 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Sylvain
Date: 2009-03-02 14:36
This essay by Karl Paulnack, the Music Department head at Boston Conservatory, is based on his speech to incoming freshmen. It's been traveling around the internet, but I thought I would post it here.
Here is the essay.
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: chris moffatt
Date: 2009-03-02 14:54
it should be pointed out that Olivier Messiaen was never in a concentration camp. He was called up for army service in 1939 and captured by the germans in June, 1940 at Verdun. He was sent to Stalag VIIIA at Goerlitz in Silesien. The quartet was performed in January of 1941 and two months later Messiaen was repatriated to Vichy France and resumed his musical career. It is highly unlikely that beatings and hunger were a feature of life at the Stalag. These camps were POW camps, run by the Wehrmacht, not Concentration camps (KZ Lager) run by the S.S.. It's probable that like most other allied POWs (except the russians who were abominably treated later in the war) the main concerns were boredom, keeping spirits up and staying warm. It's a nice speech but the premise is bogus.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2009-03-02 15:17
Rebecca Rischin's "For the End of Time" is to my knowledge the best resource for information on this piece. Chapter 2 describes the camp pretty thoroughly; it was far from a concentration camp.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: reprise
Date: 2009-03-03 02:22
I think it's an overstatement to say that the premise of the speech is bogus. The details of where Messiaen composed the quartet may be faulty -- but, the author's point there is about how and why people continue to turn to music even when we're surrounded by pain or tragedy. And, he does -- accurately -- point out that there are many examples of art and writing that have come out of concentration camp experiences.
I just don't want people to think it's just an inaccurate speech about Messiaen and not bother to click on it and read.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: chris moffatt
Date: 2009-03-03 12:54
Reprise: you are right - I was OTT to say the premise was bogus. Had the speaker used Pavel Haas or Gideon Klein (or any of the thousands of other artists and musicians who truly were in concentration camps) it would have been a better speech
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
