Its said that the Germans call England the land without music. In the nature of generalisations its false in detail - but more broadly, in this case, by comparison with Germany, true. Think: Telemann, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, the Schumanns, Brahms, Wagner, Mendelssohn, Strauss (Richard). We, by comparison? A few.. Byrd, Purcell, Holst, Elgar, Britten. No contest. Most people Ive met dont know much about what they call classical music - by which they mean anything written before 50 years ago that involved orchestras, I think. Its always struck me as a bit odd to ignore the musical legacy of the last 600 years of Western civilisation. Perhaps its association with high culture after the relativism and democratisation of taste ushered in in the 60s has been off-putting. Apart from the daftness of the debased tendency to assert all tastes and viewpoints are equally valuable and valid, the relativism and scorn for effort has deprived people of their great musical heritage, a heritage that Schopenhauer and his follower Wagner thought might provide transcendence in a world without god. Theres so much of this legacy it can be daunting. Sometimes you need a way in, a little chink in the walls. Heres a flashmob in Barcelona doing the end of Beethovens 9th - the musical setting of Schillers poem, Ode to Joy (translated here into Catalan I think). The people seem to like it and the kids are dancing.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 09:22:41 +0000
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