# Would you go to a symphony concert if you hated one piece being performed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2018, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386 "2018-03-29T01:06:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2018, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/21 "2018-03-31T01:48:58Z")
Yeah, you should go. It’s rare that you’ll find a concert where you love EVERY piece. Stifle yourself during the Bernstein and enjoy the Schumann. Incidentally, Wagner’s _Siegfried Idyll_ is gloriously beautiful. So there’s that too. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2018, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/22 "2018-03-31T02:59:42Z")
I stopped going to my local symphony years ago because of this. I wanted steak and a baked potato, they wanted to give me broccoli and brussel sprouts. Fuck them. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/23 "2018-04-01T14:55:27Z")
I can only WISH I could go to hear a symphony. How excrutiating could it be? I would suck it up and go and hold my fingers in my ears during the dreaded hateful part - ‘lalalalala I can’t hear you’. Of course, I don’t know much classical music, so I wouldn’t have to hear the horrid pieces, it’s all good, more or less, to my untrained ears. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/24 "2018-04-01T15:01:22Z")
> [@Allthegood](#): > > I really would not want to sit through that Charles Ives piece ever again – it was downright disturbing to listen to. “I don’t write music for sissy ears.” -Charles Ives ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2018, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/25 "2018-04-01T15:21:00Z")
Did he ever cover anything by someone called Ulysses? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/26 "2018-04-01T20:12:14Z")
Well, I went and enjoyed the Wagner and loved the Schumann. I survived the Bernstein. I think I’ll probably never be a fan of his music, but some people in the audience certainly seemed to enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/27 "2018-04-02T00:24:04Z")
Lennie’s Overture to _Candide_ is pretty tasty; it shows up on programs frequently, but not enough to have made it to “chestnut” status. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/422-yb8TXj8/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGHIgQig6MA8=&rs=AOn4CLDIV8-NeaiujYcLzP6ez5Zk0vFOUA "Candide Overture: Leonard Bernstein conducting") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=422-yb8TXj8) ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/28 "2018-04-02T14:28:56Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Well, I went and enjoyed the Wagner and loved the Schumann. I survived the Bernstein. I think I’ll probably never be a fan of his music, but some people in the audience certainly seemed to enjoy it. Take it you don’t like West Side Story? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/29 "2018-04-02T15:25:39Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Take it you don’t like West Side Story? ☹ I think he composed West Side Story for the mass audience, whereas he composed other music in order to impress other composers. I’d be interested in knowing what other composers think of his music. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2018, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/30 "2018-04-03T10:16:17Z")
> [@Allthegood](#): > > There is _some_ Ives I can listen to, but I really do not ever want to be subjected to this again: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnDohqSZmsg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnDohqSZmsg). There are two different sections of the orchestra playing completely different things at the same time. That may sound intriguing but it is horrible! Ugh! I am aware of Ives’ fondness for competing melodies (in different keys); it’s kind of his thing. And I do find it intriguing. And if one does some reading up on Ives, there’s plenty of explanation of why he does it. None of which requires you to _like_ it, although I do. And if you find Ives horrible, you should definitely avoid Stockhausen and Crumb. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2018, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/31 "2018-04-04T01:51:55Z")
At the Insurance Executives’ Banquet, Hartford, Connecticut, early 20th century: **Charles Ives:** This music of mine is REALLY going to fuck up the squares! **Wallace Stevens:** Wait until you get a load of my POETRY. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/32 "2018-04-04T02:35:18Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > At the Insurance Executives’ Banquet, Hartford, Connecticut, early 20th century: > > **Charles Ives:** This music of mine is REALLY going to fuck up the squares ! > **Wallace Stevens:** Wait until you get a load of my POETRY. Or this: **Charles Ives:** This music of mine is REALLY going to fuck up the squares! **Wallace Stevens:** People are not going To dream of baboons and periwinkles. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2018, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386/33 "2018-04-04T10:20:51Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > At the Insurance Executives’ Banquet, Hartford, Connecticut, early 20th century: > > **Charles Ives:** This music of mine is REALLY going to fuck up the squares! > **Wallace Stevens:** Wait until you get a load of my POETRY. > [@DavidwithanR](#): > > Or this: > > **Charles Ives:** This music of mine is REALLY going to fuck up the squares! > **Wallace Stevens:** People are not going > To dream of baboons and periwinkles. 😃 The advantage of being independently wealthy is that one’s artistic vision isn’t constrained by what other people are likely to want to pay money for, and therefore one can be as “experimental” (read: odd) as one likes. See also: the Sitwell siblings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-go-to-a-symphony-concert-if-you-hated-one-piece-being-performed/811386.md?page=1)