Mozart in the Jungle Combines Social and Financial History

Mozart in the Jungle, by Blair Tindall, was autobiographical as well as factual. Although some of us had watched the Amazon video serialization of the book, we found that the show was very different from the book. Morna and I both said we were looking for the show’s story when we were reading the book. the main character in the show is a conductor, and there is no such main character in the book; Carla suggested that this character in the show was a composite of numerous conductors and/or other powerful musicians who were in the book.

The author indicates that her personal sex life began in high school, with first one relationship and then another, both with men in who were older than she and in more powerful positions in the musical world they inhabited. Both men took advantage of her in ways that today would be called abusive. One of the men was a teacher almost three times her age. The author tells of numerous short relationships with numerous men over the years. She matured into relationships with men who helped her find musical gigs.

The narrative went back and forth between the author’s personal memories and factual presentations of financial needs of orchestras and how orchestras changed and evolved over the second half of the 20^th century, mostly in the United States and mostly due to the financial situation. We discussed the increasing costs and resulting decreasing numbers of orchestras and performances. There was a lot of focus in the book about patrons of the arts.  Marcia read aloud a section saying people should support the arts. Cindy T. gave an example about someone she knows who plays an annual flute concert; Cindy said there is a preponderance of aged people in the audience. She said her daughter had worked to develop an opera and the whole thing fell through, along with her daughter’s job.

Morna was impressed by Tindall’s explanation of how much baggage went along with the orchestra when they travelled, with the string basses and large brass instruments and all the other instruments requiring special packaging and moving. These costs are tremendous every trip. Cindy V. said Shen Yun, a currently successful traveling show of Chinese dance, has elaborate costumes and brings an entire orchestra with them. Dennis noted that lately the operas have been using a virtual chorus projected on the back curtain. Cindy said that Shen Yun did this, too, instead of transporting the whole chorus everywhere.

We also discussed the status of the arts and the change in opinion wherein the study of music used to be correlated with success but now is not seen this way. The arts are costly and are not being appreciated as much as the artists deserve. The author of the book changed occupations, going to journalism school, where she was encouraged to write this memoir, and evolving into writing a music column for the New York Times. Though it was published in 2005, Mozart in the Jungle continues to have a role in analyzing the history of orchestra and in discussing the arts as an endangered part of culture.