Music at Home

Mathis der Maler (1st movement)

noreply@blogger.com (R. D. Welling) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:45:00 +0000

Great home music: Of the several musical themes I recall from the 1950s and 60s was one I recognized only later as being from Paul Hindemith's Mathis der Maler. This vigorous and unified work, one that made such an impression on me in my youth, was likely heard during a time when the people selecting mood music for television still had an appreciation for great forms (in stark contrast to the predictable, derivative, or even synthesized pap used today), so I tend to think that I first got it from TV although it might have been through a junior-high band teacher who announced, following a "music appreciation" session, that he really didn't like Hindemith! Maybe Mathis was just on his required list.

Interesting, isn't it, that while I can't recall what music was played that day, the teacher's particular prejudice has remained with me for forty-five years. If anything, this incident demonstrates that students should always be willing to question their teachers' prejudices. Perhaps he could have explained his Hindemith problem and thereby taught us how, instead of what, to think. (If this isn't a recommendation for homeschooling, I don't know of one.) Regardless, anyone would do well to play this extraordinary and accessible piece of music in the hearing of children of any age.

On the first movement, Michael Steinberg writes

The music begins in slow solemnity, three softly luminous G-major string chords punctuating rising woodwind phrases. (Many things in Mathis happen in threes.) This introduction done, trombones gently sing an old German song, Es Sungen drei Engel ein' sussen Gesang (Three angels were singing a sweet song). Hindemith himself pointed to folk song, Reformation war songs, and Gregorian chant as the 'nourishing soil' in which Mathis grew. 'Es sungen drei Engel' is also heard three times, raised at each occurrence by a major third and moving from trombones through horns to the A-major brightness of trumpets with woodwinds and glockenspiel. The main part of the movement begins, striding energetically in duple meter [the symphony's most familiar theme]. At the height of the elaborately contrapuntal development the three angels return, splendidly illuminated, and after a highly condensed recapitulation the movement ends grandly, in G major.1

The piece flows seamlessly, in contrast to many recent large works that appear to have been cut and pasted together or being merely derivative. Unlike so much of today's music written mainly to excite, Mathis is not just exciting but inspiring, and—dare I say—uplifting and is so integrated that it might have been written in one setting. Because, of course, it wasn't, Hindemith's achievement (as well of those of other great composers) is that much more remarkable in that it exemplifies an original but, more important, an organized mind. Mathis is an example of what a not only creative but also learned, trained and disciplined intellect can accomplish, starting with a simple theme and building to a grand edifice of coherent sounds, a complex entity that yet can be comprehended and appreciated by anyone. Searching for and contemplating the best works of man must be a major component of learning.

The first movement rarely fails to bring tears to my eyes but why take my word for it? And don't stop at the 1st movement! The third, in addition to being half again as long as the first, is even more rich and complex and will entrance any musically inclined child. Play it and let them figure it out. Even for those, like children, having limited musical knowledge, there's much to be learned from dedicated listening to this work.

Recommended: Emi Classics 55230, Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra, from 1995. "This disc received 1996 Grammy nominations for 'Classical Producer Of The Year' and 'Best Orchestral Performance.'"

1. Steinberg, M., (1998), The Symphony: A Listener's Guide, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 254

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Neighbour from hell jailed for three months for blasting out Madonna tracks around the clock | Mail Online

noreply@blogger.com (R. D. Welling) — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:08:00 +0000

Neighbour from hell jailed for three months for blasting out Madonna tracks around the clock | Mail Online: "A nuisance neighbour has been jailed for three months after breaching an ASBO forbidding her from blasting out Madonna tracks at all hours of the day and night.

Council bosses spent two years and around £20,000 of taxpayers' cash to silence noisy neighbour Tracey Kirby and her beloved stereo.

But even a court order to seize her hi-fi did not stop the 33-year-old mother of three - who hit back by borrowing another one.

Music collector Kirby went straight back to playing her favourite Madonna tracks again - to the fury of her long suffering neighbours who claimed her loud music is tantamount to 'torture.' "

Talk about music from home! Who can imagine how the poor kids are fairing?

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Thesis

noreply@blogger.com (R. D. Welling) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:24:00 +0000

These writings are not about criticizing compositions or performances. Such tasks are better left to those who have expended study and experience and have been professionally involved with the subject. While I reserve the right to express my preferences, I gladly leave the details to the experts although I also reserve the right to disagree with them.

At its core this discussion is about music in relation to how we live, rather than what performances we attend or recordings we purchase. Since today’s media provide a constant, simultaneous experience with home life that did not exist one hundred years ago, the experiences of living and being entertained—for many—tend now to be much the same thing.

Granting this reality, it is my contrary thesis that there ought to be a clear difference between entertainment instigated by the mediocre products of mass culture and the enrichment that comes from exposure to the best minds, whose musical products exemplify refined technique. These latter sources need not be only classical artists but principally those who adhere to a valid heritage of quality, whether in the classical, jazz, folk, or country genres.

Also, as a means of establishing an intellectual perspective, I wish to emphasize how valid technique stems from historical understanding and instruction and is not invented by marketing departments, recording industry entrepreneurs, or Simon Cowell.

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