(3 of 4)
Sir: About "Age of the Patchwork" [Sept. 24] and Glenn Gould's conclusion that "concerts as they are now known will not outlive the 20th century": horrors! Is music to be disseminated only through the electronic lab to eliminate human errors that would be noticed only by a few? Since 1940, orchestras have increased from 600 to 1,442; since 1950 there has been an 86% rise in the number of people who play instruments, a 99% rise in instrument ownership. In 1964, the growth rate of amateur musicians was three times that of the population. Long live live music!
DR. EDWIN LIEMOHN Wartburg College Waverly, Iowa
Sir: Long live Callas, Van Cliburn and others like them! Concerts will endure, because music lovers will not relinquish the thrill of live performance. I have not bought prerecorded music for years; I pirate the real thing from the New York Philharmonic and Met broadcasts. My tapes leave much to be desired technically, but the result is music, not artifice.
WILLIAM W. DERBYSHIRE Binghamton, N.Y.
Sir: You dare to bring into the open a fact that has been ignored: the concert is moribund. Why wait to doctor up the sounds until after the performers have played their wrong notes? Composing on electronic instruments, I communicate directly with my listeners, writing for the hi-fi in their living rooms, not for a concert hall designed for dead composers!
IVOR DARREG Los Angeles El Cordobés
Sir: Your story on El Cordobés [Sept. 24] was well written and brought out many facts about the life of Manuel Benítez and his explosive effect on the bullfight world. His imitators are only that—second-rate copies of the real thing.
LYN A. SHERWOOD Editor Clarin Long Beach, Calif.
Sir: The whole of El Cordobés' August marathon isn't worth one single bull fought and killed by the real artists of the profession today: Antonio Bienvenida, Antonio Ordóñez, El Viti and Paco Camino. El Cordobés titillates only the ignorant.
ELEANOR WOLLNER MCCLUSKEY Alton, Ill.
Sir: Was it coincidence that that pathetic picture of a stabbed bull appeared in the issue with the Pope on the cover? If they want to accomplish something for God, let them outlaw bullfighting in Catholic Spain.
(THE REV.) JOHN STANTON East Dennis, Mass.
At the Command Sir: In your story on industrial smells, you sprayed page 89 [Sept. 24] with laughing gas. Thank you for a moment of fun and of serious thought. I wonder how many other morons (pardon, no such animal as a moronic TIME subscriber, just humorous intellectuals) obeyed your command to smell the paper and ink.
(MRS.) B. BAUER Santa Maria, Calif.
TV Tally Sir: As a college freshman, I thank the TV networks for offering nothing in the way of good programming [Sept. 24] to distract me from study.
CRIS ROMAN Bay City, Mich.
Sir: You say that My Mother the Car is on CBS; actually it is aired over NBC.
GARY BLAIR Van Nuys, Calif.
Sir: I think the article about My Mother the Car is horrible. I think it is one of the best programs on TV.
LARRY FELDMAN (aged 10) Yeadon, Pa.
The British Economy