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Strange Daze
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Previous post: Strange Daze
From my youth up I never liked the city.
I never forgot the mountains where I was born.
The world caught me and harnessed me
And drove me through dust, thirty years away from home.
Migratory birds return to the same tree.
Fish find their way back to the pools where they were hatched.
I have been over the whole country,
And I have come back at last to the garden of my childhood.
My farm is only ten acres.
The farm house has eight or nine rooms.
Elms and willows shade the back garden.
Peach trees stand by the front door.
The village is out of sight.
You can hear dogs bark in the alleys,
And cocks crow in the mulberry trees.
When you come through the gate into the court
You will find no dust or mess.
Peace and quiet live in every room.
I am content to stay here the rest of my life.
At last I have found myself.
— Tao Yuan Ming (Tao Qian) Chinese, 365-427
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I just love that one.
Cancel culture is coming for Beethoven on the grounds that “Beethoven’s [Fifth] Symphony was transformed from a symbol of triumph and freedom into a symbol of exclusion, elitism, and gatekeeping.” Wonderful article by Daniel Lelchuk, a professional cellist, in Quillette on the ridiculousness of this charge of colonialism, classism, sexism, and heterosexism (which was made by two white males, go figure).
https://quillette.com/2020/09/19/then-they-came-for-beethoven/
Even if you don’t have time to read the entire article (it’s not that long), scroll down to the end for the clip of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra performing the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Proof that Beethoven’s appeal is timeless and universal.
I saw these guys perform in a small theater pre-COVID and it was quite a show. PA Cat is right about the cancel culture. The fabulous orchestra at our daughter’s college was disbanded after her second year there. She played viola and was on a musical scholarship. Why was it dissolved? They were told that westernized music was inherently misogynistic and racist. Students were offered a chance to take ethnomusicology courses, one of which involved listening to tribal drums and playing wood blocks and triangles—like little kindergartners. Gone was the experience of the students playing wonderful music, gone was the experience of locals from 75 miles around of attending performances in a beautiful brand new performing arts center which was always packed for their performances, and also hurt were the children from poor families in area schools who no longer were given free lessons by the college students along with musical instruments—a program aligned with the famous conductor, Dudamel’s, program for lifting children out of poverty through music that was started in Brazil. All of this destruction to erase the work of “old white men”. This is happening all over our country at universities.
I feel The Piano Guy’s Youtube notes on this performance are well worth posting here:
“Story behind the song:
The American Heritage Lyceum Philharmonic (Youth Orchestra) and its director, Kayson Brown, approached us with this idea. We loved it. It combined two of the things we are working to accomplish — inviting people to classical music and inspiring young musicians. Steven Sharp Nelson had soloed with the orchestra the previous year and loved the spirit and the talent that the orchestra showed at such young ages (ages 13-18!) Together we developed the concept of “Beethoven’s 5 Secrets,” combining OneRepublic’s tune “Secrets” with melodies and moments from all four movements of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.
We used 5 different melodies from the 4 movements of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony (not including the “bridge” the orchestra plays in the middle). Try to guess where they are and where they come from!
What are Beethoven’s secrets? He had many. His most prominent secret that he desperately tried to keep from the public and that caused him to be considered extremely eccentric, irritable, and hermit-like was his “weakness.” He was deaf during most of his life. Imagine that…one of the greatest composers that ever lived could hardly hear. And yet, he wrote his life’s greatest works after becoming deaf. He believed that art itself had “secrets” that had to be “forced into” in order to obtain art’s highest level. There is no doubt Beethoven discovered many of the “secrets” of art — people all over the world enjoy them every day. He was a true master of music, blessed by God. This piece and video are dedicated to him.”
Good addition. Thanks.
Equality has become more important than Beethoven. These Blamtifa idiots and their enablers are trying to force us into a “Harrison Bergeron” world in order to insure equality of outcome.