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In Reply to: I will only say this... posted by SE on April 23, 2007 at 06:34:27:
HI SE,
While I realize that music may hold as its purpose the solving of certain technical problems and, if those are satisfactorily solved, the music may be said to be successful, I feel that definition is too narrow.For me, the purpose of music is to communicate the intensions of the composer in order to emotionally involve the listener. Just how he goes about doing that is a technical detail that is mostly hidden from the listener-one we are not aware of. If one walks away from a concert saying, “Wow, did your hear the way he resolved that key modulation”, that’s an interesting detail that has nothing to do with my overall impression of the music. If I walk away unmoved, the music has failed its purpose FOR ME. Is this personal? Of course-can it be else wise?
I love Van Gogh. All day long I could wax enthusiastic about his use of color, the shape of his brush strokes, his application of pigment, his representation of light, his tragic life, etc. But in the final analysis none of these things matter. What does matter is how his work strikes me in my emotional centers. That’s all that counts. To me, that’s what all art (music included) is about and nothing else. I’ll leave the technical details to the academics.
I want you to pay close attention here. It is very clear to me that while I generally consider Mozart’s music superficial, and that he was a superficial person, he was moving into a period of his life where he was going to overcome his superficiality. His late music was starting to emotionally fulfill the promise of his technical and aesthetic potential. There is no telling where he could have taken his music if only he had had the time. We will never know. Perhaps he had reached his artistic zenith but I doubt it.
I think it is a great tragedy that the world was robbed of Mozart’s potential. Much of his late music moves me to tears. In fact, the contrast between his earlier and later work underlines his youthful superficiality. Unwittingly, Mozart himself points out the emotional lack in his early music by writing such effective late music.
Do you agree?
Follow Ups:
"Unwittingly, Mozart himself points out the emotional lack in his early music by writing such effective late music."How do you get there? ALL artists evolve their personal style. The change in their late style vs. their early style has nothing to do with the artist making a deliberate "judgement" about their earlier work. The ones that DO engage in that type of thinking are notorious for burning their earlier manuscripts, or making public statements with regard to the change (Arvo Part, I believe, stepped away from tonality only to return to it...Penderecki also?).
In the end, when you make all of these judgements like "But in the final analysis none of these things matter", you are making them as someone that (with apologies) OBVIOUSLY isn't a composer, and may not be a musician.
I, personally, try not to discount things I don't understand as being non-essential or "beside the point". And I DEFINITELY don't buy into the line of reasoning that leads to "if someone knows more, and suggests that I need to know more" that they are trying to be "superior" or "arrogant". They are simply stating fact and, believe me, I am on the receiving end of that comment as much as you are. It's one of the things that drives me to learn more.
That said, I like what I like "for whatever reason I like it". It's an endless argument. There's no accounting for taste. I don't think anyone was trying to "suggest you change your mind". I believe the push is more along the lines of "dig a little deeper before you pass sweeping judgement over a major work of art". Remember (and I don't mean this personally): even idiots are allowed to vote. Where would something as complex as Classical music be if there weren't rules, standards, many definitions of "successful execution"? Wait...it would be BAD music. But, nothing is bad if at least one person likes it?:-)
HI SE,
It's not a sylistic change as much as maturity. Are you now just playing with words? You know I didn't mean that he made some sort of public pronouncement that he was going to change his ways. No. He was growing and reacting to emotional depths he could not reach before, IMO. I truly believe he went through an epiphany concerning his father which allowed deeper feelings and musical profundity to emerge. But this is just speculation. What's not in doubt is that he was changing and becomming more emotionally mature. Not the brat anymore. Life is a humbling experience.I'll repeat. His earlier fluff is underlined as such by his later maturity. The contrast is striking. Can you not see this?
There are very few composers whose later works don't have more to say than their earlier ones. All artists mature. So, you are saying you like his later works more than his earlier ones? OK. I don't think of composers as "brats" and such. A lot of that is trumped-up by authors trying to sell books. Mozart's early works are extremely "mature" as Classical Period compositions. His later works veer towards Romantic. Do you like music by the great Franz Joseph Haydn? Most of HIS stuff sounds like early Mozart...because it's Classical Period. The most highly successful Medieval and much of Baroque isn't nearly as emotionally charged (or as technically competent) as early Mozart. That makes this music disposable? Or, do we apply different standards as listeners in order to appreciate them?
HI Se,
I was going to mention Papa Joe but I didn't want to confuse the issue. I like Hayden even less than early Mozart. As with Mozart, I won't deny he was a significant historical figure. His music doesn't do much for me.But do understand there are many pre-classical composers I venerate. Like Bach, Vivaldi, Buxtahude (especially his organ works), and even earlier. Maybe I just don't like the Classical period at all.
.
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