Deeper Delving for a Research Question...

In last week's blog I put forth the idea of comparing two broad genres of musical performance in Berlin: the performance of opera & classical vocal works vs the performance of pop songs & more contemporary/trendy songs. I now think I may narrow my focus more to primarily the classical works.

In most of the world today, classical music is on the decline, giving way to the hugely popular genres we now hear and enjoy on the radio. Attending tediously long, stuffy concerts of classical music has become mostly a thing of the past. Most people of today's societies cannot grasp the magnificence and grandeur of this genre. Now-a-days we simply click on the radio, or -- more likely -- we put on some head phones and listen to our mp3 player. This convenient canned audio has replaced the value of attending live performances. Even with live performances, attending an ear shattering concert at a venue such as the gorge has become much more appealing for most than going downtown to hear the Seattle Symphony play Mozart. We have come to enjoy the simpler, more accessible music of rock and roll and other pop genres.

What I want to know is, is this seemingly omnipresent decline in the value of opera and classical vocal music present even in Berlin? It is of particular interest to me how Berlin treats classical music, because -- as most people seem to agree -- Berlin is at the forefront of today's art world.

I'm now attempting to tackle the issue of how I will go about determining classical vocal music's importance and value in Berlin. It seems logical to compare this genre to that of the pop forms present in Berlin (this is sort of what I was trying to get at originally with my topic), or to the classical music of other cities and countries such as here in Seattle. I'm currently in the process of brainstorming methods of object research to address these comparisons and yield meaningful results.

Sundry Singing Gigs

If anyone is interested in hearing choral music from UW choirs, I'll be in a few up-coming concerts:

-THE GENESIS SUITE (very interesting atonal music written right around the end of WWII and composed by numerous composers -- mostly German Americans such as Arnold Schoenberg (who spent time in Berlin studying and composing music). Also, the visuals for this performance will be designed and created by Dave Chihuli)
University Chorale with the Seattle Symphony
5/29 @ 7:30 & 5/31 @ 8:00
@ Benaroya Hall

-REDISCOVERING AMERICA (an assortment of "American" songs ranging from African American spirituals to Chilean carols)
University Chorale
6/2 @7:30
@ Meany Theater

-MONTEVERDI'S 1610 VESPERS (very enjoyable Italian renaissance music)
Chamber Singers
6/6 @ 7:30 & 6/7 @ 7:30
@ Meany Theater & @ St Thomas Church in Medina (respectively)

Thoughts for a Revised Topic...

Ok, since my first shot at selecting a topic was much too broad focused, here's my thoughts for a newer and narrower topic. A study of the comparison between the importance in Berlin of classical vocal music vs that of contemporary vocal music. This would probably focus primarily around current opera productions in Berlin with a comparison to performances of trendier songs and pop musicians.

Of course there will probably be significant differences in the target audiences of these two musical genres, but I would focus on other aspects of their popularities. I could research aspects such as: how much money from Berlin audiences goes into these genres annually, the quantity of performances put on in each genre, how frequently the respective venues are packed and how far ahead of time they become so, I could take small surveys on how many of what types of performances an average Berliner attends in a month or a year, and OF COURSE I would gain much insight from my attending performances of each.

Also I could use US culture to compare how far in what direction Berlin society resides on a hypothetical spectrum ranging from classical vocal music to pop vocal music. I'm assuming they have a higher value for vocal music, but I'm interested to see if there increased values are scewed more towards pop or if have equally elevated values for classics.

Preliminary Research: The Evolution of Music in Berlin

For my research topic I would like to take a look at the music of Berlin. More specifically, I think it would be interesting to research how the musical culture in Berlin has changed over the last two centuries and how these changes have reflected parallel events and the environment of that time in Berlin.

I think this would be a very manageable topic. There are many museums in Berlin (over 170!) which capture the culture from one decade to the next and I'm certain that music would be represented in at least some of these. I've found various music tours offered in Berlin. Also I'm sure that the current Bohemian society that Berlin has become places value on music and the musical background in Berlin, so I believe that I should be able to find many useful resources offering information on the evolution of Berlin music.

What research I've accomplished on this subject so far has been promising. All sources I've found name Berlin as the "musical capital of Germany." Numerous famous musicians ranging from popular artists such as David Bowie, Depeche Mode, and U2 to contemporary "classical" composers such as Richard Strauss, Arnold Schoenburg all spent time working in Berlin. Berlin is also home to one of the world's oldest orchestras the Staatskapelle Berlin.

With this rich music background, music is clearly an important subject in Berlin culture and history. Also, with this emphasis on music there must be many sources readily available for research in Berlin. For these reasons I believe that the evolution of music in Berlin will be a relevant and and manageable topic.

Berlin Immigration

From watching Head On! and reading the Russian Disco it is quite clear that Berlin has a complicated history of immigration. I think what I found most interesting about Berlin's history of immigration is how they have treated different immigrants with different backgrounds and ethnicities in completely different manners and how the treatment of these immigrants has changed over time.

For instance, the Russian Jews mentioned in one of the first few chapters we read of the Russian Disco seem to have been given very generous accommodations for the simple reason that they were Jewish. Upon arrival from Russia they received little identity cards which granted them access to free living quarters.

Contrastingly, the Turks aren't regarded with quite as much good cheer. From what we saw in Head On it seems that Turks are thought of as a plague by the average Berliner. My assumption of the reason for this difference in treatment is that society favors the underdog. The Russian Jews were small in number and were given much more sympathy upon there arrival from escaping Russia. Notice that the treatment of these Russian Jews changed over time as more and more of them found they way to Berlin; they began to be seen as more of a pest than a pitiable group. The Turks shown in Head On were in Berlin at a time when the Turk population was immense. Since these people were everywhere in Berlin and offering serious competition for resources -- definitely not underdogs -- they were regarded with much more animosity.