Great result: 1 in 2 Czechs can name a classical composer
Comment Of The DayFrom our Prague partners, OperaPlus:
Almost half of Czechs cannot name any classical music composer. Most cited are Wolfgang Amadeo Mozart and Bedrich Smetana.
That sounds like a great result.
We’d be surprised if 1 in 10 Brits in 2025 could name a serious composer, and maybe 1 in 100 Americans.
1 in 100 Americans? Are Americans who think that Beethoven is a St. Bernard dog from the movies included? 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki8wHMR-yOI
Excuse me, but we Americans can name two: John Williams, and the guy who wrote “Star Wars”.
We’ll have the last laugh when we’ll be vacationing in Greenland, by then our 52nd state (the 51st being Canada) and we’ll be watching you raise the Russian flag over the Tour Eiffel and Westminster.
Always thought stereotyping was wrong.
But sure, Americans make easy targets. Hope y’all enjoy your next invasion without us!
More American baby boomers know Beethoven as that fellow who presented the news to Tchaikovsky after rolling over.
And then you both call yourselves not racist. Double standards as they are
“We’d be surprised if 1 in 10 Brits in 2025 could name a serious composer, and maybe 1 in 100 Americans.” Well that’s quite obnoxious, smug, arrogant ignorant and condescending attitude, Norman. For being such a uncultured backwater country there are certainly major classical conservatories that Europeans and Asian musicians desperately try to gain entry to every year. Julliard, Curtis, Eastman, Univ of MI, Oberlin, North Texas State, Northwestern to name but a few are all world class conservatories that are every bit as critical and demanding as those in the old world. More than 10% of the American population can name at least 2 classical composers. You really need to get out of your tiny provincial island country a bit more.
Meanwhile americans:
Is “composer” a gender?
I don’t doubt the ignorance of my fellow Americans, but I would still think 30% or more could at least name Beethoven. Then again, we elected Trump again so who knows?
1 in 2 Americans don’t know who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb.
Is that really so great? They can’t name Dvorak, Suk, Martinu, etc.
In 2023 Dr Hofstadter from the Texas Institute of Technology had set-up a research project to find-out how many Americans can name at least 1 1/2 classical music composer. But the project got stuck because he had first to explain to the respondent what was meant by ‘classical’, by ‘music’ and by ‘composer’ which took-up much too much time of what was allogated to the project. Also the board of the Diversity Department of TIT objected to the implied exclusion of culturally-challenged communities. So, we will never know.
Not even FrantiÅ¡ek Ignác AntonÃn Tůma?
Actually, a similar survey was conducted in 2019, and the results is not much different: https://www.hiresaudio.online/half-of-americans-cant-name-a-classical-composer/
If, according to the survey, half of Americans can’t name a classical composer, that means the other half can.
As for the UK, well, that’s the land without music, so let’s not go there.
In the communist era, what else could you do than enjoy classical music…I have no nostalgia for it but…. it’s an education problem now…
The dumbing down of our culture is almost complete
While none of those guesstimates sound surprising I can’t help but wonder about the methodolgy. Care to expound NB?
1 in 2 Americans can name Greenland or Canada as our next 51st state.
John Williams is our Bedrich Smetana, Star Wars is our Ma Vlast.
U! S! A! U! S! A!