Klarinet Archive - Posting 000230.txt from 2008/11

From: Bear Woodson <bearwoodson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Johann Strauss Waltzes & Rite of Spring
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2008 07:39:16 -0500

> Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:55:26 -0000
> From: "Matthew Lloyd"
> <matthew@-----.uk>
>=20
> Tacky? Juvenile? No. Perfection - the Blue Danube is
> nothing less than perfect.
>=20
> Matthew

Mr. LLoyd,=20

you are more than free to enjoy ANY style of music that
you choose, but you Obviously have NOT spent a lot of time
in Music Theory Classrooms! (I have been thinking
exclusively in those terms for 38 years, but then I'm a
composer of Modern Classical Music, so I'm supposed to do
that.)=20

The term "Popular Music" was coined way back in the
Middle Ages, and basically means "music written by and for
the Music Theory Illiterates". The "Art Music", "Educated
Music" or "classical" music is therefore based on How Well
the Composer shows Music Theory Skills (such as
Compositional Devices, Motivic Development, Counterpoint,
etc.) in the music, which, too often are Totally Absent in
"Popular Music". (Some of us have been referring to the
masses as "MTI's", "Music Theory Illiterates". In spite of
high education in medicine, science, law, etc., MOST of the
people in Modern Culture are MTI's, especially Late 20th
Century Music Theory. so they have a Group Bigotry
against us boring, nerdy Music Theory Geek Types! *sniff!*
*pout!*)=20

These definitions still stand today. In essence, regardless
of those few Rock Groups who DID have detailed 18th and
19th Century Music Theory training, (such as Emerson,
Lake & Palmer; Queen; Elton John; Moody Blues; etc.),
they don't get paid for "talking over the heads" of their
listeners. If the music can't be thoroughly understood on the
first listening, it is a Failure by Popular Music Standards,
but it *might* be leaning in a more intellectual direction,
which is the Mail Goal of "classical" Music: to impress the
Music Theory experts.

Although I was 9 years old when the Beatles got famous
in the US in 1963, Paul McCartney STILL can Barely Read
Music, and never came close to mastering the most baby
simple basics of 18th Century Music Theory. That fact never
blocked him from making a fortune! It is a matter of if you
wish to get $10 each, from millions of MTI customers, or a
permanent place in Intellectual History and a thousand dollars
from a handful of experts, once in a great while. How many
of the living "Beethovens" can you name, Mr. Lloyd? Did
you even know that many are Women Composers? I guess
we'll never catch you playing the Joan Tower Clarinet
Concerto on the sly, much less hearing a Clarinet Concerto
written by you in Modern Chromatic Modal Harmony!
(What a pity. It might have been a lovely, lyrical piece.)

When I think of someone trying to defend Johann Strauss
Waltzes, I think of how TACKY Lieutenant Columbo (actor
Peter Falk) did it, in the episode called "Etude in Black"
(Season 2, #1) from 1972. His dear friend, actor John
Cassavetes, played the arrogant conductor, Maestro Alex
Benedict, who murdered his mistress, a pretty, young,
concert pianist lady, so that he could keep their Love Affair a
secret, and stay employed, as well as married to his wealthy,
Beverly Hills snob wife. While other people kept praising the
conductor for his profound renditions of works by Mozart
and Tchaikovsky, Lt. Columbo was fixated only on his
TACKY recording of some Johann Strauss Waltzes! (Do you
have a rumpled raincoat, too, Mr. Lloyd?!?)

http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/season2.htm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068398/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000393/bio

By the way, I had always thought that Peter Falk was
really of Italian descent, because he's played an Italian in SO
many movies and TV shows. In reality I learned a few years
ago, that he's a 100% Nice Jewish Boy, from a Russian
Jewish father and a Polish-Czech Jewish mother, but I believe
he was RAISED in a predominantly Italian-speaking part of
New York City! This was the same reason why the Nice
Jewish Marx Brother Boys spoke fluent Italian, and banked
on it in their acting careers.

Actually I've always admired Lt. Columbo because he's
such a Fancy Dresser! (At least when compared to me, he
is!) And then there's Monk, the Defective Detective, Adrian
Monk, who also brilliantly solves crimes, but has all kinds
of Phobias and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder! (He's SO
much more Mentally Stable than I could ever hope to be!)

When I started studying 20th Century Music Theory in
1971, we used the "Rite of Spring" by Stravinsky (1882-
1971) as an Orchestration Bible and as a Text Book on
Chromatic Modal Harmony. You might say I'm just a
littttllllle bit familiar with the work. (Its "Motivic Chord" is
Lydian, or IV, in one Key Signature, against a Mixolydian
Chord, or V7, in another Key Signature of 3 fewer Flats in
the Key Signature.)

Charles Camille St. Sa=EBns (1835-1921) had previously
written a beautiful Bassoon Sonata in his usual harmony that
was no more innovative than 1770, so it might as well have
been written then! (Music Theorists are therefore just as
unimpressed with him, than they are with Johann Strauss.)
Bassoonists have told me that it goes up to a high E (a 10th
above Middle C), at the end of an ascending scale, at the end
of one movement. However it was St. Sa=EBns who loudly
started objecting to the Opening Bassoon Melody, lingering
an Octave Above Middle C, at the May 29, 1913 Premiere of
"Le Sacre du Printemps".

The disagreements lead to a Riot, and the "Rite of Spring"
was Officially BANNED from Live Performance in Paris for
many years! Whereas that fact is famous in Music Theory
classrooms, I've tried for Years to find out Exactly WHEN
did that Ban got Started and Removed (I think in the 1980's).
Does anyone know that answer? Because I still can't find it,
on any website!=20

Bear Woodson=20
Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA

Home: 520 - 881 - 2558
"Bear Woodson" <bearwoodson@-----.net>

"If Chocolate Powder is made from Powdered
Chocolate, and Onion Powder is made from
Powdered Onions, what do they make Baby Powder
from?" - Bear Woodson (1981)
=20

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