wish that some philanthropist (s)
extended robust support for the fledgling effort of our young,
hard-working Maestro Marlon Daniel to revive the name and works of this
contemporary of Mozart!
Flutist/composer
Valerie Coleman's entrepreneurial spirit continues to drive and sustain
her works. As the African Musical Arts and African Music Publishers
have offered some leverage and visibility to my works and others', and
along the way attracted some significant commissions for new works.
George
lived a great life, and I'd rather we all expend our creative energies
to celebrate that wonderful life. As our concert series here in St.
Louis dedicated much of 2016/17 events to the memory of the late
Dominique de Lerma (1928-2015), and 2017/18 to the great Halim El-Dabh
(1921-2017), so will be dedicating our 2018/19 season to the life and
memory of Maestro George Walker.
Folks,
we live at the precipice of a different kind of Golden Rule - some
would surmise, a pseudo-realm where those who control the gold rule.
It's a cultural universe where practitioners - artists, presenters,
educators, students, etc. - must not only wait for saviors, but wax even
more creative knocking at the door of canon. Now, more than ever, black
and other ethnic minority composers of classical music can use
committed benefactors, philanthropists, and, yes, cultural
entrepreneurs...
FredO
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