Letters: Musical Constructions of Nationalism

Dear Editor,I was intrigued by Axel Klein's response to Patrick Zuk's review of Harry White’s writings on music and nationalism. It is noteworthy that Dr Klein does not take issue with any specific point raised by Zuk. Instead, he expresses shock...

Dear Editor,

I was intrigued by Axel Klein’s response to Patrick Zuk’s review of Harry White’s writings on music and nationalism. It is noteworthy that Dr Klein does not take issue with any specific point raised by Zuk. Instead, he expresses shock at the idea that anyone should dare to criticise an internationally acclaimed musicologist. If the opinions of eminent professors had not been attacked down the ages, we would still be parroting the ideas of the eminent professors of the Sorbonne in the thirteenth century. Does Dr Klein really need to be reminded of all the eminent professors and theorists whose works have been discarded, discredited or forgotten? Dr Klein is worried that Harry White is being denied the right to his opinion. This is most curious. In the first place, the JMI will be as willing to open its pages as generously to Harry White as it was to Patrick Zuk. Secondly, is Dr Klein not aware that, in an extraordinary testament to Irish intellectual pluralism, at least four major works of reference (from the musical to the historical) have called on Harry White as sole or major interpreter of the history of classical music in Ireland? Thirdly, while there is no reason to doubt Harry White’s musicology, his ventures into political philosophy or into cultural history cannot be regarded as definitive, or even trustworthy, unless they stand up to criticism.

Dr Klein appears to believe that Harry White’s publications are contributions to a dialogue. Where is the evidence to support this assertion? When The Keeper’s Recital was published, I wrote a 5000-word critique of it for Graph magazine. I offered the author space to respond, but received no reply. The author of an entirely uncritical review was also invited to respond, but declined politely. A co-editor of an eminent publication sympathetic to White’s views was subsequently invited to find a specialist who would refute my arguments. Silence again. And yet more silence when these arguments – dealing with White’s inadequate historical framework, his failure to offer a developed comparative perspective or to tackle issues such as power, class and sectarianism – were re-presented in shorter form in Magill magazine earlier this year. Will Patrick Zuk now receive the courtesy of serious debate from people who, while deploring the absence of a lively musical culture in Ireland, appear to have difficulty in demonstrating their commitment to its development?

Barra Ó Séaghdha
Dublin

Published on 1 September 2002

Barra Ó Séaghdha is a writer on cultural politics, literature and music.

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