One does not simply demand an audience. That is absurd.
For the artist as composer, the listener and audience are interested in the works, and certainly not in the bleating of the self-styled public artiste, for whom the world is a stage and pretensions to a sort of special genius are the order of every day.
One would think there is little time for such nonsense, yet, in fact, the stage is always set for the hosts of competing entertainers to enter what can be generously called a contest for popularity. Here, all the financial rewards and associated glamour of "show-business" and the like take special precedence.
But this is not art, of course, and those who see art as a higher calling can only regard such attitudes with disdain and contempt. And these are the people for whom the artist is compelled to work, that is to say, like-minded individuals. Thus the artist understands this audience will be reached in ways that are unrelated to clamor, fanfare, and extravagance, and that further, in cultural terms, this audience is the largest, most diverse, and most supportive of all.
For the artist as composer, the listener and audience are interested in the works, and certainly not in the bleating of the self-styled public artiste, for whom the world is a stage and pretensions to a sort of special genius are the order of every day.
One would think there is little time for such nonsense, yet, in fact, the stage is always set for the hosts of competing entertainers to enter what can be generously called a contest for popularity. Here, all the financial rewards and associated glamour of "show-business" and the like take special precedence.
But this is not art, of course, and those who see art as a higher calling can only regard such attitudes with disdain and contempt. And these are the people for whom the artist is compelled to work, that is to say, like-minded individuals. Thus the artist understands this audience will be reached in ways that are unrelated to clamor, fanfare, and extravagance, and that further, in cultural terms, this audience is the largest, most diverse, and most supportive of all.
