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Are you conservative or liberal?

  • I'm conservative

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  • I'm liberal

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Is there a correlation between political orientation and love for classical music?

40K views 183 replies 71 participants last post by  Art Rock 
#1 ·
We already had a similar thread about possible connection between political/religious beliefs and musical taste, here. I thought it would be interesting to include a poll on this issue. I'm asking you whether you are politically coservative or liberal. I presume classical music lovers tend to be more conservative. We will see what results the poll will yield.
 
G
#5 ·
If you want a poll that takes in the possible spectrum of political tendency at TC, you'll need to use more terms than just the two you've selected, or at least make clear what you mean by 'conservative' and 'liberal'. In the UK, your terms might describe only the centre and the centre right of opinion. I suspect in some countries, the term 'liberal' describes anything to the left of centre.
 
#6 · (Edited)
ComposerofAvantGarde has sent me an interesting private massage on this topic. Since he is not allowed to comment on this forum, I'm posting his massage below:

I'm banned from that part of the forum, but if you'd like I will reply in a private message.

I would suspect that people who are true fans of classical music in the world TODAY would hold more liberal views in terms of funding for the arts and allowing for government subsidies for orchestras and ensembles and opera companies etc. rather than advocate for private ownership of orchestras. Government interests in terms of bettering their own country will help to establish greater local new music scenes as well as help diversify repertoire heard in the concert hall. Privately owned orchestras will often be based on the kind of business model that intends to profit as its primary goal.

An interesting thing about the homogeneity in pop music today as opposed to pop music several decades ago is due to the nature of capitalism as a generator of profit based on public demand. Certain musical traits and aesthetics proved to meet the majority of pop music audience's wants more than diversity of different approach did, so simple chord progressions and catchy melodies and lyrics on popular themes ended up becoming similar features or even the same feature in a lot of top 40 songs today, thus killing off the diversity of before.

A privately owned orchestra will do much the same in terms of their approach to commissioning composers and hiring soloists. Gradually there will be less and less diversity in concert hall repertoire as patrons prefer to pay for fewer composers with aesthetics that are closer to warhorse repertoire than they would to a broader range of diverse classical styles.

Of course, one could also say that for those who prefer the medium of the CD and have collections of CDs that number in the thousands that were paid for themselves would probably be more inclined to side with economic conservatism, free market capitalism and so on because of their position in society and their disposable income as evident in their CD collection. It depends on what one would choose to support I suppose....record companies and orchestras as corporations (conservative) OR the musicians and music themselves (liberal).

Just food for thought. I would be delighted if you could quote this private message in that thread so I can somehow get my point across.

CoAG (liberal)
 
#7 · (Edited)
Same here as MacLeod pointed out -

the liberal parties in Denmark are adherents to a relatively extreme capitalism and a minute state,

conservatives are right-wing as regards moral values, but are a bit more towards the centre in the field of preserving social functions of the state,

whereas social democrats and various left-wingers represent leftist/increased tolerance morally plus supporting a strong state, actively working against tendencies to social inequality.

In that sense, I belong mostly to the last group, but voted "liberal" due to the workings of the poll.

However, we have many parties, also some pointing out environmental or alternative policies, and the overall picture is somewhat muddy.
 
#12 ·
There's some truth to that. For instance calling both libertarians and fascists simply "right-wing" doesn't make much sense. The concept of "authoritarian leftism" funny though. It is in a way inherently contradictory, since leftism is supposedly all about egalitarianism and authoritarianism contradicts with that. Yet at the same we know all too well that various "leftist" movements have been very authoritarian in their methods. On the other hand there's nothing contradictory about authoritarian right-wingers.
 
#14 · (Edited)
By a conservative I understand someone who is backward oriented, loves tradition, is inclined towards order and discipline, prefers predictability to the uncertainty of change, likes static environment instead of dynamic one.

But I can see why in some countries classical music fans are rather liberal than conservative. In countries like USA conservatives oppose big public spending, including spending on classical music institutions like opera houses, conservatories and orchestras. And in some countries conservatives represent less educated and sophisticated parts of society, like rural population or lower classes, that is another thing that could turn the classical music listeners away from conservative parties.
 
#15 ·
In Holland we have a Mozart lookalike who is not laughing much, wants to close the borders for refugees, get out of the EU and who scorns everything that's connected with a certain religion. My guess is that he never ever listened to Mozart. Polls state that he will win about 34% of the votes in the next election. That's a different cup of tea than 'being' conservative or liberal...
 
G
#17 ·
As noted, terms vary between countries. "Conservative" and "liberal" in the UK refers to a major (1 of 2) and minor grouping. And currently, it seems to me, the conservatives do not wish to conserve, but to destroy and the liberals are struggling with sexism and homophobia in its upper echelons. But hey, that's just my perspective.
 
#28 · (Edited)
This could go either way.

At least in the States, both sides of the spectrum have their more populist and "elitist" sides.

William F. Buckley adored Bach. Garry Wills wrote a book on Verdi. Stephen Fry (a Brit, of course) adores Wagner. Condi Rice played Classical piano. Ruth Bader Ginsburg loves opera. So does Scalia.
 
#33 ·
I don't think there's any significant correlation. People from across the spectrum love classical music, and others from across the spectrum have no time for it. Sometimes there is a correlation between music and politics: protest songs, spirituals (less politics than culture but still relevant), and neo-Nazi groups using heavy metal spring to mind. Hitler and Stalin both loved (certain) classical music. Chairman Mao loved Lady Gaga. (OK, I made that up, but what's not to love?)*
* Irony.
 
#38 ·
I'm a conservative, and I in part value classical music for its 'conservative' elements (tradition, discipline, the sublime, strong religious component). But I can similarly imagine people on the left loving the rebellious stages of development within classical music, and the often radical and bohemian image of the artist. Or, perhaps, both right and left like the music for the same reason, namely the music itself.

And on Australian politics, my impression watching from England was that the Liberal government, since Turnbull, is basically left of centre socially with some free market tendencies?
 
#41 ·
Ironic that the stripe at the top of the page denoting the conservative vote is Socialist red. :)
 
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