Ch 15

[Joseph Tracy]

On Apr 14, 2009, at 1:04 PM, Robin Landseadel wrote:


> 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.
>

There is some confusion here and I see it is partly my mistake.  Your  
Ring comment is perfectly valid in itself.  My issue is with Huxley's  
statement  about the use of music.  I think I was misconstruing your  
statement as  a reinforcement of Huxley's statement  rather than a  
comment on it and on the theme of the thread.

I agree that music or any art can enhance and reinforce  nonsense or  
morally repugnant ideas  and make them more palatable. But music has  
no "advantage"in this respect. Any medium can accomplish this.
Huxley says"Nonsense which it would be shameful for a reasonable  
being to write, speak or hear spoken can be sung or listened to by  
that same rational being with pleasure and even with a kind of  
intellectual conviction...."

This is just not true. The nasty ideas in the Ring have a long  
history in other printed and spoken formats., and  these ideas have  
many listeners including serious artists and intellectuals. Also  
Nazis were as likely to listen to Bach as Wagner. Every shameful or  
propagandistic message in history has enjoyed a multitude of   
written, musical, dramatic and graphic exponents. Some will favor the  
written crap and some the musical crap, but generally people take  
even the worst ideas more seriously in written form and music has a  
lower status as a format for serious political or philosophical  
ideas.  This lowering of status offsets any "advantage". People may  
go to war singing propaganda songs , but they do not go to war  
because of propaganda  songs. They are far more likely to be induced  
to go to war by speeches and written propaganda and a resulting  
conviction that they will benefit,  and will defend and promote what  
they hold dear.

I don't believe music can override one's moral governer, only  
influence choices that are open to suasion.    I never liked Wagner,  
always feeling even on an abstract musical level that his music was  
imperious, warlike and a glorification of power. Skillful and  
appealing in many ways, but ultimately cartoony to my ear, and not to  
my taste. I certainly don't think everyone who likes it agrees with  
the mythic messages. To each his own.  Steppenwolf  has a similar  
aesthetic appeal as Wagner for me, i can enjoy it for a while in  
small doses , but I never bought any, and didn't pursue a life of  
drug deals, bikes, and whorehouses because I liked Easy Rider or Born  
to Be Wild .  The fact that we are asked to look with sympathy into  
the lives  of some lowlifes does not constitute an advertisement for  
drug dealers. In many ways it is the contrast between the upward  
journey of the music and the downward journey of the characters that  
helps create a complex piece of art  that transcends propaganda.  It  
was also marked by dialogue that sounded more like real people than  
most movies of the time.

I have listened to several passages and parts of the Ring  but never  
was enticed or inspired to hear or see the whole opera. On the other  
hand I think the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Kill the Waaabit, Kill the.." is  
an ingenious and hilarious satire that puts Wagner's music exactly  
where it belongs.