Riffs/reveries/rodomontades re classical music. Always asking WDTNAD — What do the notes actually do? Writing a book about it, repped by
@alireader
at
@JVNLA
On the off chance that you want to nerd out over Bach's handwriting and how he cut his quills and mixed his ink this is the video you need. He composed at least sometimes without a wig, as natural hairs are caught in the ink
It’s interesting that Bernstein, who was so brilliant, when talking about Beethoven is reduced to mumbling things like, Beethoven always wrote the right note because it was the right note. But that may be an interesting pointer to the limits of reason in understanding art: Lenny
Listening to a song from Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin, below. I often find something terrifying about the beauty of Schubert’s music: beautifully terrifying. He seems to have a facility for presenting emotions in a pure, naked form by means of very few notes. So the emotions
I’ll answer your question. There are a lot of people working in Silicon Valley. They need to justify their jobs. The companies need to keep churning out new crap because their investors need them to. It’s like the sorcerer’s apprentice.
why is it that every “solution” developed to solve the crisis of loneliness caused by the mediation of technology in every component of our lives involves further mediation of said technology in every component of our lives? getting a text from a bot on a hike won’t fix you
@jonathanbfine
And I read of British academics that if they’re spluttering in disapproval of your talk, you’re probably OK, but if somebody says, “just a slight quibble, if I may,” it’s time to batten down the hatches
Marian Anderson, one of the first well-known black classical singers of the 20th century, gave a sold-out performance in lily-white Princeton. Ironically, no hotel or inn would let her stay there. Einstein bailed her out; she stayed at his place.
A lot can be said about the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. but right now I just feel like pointing at it.
Spinoza said, “Veritas est index sui et falsi” — “Truth is the index of itself and of falsehood.” So let beauty be the index of beauty.
I will point out only: 1) It’s perfect.
No one: Are you a hot 25-year old French guy with opinions about composers?
Me: No -- I'm dorky ole' Klassical Kat with OPINIONS ABOUT COMPOSERS!!! (interrogated by
@valerie_reads
)
#ClassicalMusic
Let’s talk about Haydn: genius and silly goose, as he died otd. He’s easy to underestimate, as I did for many years: I didn’t understand.
The celebrated wit — oscillating between puckish and bumptious — makes us think of genial “Papa Haydn,” yet it is a worldview in itself. The
This is raspberry plus almond paste plus chocolate. My syllogism:
Major premise: God wants us to be happy.
Minor premise: this will make me happy.
Conclusion: [you can do this part]
This is based on a knowledge of Aristotle almost on the level of Taylor Swift
"Handel is the master of us all." Haydn
"Handel is only fourth rate. He isn't even interesting." Tchaikovsky
Moral: ignore everyone and make your own mind up.
@derekcrneal
@moonbeeaam
Agreed. The point of oedipus is that his great efforts to avoid fate are in vain, right? I mean, it seems too obvious to mention.
On 15/4/1945, British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen. They found around 60,000 prisoners in the camp, most of them seriously ill. Thousands of corpses lay unburied on the camp grounds.
Between May 1943 & April 15, 1945, between 36,400 & 37,600 prisoners died in Bergen-Belsen.
Perhaps it will help if you consider what Hannah Arendt said about Nabokov: “There’s something vulgar about his intelligence – it’s as though he thinks of himself in terms of ‘is smarter than’.”
Some insults are so memorable and so devastating that the objects of them can never recover in your mind. I will never be able to take William Faulkner wholly seriously after reading that Nabokov called his books “corncobby chronicles.”
Anton Bruckner’s towering Eighth Symphony was premiered by the Vienna Philharmonic, under the baton of Hans Richter on 18 December 1892. The wondrous Adagio steals my soul every time I hear it. An incredible work! What are your favourite recordings of Bruckner’s 8th?
So as not to derail
@LoveInner
’s thread about Monteverdi, a couple additional thoughts.
Thesis: no other composer wrote in a more sensual fashion for the female voice. A bunch of Monteverdi is just sex in vocal form.
Exhibit A:
And in what form would you like your heartbreak today, Mr. Kat?
Oh, I think I shall have my heartbreak in the form of Schubert. I often find that Schubert is the best form of heartbreak, wouldn’t you agree, Smithers?
Undoubtedly, sir.
Excellent question. Ultimately Debussy is the greater master, I think, but I’m more often in the mood for the clarity, the lapidary incisiveness of Ravel.
Team
#Debussy
or Team
#Ravel
? I've had 2 conversations this week with people who told me they prefer Ravel to Debussy. Ravel has also been my favourite composer since my teenage years. What do you think?
@RMAFrenchMusic
@Frenchbiche
My friend and I. That’s for the subject of a sentence.
My friend and me. That’s for the object.
“My friend and I saw you waving.”
“Did you see my friend and me waving at you?”
After being extremely depressed all day by what’s going on in the world, I am now, in honor of Easter, listening to Bach’s Cantata 4, “Christ lay in the bonds of death.” Just heard the opening choral Fantasia.
So blown away, so obliterated by the greatness:
>
Wanted to listen to music for a couple hours this evening but I got caught up in doomscrolling. In fact, if you scroll at all these days, doom is hard to avoid. However, just listened to Beethoven’s wonderful Les Adieus piano Sonata. What next? >