Unfortunately, nowdays classical music has acquired an elitist stench about it, as other musical forms have passed it by during the last century. Mostly, people still into it have either studied it at some point in their lives, are classical musicians themselves, or are social posers.
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... What sort of circumstances would ever allow those vastly separate musical/social worlds to collide?
Good question. My present answer would be: None.
This will be long, but believe it or not, just a fraction of the things I have thought about regarding the perhaps feeble survival of art music, if only tangentially and/or philosophically. Feel free to ignore this incessant diatribe.
Music, in its myriad forms, is pretty different as the most abstract of arts, and even more so because of its complete pervasiveness, whether in a mall elevator, movie, study session, candlelight romance, doctor’s office, with none of which does any little amount of serious listening usually occur. (Ok, I knew a couple of people who read books when they drove, just terrible, but their family cured them somehow).
*Tangent #1: As far as movie music, I wish they just stuck to the original more often, instead of ripping off 80% of it perhaps to avoid some sort of royalty. The Shostakovich 5th Lento that I spoke of earlier in the thread; I’ve seen it in several movies, notably James Earl Jones’ death-bed scene in one of those Tom Clancy movies. I was disgusted at their arrangement. I prefer a movie like Master and Commander where they just stick with the original. Of course, even in that movie, they use the ubiquitous cello prelude from the first suite, which we normally hear arrangements of incessantly, but without any key change or modulation such as those in Nike ads, PGA/Masters/etc golf ads, women’s hygiene ads, etc. Modulations being the heart and soul of Bach’s music, it wouldn’t surprise me that persons might actually think he’s boring.
If I understand your preface correctly, I think that classical art music has always been "passed by". It was rarely meant for the masses. For centuries, it resided with the church (who owned all things of intellectual property it seems), and generally remained with the rich and privileged, such as kings and queens. There was a time of explosion of the amateur musician at one point, but still…
The closest thing I might think of in regards to accessibility is Mozart in his abilities to transcend the more popular style of "classical era" music (and Im still not a big Mozart fan...yet. Much to learn, as always). Though I don’t follow the going-ons of today’s new compositions anymore… the present, if you will, “classical” style, has become simplified, repetitive, and easily memorable. IMO, not too unlike the classical era, where complexities receded into the background and easy melodies came to the foreground. I say IMO, because it could be argued as far as the recession of complexities, but the main point I am making is the overall simplification. Or, perhaps a more accessible analogy would be to say more like rock music.
*Tangent #2: I tend to liken Stevie Wonder to Mozart, perhaps inaccurately, because I find that he can also transcend the popular idiom of his day to make music that is much more interesting and complex in comparison to his peers. (yes Im a Stevie fan, hehe, and the only American Idol episode I ever watched was the one with Stevie. My friend who does sound for the show got to personally mic him up, to my envy. Anyways, I'd say only 1.5 persons out of the bunch actually succeeded in singing in tune. Too tough for them. Sorry, had to share that).
I remember from an old job in the college days at a large record store where classical sales represented less than 1% of total sales. So did jazz. And this was back then. The store had a separate room for classical, and jazz had its own section that was just as ample. There also used to be these great classical-only Tower Records, especially the one in Berkeley, or like the old one in Philadelphia. They no longer exist, and I’ve found no such store since. My best option that I am aware of is the used collection at Amoeba records in LA. Very good by today’s standards, though nothing like that old Berkeley store.
More on the demise of classical (and jazz): As far as the art musics of jazz and classical, you won't get them on a radio (outside of satellite, of course) driving cross-country except on the coasts, or otherwise in Chicago, St. Louis, or some other major metropolis with a deep musical history. It's been like this for a VERY long time. Southern California used to be the only place in the US with more than one classical station. One of them, highly sought after by everyone due to its enormous broadcasting power (built before certain FCC regulations), is now a country station as of several months ago.
Art music, or just any serious art in general, never catches on with the masses. Is high-brow literature meant only for elitists? Well, I know plenty of non-elitists who read the "classics", but the stuff will never catch on with the masses. It takes an inherent love or severe curiousity to invest the time to learn about it, let alone those who have worked with it in higher education or on a professional level. Something very few people do. Even if people read less literature today, Im sure it was never a widespread thing for the masses. Too much effort for the perceived lack of reward. My guess, anyways.
Classical music has also been on the decline in Europe (though you might not guess it by US standards), the place where all the cool chords we use in the states were invented. In any little town or suburb, they always have had a music school, even a tiny one for a tiny town. I know, I used to teach at such schools. They believe that if you want to learn the flute or piano, the government should make it accessible for anyone who wanted such education. I know in France for instance (like some other countries), children are taught music theory and fundamentals for two whole years before being allowed to choose an instrument of any kind. They have to learn to clap in time, while singing as well, with basic subdivions in basic meters (ok, maybe complex for a 4/4 rock musician), and also learn the basics of dominant harmony. We're talking age 5 to 8 here, for the preparatory part of their education. And yet, their native music is still on the decline. Its a lot of really bad dance-techno music now, perhaps. (An analogy I use for typical music performance education of children in the US would be to hand a child a scalpel, and say "Im going to teach you to be a surgeon. I'll teach you all by myself, and you won’t have any classes in anatomy, biology, or chemistry". I guess it’s possible, but not ideal. Im not European, btw.)
I've tried my best. I've turned more people on to classical and jazz than I can possibly remember. And I've turned a lot of classical musicians to jazz, and a lot of jazz musicians to classical. I still don't ever expect any serious art of any kind to catch on with the masses, whether it be the fine arts or literature. There are folks that just want to stick with their U2 or Dylan or Radiohead or Dave Matthews. That’s fine. They all have different, wonderful, individual things to offer I must presume.
It is what it is. I never really smelled too much of this elitist stench because classical threads are quite rare. This one already lives much longer than usual already. I never start these threads, but always happily join in. I rarely or never barge in on a rock thread and say "Hey, you guys should be listening to classical!", or “I don’t care for rock music because of such and such”, etc.
Then again, maybe I just can't smell my own sh!t.
