Radicals for Happiness

[kiaer.ts]

Thanks, Barbara. There is a very forceful, masculine and almost threatening aspect to some of Beethoven's work. The first movement of the Fifth and the second movement of the Ninth Symphonies comes to mind. They cannot be described as light and cheerful. (I regret I don't personally have the vocabulary to convey the mood of those pieces better.) But this is but a small part of Beethoven's range, and it is in part the contrast between the moods he can express that shows his greatness.

I just watched <i>Immortal Beloved</i>, a passionate fictionalized account of his life last weekend with my parents. What a wonderful movie.

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[Dragonfly]

Perhaps Rand was thinking about the well-known story that the theme of the first movement of the 5th symphony symbolized "fate knocking at the door", associating "fate" with a malevolent sense of life, like many amateurs not knowing the rest of that symphony, with its triumphant last movement.

[Roger Bissell]

Remember, a "sense of life" is a ~perspective~ on the world -- the emotionally embedded outlook that colors what you prefer in people, art, music, etc. Having a malevolent sense of life is NOT the same as being a malevolent ~person~. You may see the world as inimical to your efforts and values, yet be a good-hearted person trying to do what is right. (And vice versa, of course.) Rand wrote about the Byronic sense of life in "What is Romanticism?" and that is essentially (IMO) what she is talking about in re Beethoven.

The way I interpret/analyze music, especially between 1750 and 1900 (and all of the 20th century in re popular music), there are essentially four distinct categories of harmonized melodies, and they each convey a distinct sense of life perspective. I have been writing and speaking about this for a few years now, and I lectured on it at Free Minds 09 last month. Here is the section of my talk relating to Beethoven.

I would be remiss if I did not say something about the heroic or benevolent sense of life and the Byronic or malevolent sense of life, and how they are embodied in Category One and Category Three melodies, respectively. Again, please refer to the diagram of the four basic categories of combining harmony and melodic motion.

1. “I’ve Gotta Be Me” uses upward melodic motion in major harmony with vigorous rhythms. This Category One melody connotes a sense of confidently and optimistically moving toward a goal. It is definitely an embodiment of the premise of the heroic man as pursuing values with an expectation that he can succeed, what Rand referred to as the “benevolent universe” premise. You will also notice on the diagram and in the song the Sisyphean sequence and the melodic peak, both of which give a highly Romantic and dramatic flavor to the melody. Here is “I’ve Gotta Be Me.” [DIAGRAM 6, EXAMPLE]

2. On the other hand, when a piece of music uses upward melodic motion in a minor key, the connotation is much more of someone defiantly and pessimistically pursuing values. One still is a value-pursuer, a striver, but one is expecting to fail. This is the embodiment of the Byronic sense of life, the so-called “malevolent universe” premise. You can hear it in various popular songs, such as the Frank Sinatra recording of Walter Marks’s “The World We Knew,” which I played earlier—as well as various Romantic works, such as Chopin’s Scherzo in B minor and the one I will play for you now, the finale of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.” This Category Three hurricane—I mean, piano piece—uses an upward directed melody in minor harmony with front-accented rhythms and very brisk tempo and loud dynamics, conveying a sense of intense, uncontrolled rage. I took the liberty of analyzing the melody and rhythm of the first two measures of the piece, and the complexity of structure and meaning is just awesome. The melody is a seething chain of little Sisyphean sequences, boiling its way to the top, and the rhythmic structure is mostly mechanistic and compulsive on the simpler levels and purposeful and goal-driven on the more complex levels. The amount of complexity is very similar to the middle section of Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C# minor or Chopin’s Scherzo in B minor, both of which I also think are magnificent works. [DIAGRAM 7, EXAMPLE] I haven’t surveyed enough of Beethoven’s music to say whether his overall sense of life was Byronic and malevolent, but this particular piece is a perfect embodiment of that outlook. (Or maybe it just reflected his being pissed because he was going deaf!)

Obviously, I admire Beethoven's writing -- and I just want to add for clarification that I ~unreservedly~ admire and enjoy him. I really don't care whether his music is predominantly, mostly etc. "malevolent sense of life" music. It's great music, even the pessimistic striving pieces (upward melodically, minor harmonically) and the tragic mourning pieces (downward melodically, minor harmonically), and thus there is enormous "survival value" in it, just as there is in Shakespearean tragedy or any great art that happens to be philosophically false (as a statement about the essence of life and the world).

REB

[Philip Coates]

> Having a malevolent sense of life is NOT the same as being a malevolent ~person~. You may see the world as inimical to your efforts and values, yet be a good-hearted person trying to do what is right. (And vice versa, of course.) [Roger]

Very useful and insightful point.

> I lectured on it at Free Minds 09 last month. Here is the section of my talk relating to Beethoven. . .

This makes me wish I'd heard the talk and the accompanying music. Roger, this is an enormously interesting post! I love hearing points which I've never been aware of, thought through before. You clearly know a lot more about music than I do - one area where my education was lacking (for example, I'm not clear what a minor key is or if I'd recognize it if I heard it), but this makes me want to know more.

This is **one of the best posts I've seen on OL** - in large part, because it opens up a whole new area or approaches it in a succinct, clear, original way.

[kiaer.ts]

In the movie Immortal Beloved the Beethoven character argues that music has the capacity to transport the listener into the state of mind of the composer. He then asks what it was that he was thinking about when he composed a certain piece, and then explained that it expressed the frantic frustration of a man whose carriage is stuck in the mud, and who knows he will miss his appointment with his lover. I do not know the name of the piece he played.

[Roger Bissell]

> Having a malevolent sense of life is NOT the same as being a malevolent ~person~. You may see the world as inimical to your efforts and values, yet be a good-hearted person trying to do what is right. (And vice versa, of course.) [Roger]

Very useful and insightful point.

> I lectured on it at Free Minds 09 last month. Here is the section of my talk relating to Beethoven. . .

This makes me wish I'd heard the talk and the accompanying music. Roger, this is an enormously interesting post! I love hearing points which I've never been aware of, thought through before. You clearly know a lot more about music than I do - one area where my education was lacking (for example, I'm not clear what a minor key is or if I'd recognize it if I heard it), but this makes me want to know more.

This is **one of the best posts I've seen on OL** - in large part, because it opens up a whole new area or approaches it in a succinct, clear, original way.

Thanks, Phil. I'm glad you got so much out of the excerpt from my talk. I personally think that my Free Minds 09 talk was one of the few positive contributions that have been made to Objectivist aesthetics since Rand's own essays back in the 1960s. But getting it written and rewritten and edited and revised &c&c so that the listeners thought they were simply hearing "common sense" about music -- now ~that~ was a challenge.

If Rand had had the knowledge I have about music back then, she'd have knocked out twice as good an essay/lecture in mere days or weeks, rather than 40 years, as it took me to do. (But then, I've been busy doing other stuff, too! But because she ~didn't~ have my knowledge, what she wrote instead about music was (IMO) essentially vague and misleading. Too bad. She was a genius about literature, and her insights opened the door to my own enhanced understanding about music. I'm still surprised that they didn't occur to her....

I wish you'd been there, too, Phil. I think you'd have heard a lot of enjoyable, stimulating talks and discussion. I ordered the video/audio package, but so far I've only received the audio downloads. A pretty good bargain. Contact Fred Stitt, if you're interested in ordering it.

Best,

REB

[kiaer.ts]

The best adjective I can think of for Beethoven is grand. His music says that life is important and wonderful, no matter the mood of the piece.

On another note, I decided to check out Emmerich Kalman. I enjoyed his "Tanzen Moecht Ich." I was wondering if anyone could recommed his best works. It's a bit difficult to do that sort of research from scratch on YouTube.

[Ellen Stuttle]

The best adjective I can think of for Beethoven is grand. His music says that life is important and wonderful, no matter the mood of the piece.

I can't resist writing some praise of Beethoven.

I think if I were limited to a single adjective, I'd choose "titanic." Wagner, Verdi, Berlioz come to mind as composers whose over-all work might be characterized in a single adjective as "grand," but there's something more-than, something cosmic, in Beethoven's struggles with his muse.

Your comment reminds me of one I heard from Emanuel Ax in a radio interview. I'm quoting from memory and might not have the wording exact. He said something like, "Beethoven's music is above all a sublimely hopeful critique of life."

Then there's a comment I treasure from George Szell, who said that whenever he got depressed, he thought that every day thousands of children were born who had ahead of them the experience of hearing Beethoven's 5th Symphony for the first time, and he cheered up. (I don't remember where I read the remark; it was years ago.)

Regarding your question about Ayn Rand's viewing Beethoven as "malevolent," it's a question I wondered about a lot and had various conversations about with Allan Blumenthal. There are at least 55 posts by me in the OL archives in which Beethoven is mentioned or discussed. (I think there are actually more than 55 posts by me referencing Beethoven. The revamping of the site caused troubles for the search functions.)

I tried to provide a direct link to search results, but the link didn't work, so you'll need to go to Search and enter Beethoven in the word slot and Ellen Stuttle in the author slot.

The most recent two prior to this one (thread "Allan and Joan Mitchell Blumenthal's lectures on music..."), some of the ones on the thread titled "Beethoven," and some of those on the thread "Art as Microcosm (2004)" are directly relevant to the "malevolent" issue.

-

My husband and I just returned last week from Vienna, where we vacationed for eight wonderful days following a symmetry conference we'd attended in Budapest. We again visited the Composers' Corner at the Zentralfriedhof (an enormous and beautiful cemetery southeast of the center of Vienna) -- we'd visited there on our last trip to Vienna, which followed the symmetry conference 3 years ago in Budapest.

As before, on this occasion, the fenced area -- approximately 4 feet by 8 feet -- surrounding the Beethoven memorial plinth was strewn with flowers, especially roses, and votary candles and other offerings; roses were also twined into the fence. Of all the memorials in the section, Beethoven's is the one noticeably to the immediate glance the most adorned by tributes, even more than Mozart's, which is probably the second-most adorned. I really doubt that all those people who go to the cemetery and leave a bunch of flowers, a rose, a candle, a little note, a pretty stone, or some other sign of recognition at Beethoven's memorial are expressing their gratitude for "malevolence."

-

Regarding the movie "Immortal Beloved": I have conflicted feelings about that movie. On the one hand, I thought it was artistically good, and fairly accurate to Beethoven's characteristics -- and ingenious in the premise. On the other hand, I think that Beethoven would have wanted to blow up the studio at the very idea that the sister in law was his "Immortal Beloved."

In the movie Immortal Beloved the Beethoven character argues that music has the capacity to transport the listener into the state of mind of the composer. He then asks what it was that he was thinking about when he composed a certain piece, and then explained that it expressed the frantic frustration of a man whose carriage is stuck in the mud, and who knows he will miss his appointment with his lover. I do not know the name of the piece he played.

I'm not remembering for sure which composition it was: Maybe the third movement of what's called "The Tempest" sonata (Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Opus 31 No. 2).

http://tinyurl.com/lr4v7p

Or maybe that little Rondo which was finished by Diabelli and nicknamed "Rage Over a Lost Penny."

http://www.answers.com/topic/rage-over-a-lost-penny

(Scroll down for information.)

If you could provide a link to the scene, I could tell you what the composition is.

Ellen

[Edit for a misspelling.]

___

Edited August 23, 2009 by Ellen Stuttle

[kiaer.ts]

Thanks, Ellen.

Regarding the grand adjective, it wasn't to describe Beethoven as a composer, it was to describe the theme of his oeuvre, if an oeuvre as a whole can have a theme. His music makes existence significant.

I love that his grave is strewn with flowers, and will remain so as long as civilization continues in Austria.

I don't see the specific scene from Immortal Beloved at YouTube. It was not either of the pieces you suggested.

And I already have read much of what you've written here on him.

[kiaer.ts]

Is the artist a demiurge?

Read my review of Michael Newberry's recent painting, Bromeliad, at Radicals for Happiness

[9thdoctor]

It was not either of the pieces you suggested.

[Philip Coates]

> Read my review of Michael Newberry's recent painting, Bromeliad, at Radicals for Happiness..."I am particularly fond of Newberry's still lifes."

Umm, Ted, shouldn't that be "still lives"?

[kiaer.ts]

> Read my review of Michael Newberry's recent painting, Bromeliad, at Radicals for Happiness..."I am particularly fond of Newberry's still lifes."

Umm, Ted, shouldn't that be "still lives"?

Actually, no.

Wiipedia: http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Still_life

Still life

A still life (plural still lifes^[1]) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers, plants, rocks, or shells) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on) in an artificial setting. With origins in ancient times and most popular in Western art since the 17th century, still life paintings give the artist more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition than do paintings of other types of subjects such as landscape or portraiture. Still life paintings, particularly before 1700, often contained religious and allegorical symbolism relating to the objects depicted. Some modern still life breaks the two-dimensional barrier and employs three-dimensional mixed media, and uses found objects, photography, computer graphics, as well as video and sound.

Edited August 29, 2010 by Ted Keer

[Philip Coates]

Ummm, Ted, didn't you realize that was a joke?

[kiaer.ts]

Ummm, Ted, didn't you realize that was a joke?

Yes. was I supposed to say that I did?

The fact that the standard usage is still lifes was worth pointing out. Also, lowlife like housewife, is one word while still life is a set phrase.

[kiaer.ts]

The berserker phenomenon is obviously a relic of our animalistic past. As a fighting form, the mad warrior who fights in the nude without regard to personal safety will not prevail against the calculating and disciplined troops of Rome or the US Marines. But whether we see it in the movie Fight Club or in the thrash metal mosh pit, the berserker phenomenon is still a part of the male nature. Initiating physical violence against the innocent may be wrong, but boxing and wrestling and the physical contact of American football feels good. And if it can be expressed in a sublimated form, it can be a thrilling and even addictive experience.

Read more at Radicals for Happiness

[kiaer.ts]

I am proud to be able to recommend Dennis Hardin's article, Eyewitness to Greatness, about football great, Peyton Manning, recently posted at Radicals for Happiness.

You will enjoy Dennis' masterful writing even if you are not exactly a Colts fan.

[9thdoctor]

You will enjoy Dennis' masterful writing even if you are not exactly a Colts fan.

Very nice of course, however a promise is a promise.

[kiaer.ts]

That's one of the nice things about life, to each Dennis his own. Everyone is invited to contribute. If you are interested, send me an email.

[Selene]

Ted:

It is written decently. However, it definitely got stopped on fourth (4th) down by a blocked punt which was returned for a touchdown...

[Dennis Hardin]

Comments worthy of a “franchise of SOLO,” by delinquents who do not care whose values they spit on.

[Brant Gaede]

I liked Dennis's article. I'll try to watch a Colt's game.

--Brant

[Selene]

Comments worthy of a "franchise of SOLO," by delinquents who do not care whose values they spit on.

Dennis:

Really? If my response was included in your generalization, and since I not only know the professional game of football nearly perfectly, I would like to know how and why you thought that?.

I consider it one of the best of team sports.

I played for five (5) years in an unlimited [weight] money league in NY City. We did not lose a single game during those five (5) years, and tied one (1) against a equally great team.

Strategically, Manning is one of the greatest QB's to play the game and may be the greatest, when he hangs up his cleats. He is the equivalent of having a coach on the field. His ability to run the extremely complicated offense is close to erotically perfect in the tension he controls at the line of scrimmage.

However, as most folks who see the QB as the only person on the field, the center, generally, who has to translate the complicated audibles that Manning calls to the exquisitely complicated line blocking schemes that have to make the fine adjustments to "pick up" the defensive stunts, "red dogs", various blitzes and zones that are at the disposal of the defenses raises the art of the lineman to true heights.

It is one factor to be the field general and bark out the orders, but it is another factor for the grunts to adapt and adjust to the orders and make them work efficiently.

Of course, they also have to keep the "pretty boy's" ass from getting smeared while he stands or "footworks" his clean jersey in the pocket.

Adam

yes speaking as an offensive right guard and strong side defensive end...yep we "went both ways" back then - joke away!

[9thdoctor]

Comments worthy of a "franchise of SOLO," by delinquents who do not care whose values they spit on.

Dennis:

Really? If my response was included in your generalization, and since I not only know the professional game of football nearly perfectly, I would like to know how and why you thought that?.

I assume he’s including my reply in his generalization, and I mean, talk about mild! “Very nice of course…”, what’s that, damning with faint praise?

http://www.objectivistliving.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5982&view=findpost&p=110739

[Selene]

ND:

Yes, it seems that Dennis has a reading issue that borderlines on some serious perceptual conflicts which tap into underlying problems!

Wow...that was pretty decent phrasing which was of course... "very nice".

Adam

putting on his teleporting gear and punching in Galt's Gulch codes to take advantage of the shielding from Dennis response

Edited October 8, 2010 by Selene