just a thought…

Could someone please explain to me why, on this Tuesday morning at 2:15 AM EST, I have for the first time in my life listened to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony?

For those of you who wish to listen to a very low-quality stream (complete with emphysemic audience members) go here.

I’ve been around classical music for the majority of my life; my father has listened to it for as long as I can remember. I’ve heard bits and pieces of different classical works over the years as they have been used in various commercials, movies and songs by other contemporary artists. I’ve heard samples of the different movements of the Ninth, edited down for the short attention spans that us modern-day folk have. I am twenty-two years old, and without the aid of wikipedia, I could not give you the names of many composers or any of their famous works. If you played a well-known piece for me, I am likely to recognize it, but not know its name or composer. Beethoven was not meant to be ‘sampled’, Beethoven was not meant to be abridged; I feel cheated. Why was this not forced upon me as a student in high school? Why was this not required listening, even in my band class?

I believe one of the reasons to be the aforementioned short attention spans that we have. We have become used to the idea that any ‘song’ or source of audio meant for entertainment and enjoyment, should be roughly three-point-five minutes in length and played non-stop on the local radio station. Who decided this? Did musical artists one day decide that they didn’t want to stretch their creative abilities further than that limit, were they forced by record producers to keep their music under a certain length in order to provide disc jockeys with enough time for commercials? I know this comparison is not very fair, as the two styles of music I am comparing are vastly different, and intended for entirely different audiences.  I also do realize that not everyone likes classical music, as musical taste differs from person to person, but I wonder if the reason not many people like classical music, is because they haven’ been properly exposed to it.  People may say that they do not like classical music because the majority of it is instrumental; fortunately for them, the Ninth has lyrics Also, most movie soundtracks (or at least the ones that have soundtracks that are not based on the summer’s pop hits) have instrumental scores, but you never really think about them, because they are in the background; they are the invisible actor / actress.

There is still a great deal of contemporary music that I listen to and love; I am not hating on (all of) the newer stuff. However, all of this old music that I have never heard before, or heard in its original and intended way, intrigues the hell out of me. Another thing that interests me, is the longevity that the Ninth Symphony has had. What exactly does it take to create a work of art that can stand the test of time so well? Only a few pieces of art have been able to do so. Where do these succeed where so many others fail?

I hadn’t really intended this to turn into such a crazy rant, however I have now resolved to purchase some classical music. I shall start with the Ninth Symphony, if not all nine. Then I will work on branching out to other composers.

When I set eyes on this post again, I will probably notice several disjointed thoughts, spelling / grammar errors, amongst other atrocities to logic, reason and the English language. Please forgive me. I may add to / edit this post, or continue adding ideas in the comments.  Someone should create a WordPress plugin that can lock me out of my blog late at night…that is when the ranting demons seize control of my hands and make me type awful things.

I would like to thank Geoff. Without him forcing me to watch A Clockwork Orange, this post would not have been possible.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 at 3:05 am and is filed under Rantz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.