The Reader: Why Mahler is an inspiration in lockdown

It’s reassuring to find an MP with some cultural nous. Interviewed by Julian Glover about the arts crisis, Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, cited three composers: Elgar, Mahler and Wagner. They’re an intriguing trio, of expansive soundworlds and belief in art as a social catalyst. Mahler is particularly apt. He would have responded well to lockdown, composing at a social distance in his huts in the countryside, but he also wasn’t afraid of the big scale.

In 1910, when cholera was still a frequent occurrence, Mahler unveiled his Eighth Symphony in a huge new hall in Munich. The promoter announced a “symphony of a thousand”, but the composer preferred “a gift to the nation”, with massed ranks imploring a creative being to free them from darkness. As venues close and redundancies are announced, let’s hope Dowden matches Mahler’s level of ambition.
Gavin Plumley

Editor's reply

Dear Gavin

It’s sad, isn’t it, how delighted we all are that our Culture Secretary has a modicum of interest in culture.

Oliver Dowden’s passion for the arts is a relief, but he’s got a tough job. The sector needs a bailout now, with a long-term deal — it will be months before anything approaching normal service resumes — and the Treasury is under a lot of pressure. Yes, he needs ambition; he’ll also need steel balls to get it through.
Nancy Durrant, Arts Editor

A generation needs education

Nurses and doctors save lives, but teachers make lives. For children, the main consequence of Covid could be five to 10 years down the line, when a year or more of no education (wealthy parents providing private tuition excluded) will lead to a generation plagued by disadvantage and mental health issues. They will forever resent a Government that has failed to meet their needs.
Amber Harrower