A stylistic blend across history

Combining music and paintings, the president of Bard College expounded on the sight of sound last night at College Hall. "This is really a plug to [get you] to buy more music," joked Leon Botstein, Bard's president, who is also the music director of the American Symphony Orchestra. A large and diverse audience of about 150 people gathered in College Hall to listen to the renowned musicologist talk about the parallels and discontinuities in European music styles around the 19th century in relation to forms of visual art at the time. The talk, entitled "Style and Meaning in Music," was part of the Penn Humanities Forum year-long series "Style." "I thought he was brilliant," 1957 Penn alumna Barbara Singer said. "I think he had great ideas about the relationship between art and music." Botstein criticized people for categorizing music styles in the 19th century, adding that listeners during the period were not spontaneous enough in their music choices. Aided by an impressive slideshow presentation of various works of art, Botstein tried to show the influence of music on visual art forms and vice versa. "There is a transference from music to other arenas," he said, debunking generalizations about music being an autonomous art form. Botstein went on to discuss the changes brought about by the invention of recorded sound, saying that the 19th century was "an entirely different musical culture from that which we now have." The audience had the chance to respond to Botstein in a question-and-answer period where much of the talk turned to the "theatricality of music performance" and the importance of "visual listening." "His breadth of knowledge is truly impressive," said Acting Director of Penn Humanities Forum Eugene Narmour. "We were really lucky to have him." Others shared those sentiments but thought the talk was too academic to understand at some points. "I thought it was a little bit difficult in the sense that I didn't know what he was talking about," said Wharton senior Imelda Tham, who came to the talk as an assignment for her Music 40 course "History of the Symphony." In addition to his posts as Bard College president and music director of the American Symphony Orchestra, Botstein has also edited The Musical Quarterly and published works on history and higher education.