By Ralph P. Davidson

To the accompaniment of four pages of color photographs, Associate Editor William Bender this week discusses a unique, and one of the oldest musical forms in the world, the exotic Peking Opera of Taiwan. The opera company's productions are a far cry from the works of George Gershwin, which Bender described in a page-long story in last week's issue. But such shifts in musical forms are routine for Bender who, as music editor since 1968, has written TIME cover stories on subjects ranging from the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar to Soprano Beverly Sills to Singer-Composer James Taylor. Three years ago, a documentary that he wrote for television on Conductor Leopold Stokowski was awarded an Emmy. In fact, Bender is fascinated by all forms of musical expression.

"The snobbish attention to one kind of music to the exclusion of all others is something peculiar to our own times," he says. "In the 16th century, Palestrina used street songs in his Masses. Mozart and Beethoven wrote both classical and 'pop' music, and Bartok used the folk music of Hungary to build impressive symphonic works. The snobbism works both ways," he adds. "There are Rolling Stones freaks who won't listen to anything else either."

Bender heartily endorses the observation by Nietzsche that "without music life would be a mistake." His father, an organist, choirmaster and piano teacher in Mamaroneck, N.Y., gave him little opportunity to make that mistake. By the age of four, Bender had devised his own musical notation ("lost to posterity, thrown out with the pail and shovel, I'm afraid"), and by age nine had composed several preludes for the piano. In high school, where he batted .349 and pitched knuckleballs for the baseball team, he considered abandoning music for the major leagues when he was offered a tryout by the old Boston Braves. But he sacrificed his budding athletic career to begin studying music composition at New York University. A night job as copy boy on the New York Herald Tribune aroused an interest in writing, led to a master's degree in journalism, a stint with the Associated Press and eventually to a job as a Tribune music critic.

Each week in his office Bender plays through ten to 15 new albums and samples another 20 or 30. (When TIME'S book reviewers in adjacent rooms complained that words and music did not mix, his office was soundproofed.) Despite his own credentials, Bender rejects the notion that critics should be performers too. "I've never been one of those who believed you have to play as well as Rubinstein to evaluate Rubinstein's performance," he says. "A critic should know how music is made and be well schooled in its fundamentals. Beyond that, he reacts to a composition or performance with his mind and senses. Like everybody else."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.