I took a break from pop music last night and went to see Mozart and Bruckner at the CSO. It was Mozarts sonata 27, which was his last one, written in 1791. Think about what it what be like writing music in Europe during the French revolution-- there would be all this excitement and horror around Robespierre and it would probably make the burghers in Berlin and Vienna wonder what it was that made life worth living, if not the wind on ones face that comes from revolutionary upheaval. I was riveted by the Bruckner-- despite the elevating tempo of the Mozart, it didnt get near the excitement of this Symphony, which was 70 minutes long. I still had to be patient during the Bruckner, but I knew that some big waves were coming. But during the concert, I was nagged by the possibility that my enjoyment might somehow be indulgent. Although it didnt come out until 1881, Bruckner wrote the piece in 1874, right at the same time when Nietzsche was tee-ing off on the burghers attending Wagners festival in Bayreuth. Nietzsche had written a homage to Wagner in 1874 but by 1876 when he saw what was actually going on at Bayreuth, he was disappointed. My old professor of political thought in college, Paul Franco, recently wrote a book on this subject arguing for the centrality of the critique of Wagners romantic music for what he calls, Nietzsches Enlightenment-- the attempt to nourish a newfound respect for science and educate free spirits with the will to truth and knowledge who can find a more genuine balance between the form and passion. The big accusations that Nietzsche made of the Wagner afficionados were that a) they were theatrical, in the sense of vain and pompous b) a Wagner concert gives one an experience of passion that somehow induces a disdain for the forms and distinctions of the real world. This is tied up with Nietzsches suspicion of the elevation of counter-ideals like chastity, which emerge, on his reading, from a lack of self-respect. and c) (Franco writes) it was the ideal of Bayreuth itself, the ideal of a culture restored to wholeness through the self-conscious mythologizing of art. So heres the question regarding Bruckner-- is it a contradiction to fully appreciate Bruckners Symphony 4 while sympathizing with the critique of the ideal of Bayreuth? What are the features of Bruckners romanticism that might immunize him to the critique of the false, theatrical unity induced by Bayreuth romanticism? Anyhow, hope you all are well. Just wanted to use this social media to formulate a question-- feel free to respond/link stuff if you have insights. Some of the intros Ive found on the subject dont resolve the question: Early in his career, Bruckner openly recognized the tremendous musical talents of Richard Wagner and was a life-long champion of his music. But by liking Wagners music, Bruckner was now at odds with many of Viennas musical elite who were feverishly championing the music of Brahms while opposing anything to do with Wagner. Today, such a debate would be viewed as ridiculous, but in Vienna, this debate raged on for years and Bruckner unwittingly got caught in the middle of it. As a result, he became the target of some very strong and highly placed criticism. His compositions were dismissed by some even before they were heard. Bad reviews were guaranteed, yet even the casual listener can hear that Bruckners compositions are uniquely his own and bear very little resemblance to the music of Wagner. Elliott Schwartz, Yoshihiko Nakano, Kye Barker, Scott Dodds, Max Jacobs, Henry Jamison, Abriel Abriel Ferreira youtube/watch?v=XcNO1Pf789w this little intro discusses the relation between Bruckner and Nietzsches description of 19th century nihilism. goetzrichter/pages/Writings/UnderstandingBruckner.pdf abruckner/editorsnote/antonbruckneraness/
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 16:04:45 +0000
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