Abstract

The text tries to base a theory of dilettantism on the definition of the dilettante as an insufficiently skilled underperformer who is well-aware of his shortcomings. Various measures designed to undermine the difference between professionals and dilettantes do not alter the fundamental distinction. Catherine Drinker Bowen’s »Friends and Fiddlers« (1935) is read as a moralizing self-testimony of musical amateurism that celebrates community and humility, against the imputed selfishness of the virtuoso.