Interesting musical genre, Graham. I can see enjoying it in a dim lighted club. But I am too old I guess to appreciate it as listening music. I can listen to Beethoven, especially my favorite to third. In fact I have listened to all 9 Beethoven's jn one sitting alone in my home for over ten hours. And yes when I was able to go to live concerts I do prefer to hear each movement. I also love jazz both traditional and modern, as well as show music, some, but not ll opera. The only music I dislike is country western.
Dim lighting is not essential, but was first prescribed, not in night clubs but in precisely the opera. Richard Wagner’s diktats of how music was to be presented gave us the dimly lit theatres we think of as normal. His idiosyncratic ideas were laid down in a book, which he entitled ‘Music of the Future’ or, in his native German, ‘Zukunftsmusik’. He was much derided for his unconventionality in his time, and Zukunftsmusik has come into the German language to mean ‘pie in the sky’. The predominant lighting themes in clubs that play this kind of music are epitomised by the name of an Antwerp Club I used to frequent: Red & Blue.
Binge listening can be instructive and I’ve done it myself for Bruckner, Dvorak, Mahler. It’s interesting to listen to the favourite techniques, and repeated themes (Mahler, especially) and watch their developments over time, but one needs to be attentive: what is generally listed now as Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony (From The New World) was actually his fifth (he would play tricks on his publisher), so dates of first publication, dates of writing and sequential numbering don’t always relay a full picture.
Dvorak himself said of his American experience that he was sure the future of music lay in the negro style, which he likened greatly to Scottish music and, particularly, Native American pow-wow music. He was not wrong in that, of course, since rock and roll draws heavily on African rhythms, which were a part of negro music. If we have the pow-wow to thank for anything, then it is surely, and here we come full circle, the trance.
Thank you, Graham, both interesting and enlightening. I'm more stuck in the 18th century musical tastes, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi being my favorites. I do listen to some 19th century, Chopin and Tchaikovsky but their music is a bit syrupy for me. I have listened to Dvorak and Mahler as well as Grieg, but not Bruckner. Different people, different tastes.
Sorry to hear this, Graham .
Thanks.
Interesting musical genre, Graham. I can see enjoying it in a dim lighted club. But I am too old I guess to appreciate it as listening music. I can listen to Beethoven, especially my favorite to third. In fact I have listened to all 9 Beethoven's jn one sitting alone in my home for over ten hours. And yes when I was able to go to live concerts I do prefer to hear each movement. I also love jazz both traditional and modern, as well as show music, some, but not ll opera. The only music I dislike is country western.
Dim lighting is not essential, but was first prescribed, not in night clubs but in precisely the opera. Richard Wagner’s diktats of how music was to be presented gave us the dimly lit theatres we think of as normal. His idiosyncratic ideas were laid down in a book, which he entitled ‘Music of the Future’ or, in his native German, ‘Zukunftsmusik’. He was much derided for his unconventionality in his time, and Zukunftsmusik has come into the German language to mean ‘pie in the sky’. The predominant lighting themes in clubs that play this kind of music are epitomised by the name of an Antwerp Club I used to frequent: Red & Blue.
Binge listening can be instructive and I’ve done it myself for Bruckner, Dvorak, Mahler. It’s interesting to listen to the favourite techniques, and repeated themes (Mahler, especially) and watch their developments over time, but one needs to be attentive: what is generally listed now as Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony (From The New World) was actually his fifth (he would play tricks on his publisher), so dates of first publication, dates of writing and sequential numbering don’t always relay a full picture.
Dvorak himself said of his American experience that he was sure the future of music lay in the negro style, which he likened greatly to Scottish music and, particularly, Native American pow-wow music. He was not wrong in that, of course, since rock and roll draws heavily on African rhythms, which were a part of negro music. If we have the pow-wow to thank for anything, then it is surely, and here we come full circle, the trance.
Thank you, Graham, both interesting and enlightening. I'm more stuck in the 18th century musical tastes, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi being my favorites. I do listen to some 19th century, Chopin and Tchaikovsky but their music is a bit syrupy for me. I have listened to Dvorak and Mahler as well as Grieg, but not Bruckner. Different people, different tastes.