Each month, in a praiseworthy initiative that dates back to 1999, the private TV channel Telecinco devotes a slot in its programming to social topics under the title “12 Months, 12 Causes” - noble and often far-reaching causes which have recently included problems such as the fight against gender violence, the promotion of responsible driving, the dramatic plight of refugees, support for the families of Alzheimer sufferers and the condemnation of all forms of exploitation of children.

We were surprised by Telecinco’s last “cause” of 2007, because it was a subject that doesn’t fit easily into the above-mentioned context: the promotion of classical music. It was not the first time that this space had been devoted to the dissemination of culture; in April 2006 (and, similarly, in April 2007) the chosen topic was the promotion of reading. But there is a difference: on that occasion (and this is a literal quote from the channel’s official website), the declared aim was to “exchange books, share experiences and discover new ways of understanding the world”, and the images accompanying both pro-reading campaigns explicitly presented intercultural dialogue as the driving force behind the initiative. On this occasion, it was very different. The description given by the TV channel itself was very revealing (and, again, this is a literal quote from the official website www.telecinco.es):

"The institutional spot […] is set in a public square of a city that could be anywhere, crowded with people going about their daily lives. Then, a group of young people […] take up their positions in the middle [of the square]. They take violins and cellos out of their instrument cases […] and classical music permeates every corner of the scene. Meanwhile, the camera starts to show people’s reactions […]: the groups of bystanders stop talking and listen to the music, motioning anyone who interrupts it to be quiet; a couple affectionately hold hands, a boy wearing headphones turns off his MP3 player and listens to the music as if hypnotized."

Clearly, the aim of the spot is not to reflect any specific, real situation (unlike the frequently hard-hitting images shown in other spots in the series), but rather a fictitious situation and, above all, a number of wishes. In fact, it reflects a whole way of thinking. What was that “boy with the headphones” listening to? We don’t know, but we should feel pleased that he has turned off his MP3 player and moved closer to listen to the waltz from Dvor¹ák’s Serenade for Strings, Op. 22. And what were those people discussing before they suddenly decided to stop talking and listen to what the string instruments had to say? It doesn’t matter. The important message is that this type of music is capable of inspiring loving gestures and warm smiles, that it is music capable -- as the TV channel’s website claims in one of its headlines -- of “arousing emotions”. For centuries people have been discussing the relationship between music and emotion, and this is not the place to revisit the subject. What is remarkable, however, is that even today, at the beginning of the third millennium, we are still attempting to associate classical music with human beings’ better nature, unwittingly sending out messages which in fact are the fossilized remnants of the late 19th century idea that classical music is somehow superior to all other musical traditions.

“If you like music, you like classical music”, the young director Inma Shara states emphatically at the end of the spot. The underlying notion seems to be that all anyone needs to do is simply listen to classical music in order to understand it. It’s the old myth of music being the language of the soul, a universal language not only because it transcends language barriers, but because it requires no apprenticeship, just attentive ears and a pure heart…But is that really true? If it were, perhaps we would not now think of it as in danger of extinction. The reality is that saving classical music (the music that so many of us at Musikeon love and practise) has become a cause. It’s as if Telecinco were saying that humanity needs classical music, because the world would be the poorer without it. We couldn’t agree more: without it, the world would be a poorer place. But it would also be the poorer without the tango, or punk rock or Pygmy polyphony... Indeed, without all the types of music that are part of the social and emotional fabric of thousands of people who simply (and often unconsciously) do not identify with the ideological framework that classical music seems to depend upon in order to assert its supremacy. Because that is what it is really at stake here: the implicit superiority (moral, of course) of this over all other kinds of music, which are supposedly further removed from our “finer” emotions.

The very concept of classical music arose in the 19th century from the determination that music as “art” should not be confused with the music “for popular consumption” which even then was beginning to win over audiences. Since that time, the discourse seems to have changed very little: classical music may claim to be “for all”, but it rests on the premise of an ethical superiority which seems to set it apart from all other types of music. Could that not, perhaps, be the very root of the problem?

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