Klarinet Archive - Posting 000032.txt from 2007/05

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl]Carmina Burana
Date: Sun, 06 May 2007 10:50:25 -0400

Good posting, but I'd like to stick up for Strauss. He was too
stupid to be a real Nazi, and it is hard to see genuine prejudice
in the man. He just wanted to be left alone, and if being a Nazi
symbol and sympathizer did that, he was willing to accept the
role. But his carelessness caused his Hitlerian downfall. After
his librettist Hugo von Hoftsmanthal died he tried to interest
the Viennese Jew, Stefan Zweig, into collaborating with him on
his next opera. And foolishly, he included in his letter a
lengthy paragraph that said, in subtance, "You don't have to
worry about that idiot Hitler. I'll take care of him. In fact I
am, thorough my music, a great deal stronger than him." (Not a
direct quote.)

Bad move. The letter was intercepted by the Nazis and that was
the end of the influence that Strauss had in Germany for pretty
much the duration of the war. He was smart enough to get his
Jewish daughter-in-law out of Garmisch and into Switzerland.

At worst, Strauss was a dumb putz who wrote excellent clarinet
music and insisted on the use of the C clarinet. His opera, Frau
ohne Schatten, has an extensive basset horn part, the last two
pages of which require a change to clarinet in C, all this while
the rest of the clarinet section is busy on their B-flat
clarinets. And his Till Eulenspiegel bass clarinet part is still
a joy to play.

Strauss was a very ordinary man who, after breakfast, would go
into his room to compose. He sat down at his desk and was
instantly transformed into a genius.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: danyel [mailto:rab@-----.de]
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 3:38 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: Re: [kl]Carmina Burana

Dan, your reaction upon repeated exposure to that piece shows
quite clearly
what Orff's music is like: catchy but completely insubstantial.
That could
also serve as a definition of Nazi aesthetics. Whether this
catchiness and
pomp is made use of for propagandistic purposes (like Beethoven
was used as
a background music to Nazi propaganda shows and films) is another
question.
Carmina Burana was premiered on a big time Nazi music festival,
while Anton
Webern (who still lived in the occupied Austria) was forbidden to
even write
music.

apropos: ...In Orff...

The original Goethe quotation used as a rather crude insult in
German goes:
Leck mich im Arsch! (lick *inside* my ass). It sometimes is
corrupted to a
slightly less offensive "am Arsch" (more like kiss my butt).
There is a story that Hindemith (who did not quite catch on with
the Nazis
because Hitler had once heard his Sancta Susanna, a short opera
from
Hindemith's wild youth featuring a naked nun) used to say: "Egck
mich am
Orff", referring to the two most prominent Nazi composers who
continued
their careers like nothing had happened after the liberation. One
should try
to work-in also Richard Strauss who was another Nazi music
official.

Best regards,
danyel

www.echoton.de/clar.html

----- Original Message -----
From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 12:23 AM
Subject: RE: [kl]Carmina Burana

>
> I end this with a remark made to me by the great Dutch
> musicologist, Marius Flothuis. We were discussing Orff and he
> said, "You understand the meaning of the phrase, 'Leck mich in
> arsch'"? And I said, "Of course." It's German and means "Kiss
my
> ass."
>
> Flothuis then said, "Leck mich in Orff!!" It's tough to
> translate the meaning of that, but it is a distinct insult to
> both Orff and his music. A well deserved insult, I think.
>
> Dan Leeson
> DNLeeson@-----.net
>

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