Quote of the Day
"I have occasionally remarked that the only entirely creditable incident in English history is the sending of one hundred pounds to Beethoven on his deathbed by the London Philharmonic Society; and it is the only one that historians never mention." George Bernard Shaw (letter to The Times 20th Dec 1932)
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'Man know thyself' -
I don't understand it. Why does he say that it is the only creditable incident in English history, if I am reading this right?
- I hope, or I could not live. - written by H.G. Wells -
He was Irish!Originally posted by Preston View PostI don't understand it. Why does he say that it is the only creditable incident in English history, if I am reading this right?
'Man know thyself'Comment
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"His music always reminds one of paintings of battles" - Bertolt Brecht'Man know thyself'Comment
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Felix Mendelssohn - "Even if, in one or other of them, I had a particular word or words in mind, I would not tell anyone, because the same word means different things to different people. Only the songs say the same thing, arouse the same feeling, in everyone - a feeling that can't be expressed in words."'Truth and beauty joined'Comment
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Respectfully (towards Mendelssohn), how does he know they are the same feelings in everyone?Originally posted by Joy View Post
The fact that different people prefer different composers seems to me to point toward different feelings, on some level at least.
Also, this indirectly brings up something that has long fascinated me: are the strong, seemingly specific feelings aroused by specific passages of music INHERENT in our breasts, only awaiting to be awakened by the composer...or are they CREATED by the composer out of whole cloth? When I hear the slow movement of 'Les Adieux,' I always get the same weird, fascinating, otherworldly feeling. Did I have this feeling unconsciously within me all along, and Beethoven woke it up? Or did he supply it wholesale?
To clarify, the feelings aroused by real life incidents - the birth of one's baby, the joy at a long-delayed reunion, the revulsion at hearing the voice of George Bush - are to some extent predictable -- we've experienced their like before, we sort of know what to expect even though the feelings are intense. Music on the other hand, seems to produce NEW feelings that were never there before.
Or were they, just asleep and waiting for the right composer to wake them?Last edited by Chaszz; 02-03-2007, 05:27 PM.See my paintings and sculptures at Saatchiart.com. In the search box, choose Artist and enter Charles Zigmund.Comment
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Well on a basic level no one listening to a funeral march is going to feel that the music expresses anything other than sadness. Similarly something like the scherzo from Beethoven's 7th symphony is obviously playful and happy. I think Mendelssohn's comments were quite apt. The Modes or Moods were suggestive to the Greeks and later theoreticians as representing different emotional states - for example Guido D'Arezzo, Adam of Fulda and Espinoza all considered the Lydian Mode as happy. The Hypolydian was thought of as devout. There is six hundred years between these 3 men and yet they all came to similar conclusions.Originally posted by Chaszz View Post'Man know thyself'Comment
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Chaszz, I think that's just Mendelssohn's way of expressing that music is the universal language.Comment
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"Old piano players never die - they simply fake away!" - Anon.'Man know thyself'Comment
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"Musical people are so very unreasonable. They always want one to be perfectly dumb at the very moment when one is longing to be absolutely deaf."
An ideal Husband - Oscar Wilde'Man know thyself'Comment
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"Among the artistic hierarchy, the birds are probably the greatest musicians to inhabit our planet." Messiaen'Man know thyself'Comment
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"The grandeur of Beethoven's 32nd piano sonata represents the opening of the gates of heaven" Robert Browning'Man know thyself'Comment
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