Monday, September 24, 2012
Musical Notes
After reading the second reading, I went looking for some background on Goethe, and found reference to his participation in the German artistic movement known as Sturm und Drang, which was a sort of precursor to the French artistic movements that featured heightened intensity and exploration of the inner psyche. I also found here reference to composers whose works explored these same themes, including Haydn and Mozart (he of the "subversive" operas...) Some thoughts on the music aspects:
It is important to note that this movement was a reaction to French neoclassism, which was rooted in extreme rationality. Sturm und Drang was anti-rational, based on stories where the characters were driven to extremes of irrational behavior due to the intensity of emotions and the feeling of being controlled from within, of being in servitude to their emotions instead of being in control of them, which was considered a weakness in polite society. In this artwork, the artists seemed to be asking if it really WAS irrational to be controlled by emotions --after all, If it comes within us, is it not nature itself speaking, and who are we to question the natural phenomenon and who are we to try to control nature?
This is manifested in the literature of Goethe and Byron of course,and in some of the music of German composers like Haydn and Mozart in the 1770s and 1780's. Minor tonalities, undulating (stormy) rhythms, drastic changes in tempo and dynamics, tremolos in the strings....all devices aimed at questioning the musical rationality... The musical language was not significantly altered in these pieces -- in effect, the same tools were used, but they were employed in ways that brought darker, more intense expression to the fore. Both Haydn and Mozart were renowned for the lightheartedness of their compositions, and their experiments departed from this. It would be a mistake, though, to start thinking of either composer as a Sturm und Drang composer -- only a few of Haydn's symphonies explored these themes, and only one of Mozart's though his operatic themes, and his membership in the Illuminati faction of the Freemasons suggest that he was quite dedicated to the humanist ideals of Rousseau and Diderot. Still, the conversation was begun. And with music, as with other disciplines, once the door has opened it will not be closed again. And when extremely popular composers such as these, both with the nobility and the commoners, engage even hesitantly in the conversation, it lends a legitimacy to the questions being raised. It also helps that a musician's expression is much more covert than that of authors. While the authors may be considered fringe for the themes they address, a composer can more easily couch their anti-rational elements in traditional forms and structures that only hint at differences that nevertheless become a part of the audiences perceptions and experience, opening them unconsciously to more overt assaults on their sensibilities.
Listening suggestions:
Haydn Symphonies. 26 (Lamentatione), 49 (La Passione), 44(Mourning), 45 (Farewell)
Mozart Symphony 25
The differences in these pieces from mainstream classical works (even the other works of these composers) are extremely subtle. But as always, these small steps free those who follow to take more steps, so that Beethoven (who studied with Haydn) and his contemporaries can continue exploring these themes. Compare Beethoven's works (especially his 3rd "Eroica" symphony and beyond, and you will find more predominant questioning of rationality, more overt forays into the turmoil of inner expression. His 7th symphony, first movement, is a favorite of mine for his play with tonality and the relentlessly building intensity.
And as to Beethoven's 3rd Symphony: it was written initially as an homage to Napoleon, as Beethoven was an admirer of the ideals of the French Revolution. But he was enraged when Napoleon declared himself Emperor of France, and tore up his title page and dedication, dedicating it instead to heroism (eroica"). An interesting aside, yes?......
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"If it comes within us, is it not nature itself speaking, and who are we to question the natural phenomenon and who are we to try to control nature?"
ReplyDeleteI like this. :)
Yes! That's probably the heart of the cultural shift that this section of readings tries to indicate: the shift to thinking about emotion as a FORCE rather than a FAULT, and toward the idea that complete control (whether over one's psyche, or over society itself) is impossible and, potentially, undesirable.
ReplyDeleteAnd the movement between very radical and self-conscious, but almost unknown innovations on one hand, and on the other hand more moderate and occasional innovation by creators with much greater influence, is something that we'll see more and more over the course of the century, especially once mass media comes into its own more and more after 1825 or so.
One thing that's being impressed upon me more and more as I gather all of the texts for Vol. II is that the lines between the avant-garde and the mainstream were much more fluid than I tend to imagine, especially at this early period when the systems of popular culture were still in process of formation and not locked-in like they would become later in the century.
The fact that both the music of Beethoven, Glück (I don't know anything about him but the French Romantics talk about him a lot), etc. was reacting against French Classicism, as was the Stürm und Drang literature, is a big part of why this stuff was all banned in France during the time, though hugely popular in the rest of Europe: Classicism was the state art/ literature/ music during both the Revolution and the Empire (see Celine's post earlier). This ties into the next reading too (which I'll be posting later this weekend, if I have time...), in that the reason the Madame de Staël was expelled from France in the way that she describes was that she was trying to promote the work of the Stürm und Drang movement, which was seen as subversive and 'anti-French'.