Doublereed Archive - Posting 000023.txt from 2007/11

From: John Worrall <john.worrall@-----.ca>
Subj: [DR-L] =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Re:_"=CF_hate_music"?=
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2007 09:48:38 -0500

On Nov 11, 2007, at 9:40 AM, HAROLD wrote: [is it tomorrow in Rio =20
already?]

> Dear Sleepy Weekend Lists:
>
>
> Does anyone out there in musical cyberspace know what it is to =20
> get up in the morning,have breakfast and know that within the next =20
> three-four hours your ears will be assaulted with sounds,screaches =20
> and noises which --to my view of thinking--didn't work thirty years =20=

> aqgo and have gone out of style today as "new"' music?

Ah well, plus =E7a change, and all that. It is, however, interesting to =20=

note that Beethoven had the same problems. =46rom the Quarterly Musical =20=

Magazine and Review, published in London in 1825: (remembering that =20
the Ninth Symphony was barely a year old)

Its length alone will be a never-failing cause of complaint to those =20
who reject monopoly in sounds. While we are enjoying the delight of =20
so much science and melody, and eagerly anticipating its continuance, =20=

on a sudden, like the fleeting pleasures of life, or the spirited =20
young adventurer, who would fly from ease and comfort at home to the =20
inhospitable shores of New Zealand or Lake Ontario [editorial =20
comment-- they are actually quite hospitable JW], we are snatched =20
away from such eloquent music to crude, wild and extraneous =20
harmonies=85 . The chorus that immediately follows is in many places =20
exceedingly imposing and effective, but then there is so much of it, =20
so many sudden pauses and odd and almost ludicrous passages for the =20
horns and bassoons, so much rambling and vociferous execution given =20
to the violins and stringed instruments, without any decisive effect =20
or definite meaning=97and to crown all, the deafening boisterous =20
jollity of the concluding part, wherein, besides the usual allotment =20
off triangles, drums, trumpets, etc, all the known acoustical missile =20=

instruments I should conceive were employed=85that they made even the =20=

very ground shake under us, and would, with their fearful uproar, =20
have been sufficiently penetrating to call up from their peaceful =20
graves the revered shades of Tallis, Purcell, and Gibbons, and even =20
of Handel and Mozart, to witness and deplore the obstreperous =20
roarings of modern frenzy in their art=85 . Beethoven finds from all =20
the public accounts, that noisy extravagance of execution and =20
outrageous clamor in musical performances more frequently ensures =20
applause than chastened elegance, or refined judgement. The inference =20=

therefore that we may fairly make, is that he writes accordingly.

Whew. Now tell us what you really think. I like the part where the =20
trumpets get lumped in with the percussion, as "acoustical missile =20
instruments".

Yours in chastened elegance,

John=

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