General

Some of you may have heard of the German pianist Stefan Mickisch, known for his opera introductions and—more idiosyncratically—for assigning the keys of the circle of fifths to the twelve zodiac signs. In a concert announcement issued a few days ago, he praised his theory in boastful terms, referring to himself as the revealer of an absolute musical truth. To me, his conclusions appear self-referential and highly biased, and I tend to consider the whole affair a mere speculation, lacking clear philological evidence. I asked a number of questions on the pianist’s public Facebook profile which he appreciated but answered only inconsistently. Yet after I expressed my serious doubts, he would react in an aggressive tone, call me a »rare jackass« and »arrogant ignoramus« (my translations; see screenshot below), and ask me to STFU. After that, he headed for all my profiles and pages to leave spiteful troll comments everywhere. Mickisch’s offensive language probably reveals more about his character and professional attitude than he is aware.

The Berlin section of Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband has recently shown several cases of communication failure and administrative misconduct. Right now, the executive board aims to expel a highly engaged member whose alleged transgression has been to propose structural reforms and to notify the community of the recent misdevelopments. If you are a member, please attend the upcoming general assembly on Monday, November 26, 10 am, at the DTKV Studio (Schillerstraße 64, Berlin-Charlottenburg), express your protest, and contend with the current administration. It’s about time for some changes—take action now if you care for a strong professional representation of musicians in Berlin!

I recently stumbled upon this 2015 piece by Damian Thompson claiming the general inferiority of woman composers, and can’t quite figure out whether it really is the blatantly offensive, misogynic bullshit which it appears to be, or if there is some sort of hidden irony in it which I just don’t get. I tend to believe it is the former. Only good thing about this crap is that the author rapidly and unmistakably discloses himself as an ignorant moron, excreting loads of incredible nonsense while not having the slightest clue of what terms such as ›well crafted‹ or ›badly crafted‹ actually mean in a musical context. What is more, he totally lacks the criteria to judge whether, and under which preconditions, assessments such as ›great‹, ›genius‹ or ›first rank‹ may be reasonably applied to music, nor is he aware of the sheer obsolescence of his terminology. He does not even deliver a proper argument in support of his boastful headline, assuming that »there are no great female composers«. Howsoever disgraceful this overt sexism comes across, I still don’t think that Thompson is a troll who should simply be ignored. Given that the article is already three years old, my comment may not seem necessary at all, but I cannot help but wish that the author’s name may forever be associated with this breathtaking load of rubbish.