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Why do I give?
“So everyone can have a chance to enjoy Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony”
—Paul Buttenwieser, psychiatrist, novelist, arts philanthropist
Classical music in this country is always in an endangered state. It takes so much skill; we really have to work hard to keep it going. That means we have to do two things: We have to support our great institutions like New England Conservatory and the Boston Symphony to make sure they are really flourishing. And we have to do everything we can to make sure that there’s a continuous strain of young people coming into music—both to carry it out professionally but also to simply enjoy music and be consumers of it. This is necessary for preserving all the arts but, for me, music is especially important.
I also support New England Conservatory for what I might call reasons of justice: Everybody should have the opportunity to enjoy music. You shouldn’t have to come from a family that is musical or has a piano or is wealthy—everybody should have the opportunity. And not just to enjoy the stuff that’s easy to like, like jazz or popular music, but the hard stuff, too. I often hear it said that what’s the point of getting people who don’t have a background in classical music to like Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony? My feeling is that if Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is important to you, and important to me, then it’s important to everyone.
Psychiatrist, novelist, and philanthropist Paul Buttenwieser was a piano prodigy in his youth. He and his wife, Catherine, recently increased the endowment of the fund they created 15 years ago, the Buttenwieser Scholarship.