• PERFORMING THE PATRON: BETTY FREEMAN AND THE AVANT-GARDE

    Author(s):
    Jake Johnson (see profile)
    Date:
    2014
    Group(s):
    American Musicological Society, Music and Sound
    Subject(s):
    Musicology, Popular music, Avant-garde (Aesthetics)
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    musicology, los angeles, Patronage, Avant-garde, Contemporary music, Patronage discourse, Women and performance
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M69K0S
    Abstract:
    Little can be said about music during the last century without encountering the men and women who supported it financially. Pierre Bourdieu’s impression that the services rendered freely for the good of society reinforce a symbolic debt between giver and recipient complicates motivations behind patronage. Indeed, applying Bourdieu’s theory to altruism in general – here, patronage in particular – highlights what could be thought of as a performance of futility: both giver and receiver understand the tenacious terms yet agree nonetheless to act out the process of reaching equilibrium. In the case of iconic music patron Betty Freeman (1921– 2009), her support of the avant-garde seems, at times, to call into question on what side of this ‘performed futility’ she existed. This article considers ways in which Freeman’s work as patron of the musical avant-garde allowed her to perform her identity as a woman and mother among a community on the fringe.
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1017/S0040298214000059
    Publisher:
    Cambridge University Press (CUP)
    Pub. Date:
    2014-6-16
    Journal:
    Tempo
    Volume:
    68
    Issue:
    269
    Page Range:
    42 - 49
    ISSN:
    0040-2982,1478-2286
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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