The holy atmosphere of concerts

In Christopher and his Kind, Christopher [Isherwood] admits to have been 'violently prejudiced against culture worship'. He hated 'the gushings of concert audiences and the holy atmosphere of concerts.' Stephen thought it was 'in some respects' like 'the Nazi attitude'. It was particularly painful when the brutal sarcasm was turned against figures like the pianist Artur Schnabel and the composer Roger Sessions, both of whom Spender had come to know, and revere, in Berlin. He continued to go to concerts (by Schnabel, Bruno Walter and Furtwängler), defying his friends philistine edicts.

From - Stephen Spender the authorized biography by John Sutherland. I am a camera in East Berlin here.

My montage shows Roger Sessions with Christopher Isherwood on the left and Stephen Spender right. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk