Peter Phillips

The mean, bullying maestro is extinct – or should be

It’s fine for artists to lord it about but it’s another thing for conductors to do so

W H Auden (1907 - 1973), British-born American poet and essayist [Photo by Erich Auerbach/Getty Images] 
issue 05 April 2014

W.H.Auden once wrote: ‘Real artists are not nice people. All their best feelings go into their work and life has the residue’ — which puts those who aspire to be artists in a bit of a quandary. Is it a measure of one’s success as a ‘real artist’ that one is not a nice person? Is it in fact possible to be a real artist and a nice person? And, if it is not, is it better to be a real artist or a nice person? Auden, who was speaking from first-hand experience, implies that it must be one or...

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