Dangers of Beethoven Addiction

[Michael]

I couldn't possibly comment on the following:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/enterta...293/story.html

[Phil Leeds]

I tend not to listen to Beethoven whilst driving, it would seem a wise move on my part

[Bonn1827]

Michael that article was excellent!! We are all in the category so described, are we not? How wonderful to have that youthful orchestra. I do envy those of you living in Europe, North America and Canada - you have it all!!

Out of my 4 adult children only the eldest, 33, is into serious music. He plays it at work (he's a winemaker) much to the chagrin of the others who work there. Indeed, he often gets negative looks and comments from co-workers. What's this about? IT'S NOT SOME KIND OF AVERSION THERAPY! I remember as an 18year old, getting a recording of Richter playing the "Appassionata" and "Pathetique" sonatas and being very afraid to let my friends see me with them, worse still hearing me play them!! The teasing and ridicule have left me with a permanent suspicion of people, believe it or not!! Maybe I mixed with the wrong people back then, but can anyone tell me why it's still regarded as a stigma, in some circles, to love art music?

[Michael]

I tend not to listen to Beethoven whilst driving, it would seem a wise move on my part

True story: Herbert von Karajan was once pulled over for speeding. His excuse was: "No-one can drive slowly while listening to Beethoven's Seventh!"

[Michael]

Out of my 4 adult children only the eldest, 33, is into serious music. He plays it at work (he's a winemaker) much to the chagrin of the others who work there. Indeed, he often gets negative looks and comments from co-workers. What's this about? IT'S NOT SOME KIND OF AVERSION THERAPY! I remember as an 18year old, getting a recording of Richter playing the "Appassionata" and "Pathetique" sonatas and being very afraid to let my friends see me with them, worse still hearing me play them!! The teasing and ridicule have left me with a permanent suspicion of people, believe it or not!! Maybe I mixed with the wrong people back then, but can anyone tell me why it's still regarded as a stigma, in some circles, to love art music?

When I discovered "classical" music back in the sixties, I was trying to spread the gospel but I soon gave up. Most of my friends, who were into the Beatles etc., thought I would soon get over it. I never did, but the ironic thing is I am still a huge fan of sixties pop music. I've just spent over two hundred euro on the Beatles' remastered CDs.

[Chris]

Now, I know several people who work on their computers or read their Tolstoy in the evening with some classical music radio channel or CD with the volume turned down low. Or even dinner parties with some "generic" baroque CD compilation as a sonic background to the chit-chat. In effect, they are using such cultural products as "Muzak'. What do you think Beethoven would have said about that?
"Ding" - third floor, Mr B, ladies undergarments and bed linen.

I don't know, but Mozart would have been fine with it - if that's what the music were written for, such as with many of his serenades and divertimenti.

[Bonn1827]

Philip I haven't had a laugh like that since, well, The Big Lebowski and "what have you" or "Father Ted". "Ding" - third floor, Phillip the 2nd and his pronouncements on how to listen to classical music...going cheap to the lowest bidder!!!

Now Phil...can I call you Phil? (Woops, I think I just did!) I meant we all belong to the "category" of Beethoven addicts and, judging by this website, I think I'm right. And I'm out and proud about it, what's more!!

Do you hear that gurgling sound, Phil? I think its those folk choking on their corks!!

I do agree that, for me at least, listening to art music requires ALL my attention - and I can iron too, as THAT disappears into the background, rather than the music. But others enjoy it as background, as suggested by Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik".

[Bonn1827]

Michael, I absolutely LOVE the Beatles, The Doors, The Stones, America - any good music actually. George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern - I adore these!! So, I'm not a one-trick pony!! I have long argued that some of the songs of the American Musical Theatre composers mentioned rivalled those of Schubert, much to a music teacher's horror. I was vindicated recently when I read Leonard Bernstein, no less, virtually saying the same thing in his "The Joy of Music".

I hasten to add that most of the latter would have also been unacceptable to the "playground mafia" (to use a teaching metaphor) of my late teens through to now!! Unlike Philip, I actually DO care what people think - nobody likes to be alienated or marginalized do they?

[Peter]

Now, I know several people who work on their computers or read their Tolstoy in the evening with some classical music radio channel or CD with the volume turned down low. Or even dinner parties with some "generic" baroque CD compilation as a sonic background to the chit-chat. In effect, they are using such cultural products as "Muzak'. What do you think Beethoven would have said about that?
"Ding" - third floor, Mr B, ladies undergarments and bed linen.

I'd agree that most people do not really 'listen' - that is a dying art fostered by our fast-living culture. Even many so-called 'musical' people - students learning a musical instrument simply repeat their pieces over and over without really listening.

[Bonn1827]

Peter, what you say is perfectly true. But do you think art music is REALLY for everybody? Same with poetry or great novels - not everyone can handle the complexity, nor do they have the "staying power". How many musicians are "learning" their pieces because of parental pressure, for example, without the intrinsic value of the music being apparent to them? Perhaps they are also victims of a system which prizes examination results over real musicianship? I remember when I learned piano (I started at 35!), the teachers I had tried to prepare me for passing exams. I commented that this system, as I experienced it, would hardly instill a love of music in young people. Being an adult I was prepared to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy. Though not really much good as a pianist myself, I loved learning the theory and aural aspects (which led onto university Musicology). I learned a piece by Clementi in 6th or 7th grade and I commented to the teacher, "I know this...Clementi has stolen this from the Overture to Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro". I was referring to the opening bars of one of Clementi's sonatas. My teacher didn't have the faintest idea what I was talking about!!!