The Well-Tempered Ear
Today is Veterans Day. Here is some appropriate music by Beethoven to mark it. Can you guess which piece? What composer or music would you choose?
1 Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Today – Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020 – is Veterans Day.
It started out as Armistice Day in 1918 when the end of World War I was declared to take place on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
It is a day to mark the service of all veterans – not just those who died in the line of duty, as is celebrated on Memorial Day.
You can find a lot of choice of classical music to play for Veterans Day. Here is one link to a compilation that features patriotic songs and marches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJepYzH1VUY
But The Ear settled on Beethoven (below, in an 1815 portrait by Joseph Willebrord Maehler).
Can you guess which piece?
It is not the memorable funeral marches on the Piano Sonata in A-Flat, Op. 26, or the Symphony No. 3 “Eroica.”
It is also not the “Sacred Hymn of Thanksgiving” in the String Quartet, Op. 132.
And it is not “Wellington’s Victory” or the “Egmont” Overture or the Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” with its triumphant fast movements.
Instead it is the second movement of the Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. (You can hear it see it represented graphically in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
That is the very well known Allegretto movement with its repetitious and almost hypnotizing, soaring theme. It seems like a funeral march, full of introspection, poignancy and sadness, that is a bit brisker and more lyrical than usual.
It is so popular, in fact, that it has been used as a soundtrack in many movies, including “The King’s Speech” and has inspired works based on it including the “Fantasia on an Ostinato” by the contemporary American composer John Corigliano.
If it seems an unexpected choice, you just need to know more about its history.
It was composed 1811-1812, and Beethoven correctly considered it one of his finest works. So did Richard Wagner who famously described as the “apotheosis of the dance” for the infectious rhythms throughout the symphony.
At its premiere in Vienna, in his introductory remarks Beethoven said: “We are moved by nothing but pure patriotism and the joyful sacrifice of our powers for those who have sacrificed so much for us.”
Beethoven (below, in 1815 as depicted in a paining the Joseph Willibrord Maehler) premiered the symphony at a charity concert in 1813 to help raise money for the Austrian and Bavarian soldiers who had been wounded at the Battle of Hanau while fighting against France during the Napoleonic Wars.
It was so popular with the first performance that the audience demanded and received an immediate encore performance of the second movement.
Here is a Wikipedia link to the history of the symphony: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._7_(Beethoven)
To this day, the Seventh Symphony, so charged with energy, remains for many people, conductors and orchestral players their favorite Beethoven symphony.
It is ironic that Leonard Bernstein (below, in a photo by Paul de Hueck) performed the Seventh Symphony at the last concert he ever conducted – at the Tanglewood Festival in August 1990. He took the second movement at a slower-than-usual tempo and many have criticized Bernstein, who was in terrible health, and have suggested that he was using it as a funeral march or homage for himself.
They may be right. But in retrospect the choice of Bernstein – who died two months later — finds a certain justification in the original motive for the entire symphony and especially the second movement.
Listen for yourself.
Then tell us what you think.
Does this movement justify it being played on Veterans Day?
What music would you choose to mark the day?
What do you think of the Symphony No. 7 in general and the second movement in particular?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #ArmisticeDay, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #EgmontOverture, #EmperorConcerto, #EroicaSymphony, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FantasiaonanOstinato, #FilmSoundtrack, #FuneralMarch, #HealthEmergency, #JacobStockinger, #JohnCorigliano, #LeonardBernstein, #LivingComposer, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MemorialDay, #MovieSoundtrack, #MusicCritic, #NapoleonicWars, #NewMusic, #OperaMusic, #OrchestralPlayers, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #PianoSonata, #RichardWagner, #SacredHymnofThanksgiving, #SeventhSymphony, #SlowMovement, #StringQuartet, #TanglewoodFestival, #TanglewoodMusicCenter, #TheEar, #TheKing'sSpeech, #VeteransDay, #ViennaAustria, #VisualArt, #Wellington'sVictory, #Wikipediaentry, #WorldWarI, #YouTubevideo, 1918, Allegretto, apotheosis, appropriate, Armistice Day, Arts, audience, Austria, Austrian, battle, Bavaria, Bavarian, Beethoven, Bernstein, blog, brisk, celebrate, Chamber music, choice, choose, Classical music, compendium, compilation, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, Corigliano, critic, criticize, dance, day, dead, death, declare, describe, duty, Egmont Overture, Emperor Concerto, encore, end, energy, Eroica, Eroica Symphony, Facebook, Fantasia, Fantasia on an Ostinato, fight, film soundtrack, forward, France, French, funeral march, graphic, graphically, guess, Hanau, Health, help, History, hour, hymn, hypnotizing, immediate, infectious, introspection, ironic, Jacob Stockinger, John Corigliano, joyful, know, Leonard Bernstein, like, link, listen, Living composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyrical, march, mark, melody, Memorial Day, month, movement, movie, Movies, Music, Napoleon, Napoleonic, Napoleonic Wars, need, New Music, opera, Orchestra, orchestral, orchestral players, ostinato, Overture, patriotic, patriotism, peace, People, performance, Piano, Piano concerto, piano music, Piano sonata, piece, play, player, poignancy, popular, post, posting, pure, repetitious], represent, rhythm, Richard Wagner, sacred, Sacred Hymn of Thanksgiving, sacrifice, sadness, said, say, schematic, service, Seventh Symphony, share, sing, slow, Slow movement, soldiers, Sonata, song, songs, soul, soulful, soundtrack, String quartet, subscriber, suggest, symphony, tag, Tanglewood Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, Tempo, terrible, Thanksgiving, The Ear, The King's Speech, theme, think, today, triumph, triumphant, truce, unexpected, United States, usual, Veteran, Veterans Day, victory, Vienna, visual schematic, Wagner, war, Wednesday, Wellington, Wellington's Victory, Wikipedia, work, World War I, wound, wounded, YouTube, YouTube video
Classical music: This weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra celebrates the legacy and works of Leonard Bernstein
Leave a Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR SHARE IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
This coming weekend, Leonard Bernstein (below, in a photo by Jack Mitchell) will be remembered, honored and celebrated by his friend and Madison Symphony Orchestra music director John DeMain in a “Remembering Lenny” concert that explores Bernstein’s musical contributions as an American composer and conductor.
Original works by Bernstein will be performed by the MSO on the first half of the concert. The MSO starts with the Overture to Candide, then moves on to On The Town, and, finally, performs his Symphony No. 2 “The Age of Anxiety,” featuring Van Cliburn Competition bronze medal winner and UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor.
The second half of the program features Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, the last work that Bernstein (1918-1990) ever conducted during a concert at the summer Tanglewood Festival of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Performances will be held in Overture Hall, 201 State Street, on this Friday night, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m.; this Saturday night, Nov. 10, at 8 p.m.; and this Sunday afternoon, Nov. 11, at 2:30 p.m. Ticket information is below.
Says DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson): “To have my 25th anniversary with the MSO coincide with the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth is special for me personally because of the unique opportunities I had to work with this great American musician.”
DeMain, who premiered Bernstein’s opera “A Quiet Place” in Houston, adds: “The first half of the concert celebrates Lenny the composer, culminating in the first performance by the MSO of his second symphony, The Age of Anxiety, which has a dazzling and at times jazzy part for the piano, and carries with it, still, a timely social statement. Christopher Taylor (below), a Madison favorite with whom I have often enjoyed collaborating, will perform the challenging and exciting piano part.”
DeMain describes the final work in the program: “The second half of the concert pays tribute to Lenny the conductor, and his life-long love of Beethoven. Since the Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92, was the last piece Lenny conducted, I thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate Lenny and his great contribution to American musical life.” (NOTE: You can hear Bernstein conduct the famous second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 during his last public performance, just two months before he died, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Here is some more background:
Bernstein’s operetta Candide is based on the 1759 novella by French philosopher Voltaire. The well-known Overture is quick-paced, with a feverish excitement that begins from the first breath of sound. Many of the meters are in seven beats, or of other non-traditional types, and quickly change. Each player of the ensemble is required to perform with simultaneously the utmost virtuosity and togetherness.
On the Town is a dance-centric musical scored by Leonard Bernstein based on Jerome Robbins’ idea for the 1944 ballet “Fancy Free.” The story depicts three American sailors on a 24-hour shore leave in New York City during wartime, where each man meets and quickly connects with the woman of their dreams. The musical is the source of the ubiquitously popular show tune New York, New York.
The Age of Anxiety was composed between 1948 and 1949, and is inspired by a poem of the same name by W.H. Auden (below). The 80-page poem follows four lonely strangers who meet in a wartime New York bar and spend the evening ruminating on their lives and the human condition. Subtitled “a baroque eclogue” (a pastoral poem in dialogue form), the characters speak mostly in long soliloquies of alliterative tetrameter, with little distinction among the individual voices.
Composed from 1811–1812, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 premiered with Beethoven (below) himself conducting in Vienna on December 8, 1813 at a charity concert for soldiers wounded in the Battle of Hanau.
The symphony’s dance elements, vitality and sense of celebration are conveyed principally through rhythm. It is not the melodies that are so striking and memorable as the general sense of forward movement.
The Overture lobby opens 90 minutes prior to each concert. One hour before each performance, Randal Swiggum (below) will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience. It is free to ticket holders.
The MSO recommends that concert attendees arrive EARLY for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations, and so they can experience the Prelude Discussion.
Program notes for the concerts are available online. Go to: http://bit.ly/nov2018programnotes
Tickets can be purchased in the following ways:
- Single Tickets are $18-$93 each and are on sale now at: https://madisonsymphony.org/bernstein\through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141. Fees apply to online/phone sales.
- Groups of 10 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, visit, https://www.madisonsymphony.org/groups.
- Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $15 or $20 tickets. More information is at: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush
- Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
- Subscribers to 5 or more symphony subscription concerts can save up to 50% off single ticket prices. More information is available about the season at: https://madisonsymphony.org/18-19
- Flex-Ticket booklets of 10 vouchers for 2018-19 symphony subscription concerts are available. Learn more at: https://madisonsymphony.org/flex
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Find more information at madisonsymphony.org
The Presenting Sponsor for the November concerts is Steinhauer Charitable Trust. Underwriting for Christopher Taylor is provided by Sharon Stark, “to Peter Livingston with love.” Major funding is provided by: Stephen D. Morton, The Gialamas Company, Inc., Myrna Larson, Madison Symphony Orchestra League, and Nancy Mohs. Additional funding is provided by Robert Benjamin and John Fields, Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., and Wisconsin Arts Board, with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tags: #AgeofAnxiety, #AmericanComposer, #Americanconductor, #AmericanMusician, #AQuietPlace, #BattleofHanau, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonSymphony, #BoxOffice, #BrassSection, #CandideOpera, #CharityConcert, #ChristopherTaylor, #FacebookPost, #FirstPerformance, #GialamasCompany, #Godfrey&Kahn, #HoustonTexas, #JazzMusic, #JeromeRobbins, #JohnDeMain, #LastPerformance, #LeonardBernstein, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkNewYork, #OntheTown, #OriginalWork, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #OverturetoCandide, #PastoralPoem, #PercussionSection, #PreludeDiscussion, #ProgramNotes, #RandalSwiggum, #SeasonSubscriber, #SeniorCitizen, #ShowTune, #SociallyRelevant, #SocialRelevance, #SocialStatement, #StateOfWisconsin, #StringSection, #StudentID, #StudentRush, #SubscriptionConcert, #TanglewoodFestival, #TheCliburn, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VanCliburn, #VanCliburnInternationalPianoCompetition, #ViennaAustria, #W.H.Auden, #WarTime, #WindSection, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WithLove, #WorldPremiere, #WorldWarII, #YouTubevideo, A Quiet Place, admission, Age of Anxiety, American, American musician, anniversary, Arts, Ausria, Austria, ballet, Baroque, Battle of Hanau, Beethoven, birth, blog, Boston, box office, brass section, breath, bronze medal, Candide, celebration, centennial, charity, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, composer, Concert, dance, death, dialog, dialogue, died, discount, dream, Eclogue, explore, Facebook, first performance, France, French, Gialamas Company, hear, honor, Houston, ID, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, jazzy, Jerome Robbins, John DeMain, last, Lenny, Leonard Bernstein, life, live, lives, lobby, lonely, Love, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, meger, melody, Mohs, Music, musical, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, New York, New York City, novella, On the Town, online, opera, Operetta, Orchestra, original, Overture, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, Overture Hall, pastoral, percussion section, performance, philosopher, Pianist, Piano, poem, poet, Poetry, post, posting, Prelude Discussion, premiere, professor, program notes, Randal Swiggum, remember, rhythm, sailor, season subscriber, security, see, senior, senior citizen, share, show tune, social relevance, socially relevant, soldiers, soliloquy, Sound, sponsor, stranger, string section, Student, student rush, subscriber, subscription concert, symphony, Tanglewood Festival, Texas, The Cliburn, ticket, togetherness, underwriting, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Van Cliburn, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Veteran, veterans, Vienna, Viola, Violin, virtuosity, vitality, voice, Voltaire, wartme, wind section, winner, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, woman, work, world premiere, World War II, wounded, YouTube
Classical music: Today is Sept. 11. What music would you listen to, to commemorate the terrorist attacks on that day
3 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
The news today will be filled with Hurricane Irma, Hurricane José and Hurricane Harvey as well as the wildfires raging out west.
But today is also Sept. 11, 2017.
That makes today the 16th anniversary of the deadly terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in the Twin Towers in New York City (below top); the Pentagon in Virginia, close to Washington, D.C. (below middle); and that thwarted hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93, which passengers forced to crash in a field in Pennsylvania (below bottom) before it could reach the Capitol or White House.
During the September 11 attacks, 2,996 people were killed and more than 6,000 others wounded. These immediate deaths included 265 on the four planes (including the 19 terrorists), 2,606 in the World Trade Center and in the surrounding area, and 125 at the Pentagon.
A lot of music could be played to mark the occasion.
At bottom, in a YouTube video, is “On the Transmigration of Souls,” a piece by the American composer John Adams that was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic specifically to mark the event. It ended up winning a Pulitzer Prize.
It uses both an orchestra and a chorus, and it incorporates voices and sounds, actual recordings and tapes, from the events of that day. It all makes for a moving tribute.
But other music, in smaller forms and in many other styles, would also be appropriate.
What piece would you suggest?
Tags: 9-11, 9/11, American, anniversary, appropriate, Arts, Capitol, choral music, chorus, Classical music, commission, Compact Disc, composer, crash, D.C., deadly, death, Flight 93, Harvey, hijacking, Hurricane, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane José, Irma, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Music, New York City, news, On the Transmigration of Souls, Orchestra, Pennsylvania, Pentagon, Pulitzer Prize, recording, reports, Sept. 11, soul, symphony, tape, terror, terrorism, tourist attack, tribute, Twin Towers, United Airlines, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Virginia, voices, Washington, west, White House, wildfire, Wisconsin, World Trade Center, wounded, YouTube
The Well-Tempered Ear 