Between 1940 and 1944 WQXR invited noted composers, conductors, music educators, critics, philosophers, news commentators, and lyricists to write essays on a variety of music and radio related topics for WQXR Program Guide. We're currently reprinting a new one each week and have compiled them into this 'cluster' for your reading pleasure.
Paderewski
Monday, September 30, 2013
"His every move in life personally, socially and economically was for the benefit and improvement of his fellow men."
Bach is a Modern
Monday, November 11, 2013
"Yes, Bach is a modern. A present-day band-arranger gives free rein to the performer--and so did Bach."
My Day With WQXR
Monday, November 04, 2013
"WQXR has twined itself to the context of my life in an almost obsessive way."
"What About This American Music?"
Monday, October 28, 2013
"American Music is here to be reckoned with, lustily growing, and confident."
Records Make Music Lovers
Monday, October 21, 2013
"Recordings are not only representatives of music; they are also musical ambassadors."
An Orchestral Conductor Looks at Radio
Monday, October 14, 2013
"WQXR allows me to not only hear performances by other men but to take quiet stock of my own."
Commandments for Commentators
Monday, October 07, 2013
A biblical imperative for the newsy.
Latin Americans in Music
Monday, September 23, 2013
"It has been my experience that those who really love music have a consuming passion to become familiar with its every manifestation."
So You Think It's Easy!
Monday, September 09, 2013
"Still, there is always that fearful moment when a wide-eyed newsman rushes in with a bulletin about the fall of Dneproderzhinsk (40 miles from Dnepropetrovsk)."
Brains Have No Sex
Monday, September 16, 2013
"Women as a whole, make a smaller fuss about accepting responsibilities, of whatever nature, than men." --Lisa Sergio
"Are You A Highbrow?"
Monday, December 02, 2013
"As far as I can make out, the word "high-brow" in its current connection with music is a synonym for "undesirable."
The American Composer
Monday, November 25, 2013
"The music of America is no longer a foundling, a stepchild or an outcast in its own country."
The Position of Women in Music
Monday, November 18, 2013
"The number of women in the musical profession has been steadily increasing...The art of music is in a state of hopeless decadence, this phenomenon is inevitable." - Sir Thomas Beecham.
Caesar's Commentaries
Monday, December 16, 2013
"I wanted to be a pianist and a surgeon, the general idea being to operate with my right hand and bring comfort and joy to the poor victim by concertizing for him with my left."
Consider the Interpreters
Monday, December 09, 2013
"Phonograph records and radio broadcasts have in recent years given the interpreter of music an importance almost equal to that of the composer himself."
The Radio Conductor
Monday, December 23, 2013
"The art of conducting for radio is about to enter a new phase--the development of Frequency Modulation broadcasting--which will make even greater demands on specialized skills."
A Declaration of Independence for the Listener
Monday, December 30, 2013
"Fortunately there is no Kultur-Kammer in America. There is no such word as ought in the vocabulary of the American listener."
Some Reflections on Rachmaninoff and His Music
Monday, January 13, 2014
"His rare smile could be more contagious laughter; and his wit, while distinctly dry, was never acid."
Music in a Democracy
Monday, January 06, 2014
"Most lovers of music in America have taken it for granted that no attempt will be made to ban the works of "enemy" composers during this war."
Remembrance of Themes Past
Monday, April 28, 2014
"Music has, for all of us, its special "little phrases." Listening becomes for us, especially the listening to quite familiar music, remembrance of themes past."
The Commentator's Responsibility to the Listener
Monday, February 03, 2014
"The commentator cannot indulge in blatant cheers as victory piles on victory, and America's casualties mount with those victories." --Estelle M. Sternberger.
An I.O.U. to Music
Monday, January 20, 2014
"Today, people need sorely a music which will remind them that their tottering material world is not everything; that it is not even very important."
It's A Matter Of Opinion
Monday, January 27, 2014
"You cowards! Go on and play the rest of the Alban Berg Quartet...We can take it, but can you dish it out? I doubt it."
American Concert Audiences Have Changed
Monday, February 10, 2014
"Perhaps the best barometer of the development of musical culture in this country is provided by the changing tastes of our concert audiences."
The Classics on Broadway
Monday, March 24, 2014
Robert Russell Bennett - "He is famous both as a composer and as an orchestrator."
Modern Music and the Rush to the Exits
Monday, February 17, 2014
"Something has happened to take the sting out of the adjective 'modern' when applied to music."
A Statement Regarding "Singing Commercials" *
Monday, March 10, 2014
"The station has found that "singing commercials" are too much of a transition from good music and that they are apt to create ill will among WQXR listeners."
Who Likes Good Music?*
Monday, March 17, 2014
"Of course some letters come from "cranks"...but most of our letters come from people who are deeply interested in radio as the newest means of mass communication."
Music For American Youth
Monday, April 07, 2014
"There seems to be in some uninformed circles, the general impression that the musical education of American youth is being neglected."
Boys in the Bach Room
Monday, May 05, 2014
"One evening I got back from the mess hall before the others and bravely snapped on WQXR."
An Opera Impresario Looks at Radio
Monday, April 14, 2014
"I find that many members of the Metropolitan public look to the special facilities of WQXR, which combine the advantages of both radio and recordings for the opera-loving public."
The Place of Radio in Musical Education
Monday, March 31, 2014
"As head of the Juilliard School of Music I am naturally especially interested in the effect of broadcasts of serious music on students and teachers of music."
We Know What You Like
Monday, April 21, 2014
"WQXR's listeners who make themselves articulate to us have more influence in shaping our programs than many non-writing fans realize."
A Report to Listeners
Monday, May 12, 2014
When WQXR was a commercial station sponsorship was a selective affair.
Music Speaks for Itself
Friday, January 03, 2020
"The plan of WQXR has been to broadcast all kinds of good music...reproduced as faithfully as modern radio science makes possible, and without too much comment."
The Companionship of Music
Friday, January 03, 2020
"The Friends of WQXR are part of a great society, for they are sharing, unknown to each other, the companionship of the heroic poets of sound."
Confessions
Thursday, January 02, 2020
"I am grateful to WQXR because it enables me to enjoy my reactionary taste in music."
