Calling Joe Welch

An unfortunate thing happened to me over social media over the last 24 hours. It was, of course, related to the Minnesota Orchestra, and it rather accurately distills the raw and unfettered emotions surrounding this controversy. Somehow this got me thinking about what we, the community, have lost.

So the mail came. In it was a flyer for VocalEssence, a fabulous local ensemble under the direction of the intrepid Philip Brunelle. I should state right now that I consider Phil a friend and a colleague, but I really wish that bastard would let me in on his marketing/fundraising secrets. I don’t know how he does it but he’s an absolute wizard at putting it together, and I thoroughly admit that I’m jealous about it. I envy him his success and prowess.

The flyer, however, surprised me. It’s for a concert in a week’s time, the concert looks very interesting, but the venue – Orchestra Hall. At this point only someone who has just dropped in via time travel wouldn’t know that trying to hold a concert at Orchestra Hall right now would be a fairly toxic decision, and I definitely don’t suspect Philip of owning a TARDIS. I also know that in PR/Marketing you have to list a few basic things, one of them being your venue. I suspect that Philip was caught in a marketing quandry – you have to list a venue, the concert is just a week away, you have to get the flyer printed ahead of time and in the mail…… what to do? Knowing what I know I suspected that the odds of VocalEssence performing at Orchestra Hall during this lockout would be significantly less than the odds of Bashir Al-Assad winning the Nobel Peace Prize. So, in light of that I made what I thought would be a fairly low key post to Facebook along the lines of: “interesting concert, great music, but I suspect that the venue listed might cause some issues.”

Well, that was my mistake. There are no innocuous posts surrounding the Minnesota Orchestra. Almost immediately the thread was hijacked by people trying to suss out what was going on, what was going to happen, and whatever and a day. I tried to point out that my original post was triggered by this flyer and that I certainly didn’t expect the concert to happen at the venue listed, but by that time things were flying out of control. To my dismay the thread quickly degenerated into a free-for-all with various friends of mine, people who I have love and respect for, going at each other and engaging in tit-for-tat discourse more appropriate for the stupidity in Washington, D.C. By this morning I had had enough and put an end to the thread.

But the damage had been done. Sixty odd years ago my father was at the famous McCarthy hearing where Joe Welch took down the senator from Wisconsin by uttering the famous words:

“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?

That’s how I feel this morning. Here in Minnesota we have lost more than an orchestra in this debacle. People have lost jobs, livelihoods, security, and careers, to be sure, but the community has lost something even more. We have lost our sense of decency.

This used to be the best place in America to be a part of a musical community. Major ensembles thriving, a decent economy, great livability, and the Scandahovian ethos all combined to make the Twin Cities a wonderful place to work and live as a classical musician. After living here 20+ years I can honestly say I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. But the sense of community has fractured. People no longer trust each other, and are very quick to take offense. A gulf has opened between all and sundry – musicians, supporters, the “Landed Gentry” (for lack of a better term), the press, politicians, and even the casual audience member. People are balkanized in a way that does not portend well for the future. Nothing can be said which isn’t immediately filtered through the lens of the lockout.

This is the real damage. Even if by some miracle the lockout ends today and concerts start again next week the community has sustained wounds which won’t heal for years to come, if at all. Even if Senator Mitchell is successful in bringing the musicians and the Board together to agree on some kind of resolution, who is going to mediate for the community? How are we ever going to get back to the point where we all can sit in a room and enjoy a concert together without daggers being thrown through eyes and recriminations leaping out of mouths? How are we going to come together again as a community which can actually support a ‘world class’ orchestra?

Throughout the last 1 1/2 years I have been annoyed, angry, infuriated, resentful. Now I’m just depressed. Without this sense of decency what does the music matter? Or, more to the point, without the music how in the world can we have a sense of decency? This is the tragedy of the Minnesota Orchestra lockout.

Mr. Welch, we need you.

 

3 thoughts on “Calling Joe Welch”

  1. Mr. Eddins, I wish you would have attended the Choral Showcase concert that was held at Central Lutheran Church last Sunday. It was sponsored by the Minnesota Chorale, the prinicipal chorus of the Minnesota Orchestra, and was joined by 5 other premier choruses of the Twin Cities – Vocalessence, Kantourei, Oratorio Society, National Lutheran Choir, and The Singers. It was breathtaking music, enjoyed by an enormous and very appreciative audience. The highlight of the performance was the tribute to Stephen Paulus, 400 singers joining to sing “Pilgrim Hymn.” It was Minnesota music-making at its best, and it still does exist. We all just need to keep making music, however and wherever we can!

  2. Bill, thanks for this. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that we’ve lost our sense of decency. The fact that Osmo had to fulfill his promise to leave the MO speaks to that — very sadly.

  3. I completely understand Bill! I received the brochure from VocalEssence in the mail as well but hadn’t opened it until this week. I knew the concert was listed to be in Orchestra Hall but was hoping that Philip would change to a different venue. The information came out yesterday from VocalEssence that the concert was to be moved. I knew that 50 union musicians were hired for the concert and would not play in Orchestra Hall. Unfortunately the timing of the brochure and the announcement collided. There are very bitter and raw emotions surrounding the lockout and there will definitley need to be a time of healing. We all do the best we can. It is the musicians themselves that are having the most difficult of times.

Comments are closed.

Send this to a friend