And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire ... and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth .... … Continue reading The Friday Symposium: A Cocktail for the End of Time
Month: September 2022
Under Siege: Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto
In 1809, Vienna was under siege by Napoleon and Beethoven, now more or less completely deaf, was hiding in his brother’s basement. Terrified and feeling, perhaps more than others, the constant percussive effect of war, Beethoven produced one of his best compositions, the Emperor concerto. It would prove to be his final statement on the … Continue reading Under Siege: Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto
The Friday Symposium: Collapse the Light Into Earth
At some point in the 1980s or early 1990s, rock musicians began to abandon functional harmony--the idea of building music around a tonic chord or key. Kurt Cobain of the band Nirvana is a good example of this. Drawing on a wide range of inspirations, such as The Pixies and Sonic Youth, Niravana began charting … Continue reading The Friday Symposium: Collapse the Light Into Earth
A Mass Made Operatic: Fidelio
When I look back across my entire life, I find no event to place beside this in the impression it produced on me. Richard Wagner, on Fidelio In 1950, one of the greatest conductors of all-time, Wilhelm Furtwängler led a production of Beethoven's lone operatic effort, Fidelio, in Mozart's hometown of Salzburg. And what a … Continue reading A Mass Made Operatic: Fidelio
The Friday Symposium: Chianti and Rossini
As Beethoven entered his Late Period, he was facing intense competition for his audience. While Beethoven was placing ever increasing demands on his audience, requiring them to accept novel harmonics, extreme dissonances, and uncertain forms, a young composer from Italy was giving Viennese audiences exactly what they wanted--timeless, easy melodies and a rollicking good time … Continue reading The Friday Symposium: Chianti and Rossini
A Gertus History of Music 