Dear Nathaniel,

After our conversation yesterday - or was it the day before -
I had some new ideas which I think might be of interest to you.
The newness itself fascinates me. I try always to be on the 
lookout for new ideas. It's a characteristic I've inherited from
you for which I'm grateful and which makes me confident that you 
won't misunderstand.

I'm no historian of music, but I'm under the impression that
during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, music flourished
almost exclusively under the tutelage of the Church. With the
Thirty Years War (1618-1648) it seems to me, music became
secularized, and has remained so ever since. In the 17th and 18th
centuries, the petty and not so petty princes of Europe vied with
each other for talented musicians; many had their own orchestras;
some, like Frederick the Great of Prussia became musicians themselves.
I infer that for the aristocracy which patronized Bach, Haendel,
Mozart, Beethoven ... music was not only a status symbol, but met
emotional needs that were perhaps deeper than we can now imagine.
Music also may have served as a badge of cultural supremacy
to justify the social, political and economic power of the
ruling class.

These reflections on history seem to me to be highly relevant
to the question which you asked in the course of our conversation:
"How am I going to earn a living?" given that your passion for
and skill at conducting is not a talent that is readily marketable.
Columnists and commentators emphasize that while in contemporary
society, general unemployment is 9.8%, and poverty is increasing,
there is at the summit of the economic pyramid a class of extraordinary
wealth and power, who perhaps on account of their social and economic
isolation have a great, albeit perhaps unrecognized need for the kind
of musical experience you have to offer, - and the answer to your
question is to arrange an exchange of some of your music for some
of their money, - of which they have so embarrassing a surplus.

It seems to me that here is an opportunity for you, if you are able
to seize it, to take so to speak, the bull by the horns, and to make
yourself proficient, to try to become as expert and virtuoso at
fund-raising as you are at trumpeting and conducting. Obviously, there
is a wide spectrum of fund-raising methods and styles. Much fundraising,
such as automated computerized telephone solicitation, to adduce only
one example, is extraordinarily common and vulgar; but someone like
yourself with intelligence and style could develop fundraising to a 
gracious and mutually rewarding artform. And in this context, don't
forget Nietzsche's maxim:

"Hat der Geber nicht zu danken, dass der Nehmende nahm?"?
"Ist Schenken nicht eine Notdurft, ist Nehmen nicht Erbarmen?" 

(Must not the donor be thankful, that the recipient accepted?
Is not donation a direful need; is not acceptance an act of mercy?)

Given that your passion and your competence will possibly provide
some potential donors with the most compelling experience of music
in their lives, you might indeed become a very successful "fundraiser",
be it for your own foundation, for your own orchestra, or for one or
more established institutions. Such a shadow career, it seems to me
would mesh neatly with your hopes of becoming a conductor, the fund-
raising would then fade away with success at your primary calling,
and if that success were slow in coming, you would still be able to
pay the bills.

To begin your exploration of the field, you might look at
http://professional.bu.edu/programs/fundraising/

If you're interested, we can talk more when you're back in Belmont.
Please forgive the intrusiveness of my considerations.
Jochen