He was a man from older times. They didn’t have those kind of New Age idealogies. I doubt that is the correct answer.
Beethoven’s most famous quote is:
“Music is higher than all philosophy”
I think it refers to the concept of vibration
You see, back then, composers were “alchemists”, they were all trying to compose “the great work”
Which is the equivalent of the “philosophers stone”
Obviously, that’s a philosophic statement, so it’s untrue… But they considered themselves “alchemists” back then
Which is to say, they took their music very seriously as a sacred art
Another great Romantic sufferer, very much in line with the the Weltschmerz of his day, was Chopin, or Frederick Copin, known for his exalted and ultra sad pieces, especially written for, or around the piano. He was a solitary soul, got mixed up with a woman named George Sand, with whom he had a complex relationship.
She took him for a carriage ride in Paris, with knowledge of his proclivity for illness. He got a bad cold, and died of pneumonia. Was it maybe some kind of a hidden destructive competitive envy that
possessed her, a pre ordinal envy of artist-men, for her to pen her name?
Was it? A pre ordinal attempt on her part, as a
woman in a pro forms stance, to be acceptable as a woman artist? Course this was trendish at the time.
He got pneumonia poor man and died at the tender age of 39.
This type of destructive relationship could also be seen
in more recent relationships , as with the Paul Bowles and his grotesque life, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, all tremendously effected by the sorry duplicity fraught with the ambigious nature that sexual roles could effect on vocational ones.
But their art: Literaly to die for, and they did as such.
I always knew she was a girl, can be said of Chopin himself, and George Sand her husband.
But how in the heck could he not know, for surely
such entry unannounced was beyond the scope of her understanding. Remember, she lived in the 19th century, when these things were not discussed, nor understood.
I had the honor to see chopins grave in Paris …
His apartment complex is 600 years old… And still stands to this day (not as a museum though)
Jim Morrison is buried there too
Chopin was a weird guy… He said he didn’t like Beethoven’s music… But certainly had pieces that copied Beethoven’s style…
Liszt, who was obviously a good friend of Chopin , was famous for saying he understood beethoven , and was a huge fan.
What people don’t generally know is that liszt and Chopin were friends with Alkan…
Alkan was a hermit by nature…
And wrote 21st century music back in the 1800’s…
Of Alkan, liszt always said he was the best composer
Three amazing pieces from Alkan…
m.youtube.com/watch?v=eav9lsYgsTk
Liszt had an amazing career…
Mostly due to Beethoven, lizstamania was WAY before beatlemania!!!
But liszt always stood in the shadow of beethoven and Alkan, and he knew it!!
Honestly, that is how I feel right now. Much of my music sux, some of it doesn’t. But it all feels like an experiment, to find the ultimate music that noone can concieve of.
I think Early Genesis is a WAY underrated classical works, I believe it is an Evolution of classical music and not given the praise that it deserves. It is nothing but pure genius.
The main reason why Alkan isn’t famous is because he was a hermit…
When Liszt stepped down from his post as the music director of Weimar (the dean). He asked Alkan to take his place, and Alkan refused …
That’s how highly Liszt thought of Alkan !!
Anyways, there was this bizarre 4 pedaled organ that Alkan was obsessed with, and he was so good at it, that nobody could play his shit!!
And, weird. 4 pedaled organs obviously aren’t popular today, so he became obscure…
But we still have some of his piano music
The nobility at the time were infatuated with liszt!!
They often commented that he could have been a king!
They thought beethoven was a moron
Beethoven almost got to be a student of Mozart…
But it wasn’t to be…
However, long after Beethoven went deaf, Czerny, one of Beethoven’s students, brought Liszt in when Liszt was 12…
I won’t tell the whole story, but Beethoven was notorious for hating prodigies, and he made an extremely symbolic gesture by kissing Liszt on the forehead.
What was the symbolism?
Far as vibrations go, I think Early Genesis has the highest vibrations of all.
K: I am hearing impaired which means if you have 100% hearing in your
right ear and 100% in your left ear which makes up 200% combined hearing,
I have about 60% combined hearing in both ears, so I have less than half
the hearing you do and I can’t hear high pitch noises like violins and flutes
without my hearing aid. I listen to a whole lot of music, right now I am listening
to George Winston… plays piano…
Kropotkin
Peter, George Winston’s best album is December, with his Vince Guaraldi tribute as a close second
I saw him live once… He’s an amazing live pianist…
Always comes out barefooted!
K: I too saw him live and my favorite CD is Autumn. I have
listened to that CD about a thousand times.
I have every CD he has put out… I like all of them including
Montana…
Kropotkin
Johann Sebastian Bach or Ludwig v. Beethoven. (I am not absoluetly sure which of the two I should prefer.)
The analogy always used, which I despise, is that Bach is the Old Testament and Beethoven is the New Testament …
Meaning well tempered klavier and sonatas
I used to play Autumn on 33x speed on my record player… Loved it!