Ch 15

[Robin Landseadel]

On Apr 14, 2009, at 8:31 AM, Joseph Tracy wrote:

> On Apr 14, 2009, at 10:39 AM, Robin Landseadel wrote:
>
>> Somehow I'm reminded of Anna Russell's line [concerning Der Ring  
>> des Nibelungen] that in Opera you can do anything you like, as long  
>> as you sing it. Es Posible!
>>
> I repeat.  What is shameful to write or express  in music that is  
> not also shamelessly and successfully written or expressed in  
> essays, speeches, graphic  imagery, poetry,  stories etc.?  Nonsense  
> is enjoyed and respected by many in every medium, written, spoken,  
> heard  etc.
>
> Can anyone give me an example of  a single bit of nonsense that has  
> only been accepted through the medium of music?

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

I'd say that music can overide one's moral governor. What Anna Russell  
was pointing to is how one can become so entranced by the melodies and  
harmonies or jacked into rhythmic entrainment that one might overlook  
the overt anti-semitism, incest, murder and all the other morally  
dubious offerings of the characters in the "Ring" 'cause it's "Art"  
with several "H's" in the middle. I recall seeing/hearing Die  
Meistersinger von Nürnberg in San Francisco, and was overwhelmed by  
the strength of the music. At the same time I could clearly hear what  
Hitler heard in Die Meistersinger, that tribal call to nationalism. I  
certainly don't want to get into any ". . . example of  a single bit  
of nonsense that has only been accepted . . .", 'cause I'm an "and"  
sort of guy, but there's no doubt that music has contributed to many a  
political cause, activating the same sort of sub-brain mechanism  
related to the Meme being spread in the Hulu ads, another evil plot by  
our alien overlords to turn our brains to [yum!] jelly.

When you start a film with a pair of Steppenwolf tunes underscoring a  
coke deal with Phil [18 to life] Spector and end it with gunshot  
blasts blowing away the hippies with Roger McGuinn's weepy "Ballad of  
Easy Rider" as the sound-bed then you're cueing the audience to feel  
certain emotions with music. Imagine Easy Rider without the  
soundtrack. Much as Wagner signals a rather tribal form of patriotism  
when Hans Sachs exhorts us to hold true to "Holy German Art," we are  
signaled to be sympathetic to a pair of [let's face it, Charlie]  
lowlifes by virtue of the tunes that follow them around. Imagine  
Hector's re-write of Easy Rider with Frenesi—what hits would Hector  
pick for the soundtrack?  So, no—not one, not "only" but music's still  
working, cueing us to feel certain emotions.