Igor Stravinsky's Negative Views of Conductors

700 Words2 Pages

A conductor may be seen by many as a very important part of a musical but others may see them as unnecessary. Stravinsky feels that conductors don’t deserve the all the attention and respect that is given to them by critics and audiences. The passage tells of how Stravinsky finds conductors to be more of a distraction than talented musicians. In the Passage, Stravinsky uses diction and metaphors to explain his disdain of conductors.

Stravinsky explains how he feels that conductors are untalented musicians that are an unnecessary part of a musical through the presence of diction. In the opening paragraph of the passage, conducting is expressed as a field in which a conductor can be a “incomplete musician” but must be a “compleat angler.” The passage conveys a negative view of conductors in which the most important talent they should have is exploiting their audiences’ lack of understanding of good music while needing very little actual talent in order to become successful. Conductors have an “ego disease” that encourages them give off an “egotistical, false, and arbitrary authority” ...

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