I don't understand the basic concept, but it seems that there have
always been artistic competitions. The Roman emperor Nero won a singing
contest, and my long-suffering piano teacher complained that students
(or their parents) are more concerned with winning the next piano
competition than in gaining any appreciation of the music.

There was considerable sport amongst violinists at one time, too: he'd
be playing along at a concert and -- <boink> -- the thin "E" string
would break. Undeterred, and to great applause, he would continue on,
changing his fingering such that the "A" string would suffice. When
this happened a bit too often it was discovered that "E" strings were
prepared in advance of the concert so they'd break reliably.

Now, the preceding is old Victorian stuff, but impresarios still search
for the next child violinist, preferably from some exotic locale.

I suppose that it comes down to this: classical music is just
entertainment, as are performing dogs. My cello teacher, who played in
the vaunted Cleveland Orchestra, maintained that musicians are better
off if periodically reminded of this.

Mark Kinsler

 [ Previous MMD articles on this topic are indexed at
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/archives/KWIC/C/competitive.html 
 [ -- Robbie