One cannot read about Herbert Blomstedt without coming across accounts of his unusual rapport with orchestras,
standing ovations from musicians, fastidious study of his concert
repertory, and devotion to his craft. And then there is the lengthy
list of awards and honors he has received, including two Grammy
Awards, knighthood in Denmark and Sweden, and four honorary doctorates,
including one recently bestowed by Pacific Union College.
Blomstedt's musical dedication and accompanying success is not surprising when one regards the role he considers art to serve. "Artistic expression is very important for society," he said. "The monuments, the artistic products that remain from past eras are limited. Few things have survived. Gothic cathedrals, Gregorian chant, Renaissance music-that is what is left of these epochs. They are the business cards the epoch left of itself before it vanished, and so these products are extremely important to us for an understanding of the past."
Correspondingly, Blomstedt believes that historical documentation, the expression of a culture, remains a significant duty of the arts: "Contemporary art must express something of the situation we live in today. Contemporary society is expressed through the arts. And music is a very splendid form of art, combining both the creative art, which is what composers do, and the performing arts. Both of them need to be expressed in a contemporary setting. We have to have music composed that reveals our situation today. All the things that impress us and frighten us--the scare of the atomic bomb, the knowledge of two world wars, pollution, AIDS, as well as the positive things that have developed in our century, the equality of men-all this has to be expressed in art. And if there will be another century, or two or three centuries, it might be, then, the only thing that is left from our time from which future people can learn."
"The performers of today must also play their music in a way which demonstrates our situation," continued Blomstedt. "They must have a message and technique of their own. The public wants to see a reflection of what they are experiencing. We can try to play Bach the way we think he was played during his time, and we can do it fairly accurately, but then we don't play for Bach's ears. The people had other experiences.They had different joys and different sufferings, and so they heard music with other ears. When we play Bach today, only part of the effort should be to recreate the sounds of 250 years ago. We have to play for the ears of today, the hearts and the minds of today-a terrific challenge."
Blomstedt related an anecdote concerning Isaac Newton, who was once asked how he was able to make so many great discoveries. The scientist is said to have replied that his accomplishments were not due to a superior talent, but because he had been able to stand on the shoulders of giants.
"So many of us are content to hide behind the giants," said Blomstedt. "We have such reverence for the leaders of the past that we don't build on their efforts. But we shouldn't hide behind these authorities. We do have the responsibility to study the undisputable giants of art, to learn from them. But this doesn't mean that we should remain conservative all our lives and simply copy the classics. They must be our base, because those who do not revere the old are not worthy of the new. But we must appreciate the view they have given us and then look beyond. We must stand on the shoulders of giants and then go farther."
- Melinda Smith
Viewpoint Online
(excerpt)
Copyright © 1997 Pacific Union College