A perfect song in the Romantic style

[Rodney]

This recording has been one of my earliest inspirations as a composer and songwriter. It is a love song to the city of Vienna, written by Rudolf Sieczyński, sung by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. 

 

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Rodney.

Lovely. I did not know this song. And I knew nothing about Sieczyński until now.

Schwarzkopf is magnificent as always.

On listening, I thought of this as the soul of the American Musical in a German accent. Not very precise, but it makes sense to me.  

I looked up Sieczyński and saw that this song is his claim to fame and it was popularized by the Kubrick movie, Eyes Wide Shut. That would have gone right past me because I have tried to watch that movie several times and I just cannot get into it.

In fact, I believe the entire icky aesthetic of that movie is the opposite of what this song conveys.

Who knows? One day I might try to see it again just to see how the music was used.

btw - For some reason, the video did not embed for you. Nor for me when I used the link you posted. So I fixed it. (I had to paste the same link as you used, but strictly as plain text. Then it embedded. Go figure...)

Michael

[Peter]

Michael wrote: I looked up Sieczyński and saw that this song is his claim to fame and it was popularized by the Kubrick movie, Eyes Wide Shut. That would have gone right past me because I have tried to watch that movie several times and I just cannot get into it. end quote

The song would be a welcome addition to a movie like “The Wizard of Oz,” or some Disney animated classics like “Cinderella” and “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

[Rodney]

Thanks for fixing it, Michael.

On second thought, I misunderstood. I had decided in the end NOT to embed the video. But I do not mind that you did.

[Rodney]

For some years, there has been a ghastly trend of film- and meme-makers' using some of my favorite music and pictorial art to subversive ends (subversive of the very values by which the works even attract an audience). Disturbingly, I suspect that the reason they do it is because they in fact LOVE these works themselves, but want to bring them before today's public in a way that today's intellectuals will not heap scorn on. 

Schwarzkopf is my favorite soprano. I love the vowel sound she gives to the city name "Wein" at the end, which I believe she does because the note is high and loud and certain vowel sounds do not work well in that situation. Normally this annoys me a bit, but not in this case--I love how she sings this whole thing. 

I hope to one day be known for at least one song myself. I think I already wrote it a while ago, but as you know there is a lot involved in such success besides the quality of one's work. Crucial is getting heard to a certain "critical mass."

 

[Rodney]

That link is dead. Here is another:

"Wien, du Stadt meiner Träume" - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

1 hour ago, Rodney said:

That link is dead. Here is another:

"Wien, du Stadt meiner Träume" - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Rodney,

Thank you.

I just heard it again.

The song and the singer are lovely.

Michael

[Mark]

For some years, there has been a ghastly trend of film- and meme-makers' using some of my favorite music and pictorial art to subversive ends (subversive of the very values by which the works even attract an audience).

Very true.  Mitch Miller and his male chorus of yesteryear recorded a beautiful performance of the song “The Yellow Rose of Texas”.  I don’t have a TV but while visiting saw the first part of a movie that featured that music as the background of some dismal prison.  Switched the blasted thing off.

However you continue:

... I suspect that the reason they do it is because they in fact LOVE these works themselves, but want to bring them before today's public in a way that today's intellectuals will not heap scorn on.

I think that’s extraordinarily naive.  If the movie is trash without the music, adding good music to it makes a mockery of the music and drags it down.

 

[Rodney]

That of course is the effect, but I do think that this "naïve" view of their motive applies in many cases. In any event, the inclusion of classic pop-rock recordings in many TV shows and movies in recent years has the quite predictable effect of making the songs hits, or re-popularizing them, all over again. But today's value-atmosphere will not allow today's writers to present these works "straight"--so they have to put it into a modern, cynical or degraded context, either because they are too much soaked in that viewpoint or are pandering to it to get those works heard.

[Mark]

Claiming that your statement was naive was a mistake.  I was trying to be charitable but better to have just said your statement was mistaken and left out conjecturing the motivation.

You write:

...  today's value-atmosphere will not allow today's writers to present these works [referring to good songs] “straight” – so they have to put it into a modern, cynical or degraded context ...

Why?  Because:

... either because they are too much soaked in that viewpoint or are pandering to it to get those works heard.

The contradiction glares at the reader.  Men who write cynical stories, or degraded stories, or who are soaked in cynical or degraded views, or who pander to such views – would they love good songs?  I don’t believe it.  Infinitely more likely they are sticking their tongue out at those who do.

These jerks associate the good with the rotten and it poisons the viewer's  appreciation of the good.  It is reasonable to think that that is the intent.