***  Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Forum1 Archive  ***
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   [Date]: Tue, 30 Nov 1999 18:51:43 +0100
   [From]: "Christine M. Merkel" <merkel@unesco.de>
     [To]: Cultural Exchange via Internet <forum1@hkw.kbx.de>
[Subject]: Re: [forum1] Re: Censorship

Dear 'marketing' discussants and list,
Bach spent indeed a lot of his time 'marketing' - which in his time meant writing the most  awesome and awfully devote letters to the nobility(= the monopoly employers of the day), seeking employment contracts again and again.
In his 'St. Bach Passion', Kagel did a phantastic collage of quotes from these 'marketing' letters... And Bach was also brilliant in another marketing strategy, repackaging  his 'products' again and again, sometimes in disguise,
sometimes just recycling. which was easier in those days as there where no CD-players and radios.
Greetings from Christine M.M. (a Bach-lover...I grew up with breast-feeding and Bach-music)

Ami Isseroff wrote:

> Tom wrote:
> "If s/he is not in a position to make him/herself a part of society, the
> answer can only be yes.
> Part of an artist's job is marketing. "
>
> Maybe. However, consider the case of Anne Frank for example,
> and of artists who created under repressive regimes. Or consider
> the case of scientists whose ideas were forgotten or repressed for
> various reasons.
>
> Not every artist or scientist or other gifted person has the financial
> means to advertise themselves.
> Some art-and some great ideas might have been lost entirely if the
> artist or thinker had spent their energies advertising themselves.
>
> Some people are lucky enough to gain some recognition for their
> work in their lifetime. Sometimes they are really talented, sometimes
> just lucky. Sometines these are the most energetic, the loudest
> and the pushiest, rather than the smartest or the most talented.
> They are the people who are most apt to find merit in "marketing."
> It is only coincidence and luck that Bach had reasonable employment
> in his lifetime - he certainly was not recognized as a great genius.
> Should he have spent his time "marketing?"
>
> The same people who believe in the virtues of "marketing" also believe,
> no doubt, that earthly success is a mark of divine grace. :-)
> Best,
> A-