- for Diana
As heirs to liberté, égalité, fraternité have done with their precious bequest, sing part of the Fifth Symphony’s finale to the words “la liberte,” brisk and bristling with nervous energy, majestic and stately, like top-of-the-line period-instrument allegro con brio.
Affirme sa liberté! Chantons la liberté! De joie et de liberté!
L’œuvre, the embodiment of the French Revolution’s Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité, a vie, la musique, les idées en liberté jouer pour les étudiants donne une liberté rare!
The symphony orchestra is one of the last places in the Western torment, persistent ringing in Symphony No.5, spiritually a separate entity. John Eliot Gardiner hears an echo of la liberté. symboles de liberté, y actes d’indépendance- les symphonies de Beethoven.
Cool ! I know so little about history, especially European history, it’s truly mind-boggling. (again, things were so groovy in the late 60′s and early 70′s, that the normal acedemic curriculum was more or less tossed out the window, and we did things like experiment with talking to plants to see if they would grow better…)
But I HAVE been catching up a little with my Beethoven self-schooling, and getting a little background on the Age of Enlightenment, and all that good stuff. I will sing !
You and me both- would be fun to compare notes.
I heard a radio interview with John Eliot Gardiner some time ago- he was conducting his orchestra (which uses period instruments, which gives a very different sound than our modern instruments). He was explaining his theory that Symphony No. 5 was not an expression of “Fate knocking on the door” but was an expression of his sympathy with the ideals of the French Revolution- that it was in fact a call for rebellion. Heard in that light it’s an entirely different piece. He kept repeating the words “la liberte” in the rhythm of the famous motif, and it’s hard not to agree that the idea has some merit.
Anyway, I was trying to remember exactly what Gardiner said, so I did a Google search- which is the basic starting point for flarf poetry- and said “what the hell, let’s try it.” This is what I came up with.
I’ve never had the opportunity to perform Symphony No. 5- but I hope I get the chance. I have the contrabass part sitting on my stand at home.
And I’m old enough to remember talking to plants to make them grow. My mother had a rubber tree plant she named Goodyear. The 70′s were groovy.
The interpretations (of 5th meaning) could be endless ! I wonder if Beethoven was even political at all, he sounds more like someone with Asperger’s Syndrome, to me. (Experience with some friends/family members !)
Found things, randomness, and chance in Art have always interested me. You might like the Dadaists for that reason. Ok, I’m going to go look up “flarf” now.
I am totally into Dada. Dada suits me well; it was a reaction to the senseless horrors of World War I. Many times I write to cope with the horrors of what I see in the office every day (look through my posts and you’ll see what I mean); and the anti-art, anti-expressive methods of Dada I find very helpful. Flarf is a descendant of Dada.
By the way, another little historical tidbit- the BBC used the motif from the Fifth (which happened to coincide with the Morse code for V -> …- as Allied propaganda during World War II). I’m alluding to this by using More Code symbols representing the first exposition of the theme. Read it as “dot dot dot dash” and you’ll hear it).
The way I do flarf poetry is to generate a list of keywords representing the theme I want to “write” about (I put “write” in quotes because this process is more like sculpting than writing). In this case I think the keywords were “Beethoven 5 symphony la liberte” or something similar. I then copy and paste several pages of results into a word processor, then sculpt away at the resulting document shaping the final poem. I may add punctuation, line breaks, or enjambment, but I typically don’t change or add words, and I typically don’t rearrange them (though I have on occasion done both).
One principle I operate under (but don’t always follow) is John Cage’s expressed idea of making language lose its meaning or sense).
I did the same with “De Liberte” except I used different keywords, and I had to set Google to give me results in French.
Interesting to read this as I am nearing the end of Hilary Mantel’s novel A Place of Greater Safety, which is about the French Revolution (fantastic novel, for her portrait of Robespierre alone). Anyway, at this point, a lot of heads are being lost-and I mean that literally-so it’s quite something to think about that in re Beethoven’s Fifth.
I remember the first time I hear the Ninth in the Gardiner/period instruments version. I couldn’t get over how different it sounded–of course, in part, I think he took it at a faster tempo than other versions I had heard. A thrilling musical moment. Great post!
Thanks Susan. Flarf is powerful stuff!
Thinking about the heads rolling gives those sforzandos a new meaning, doesn’t it? Funny you should mention that, because at the moment I am going 15 rounds with Hector Berlioz- and he’s winning. I’m working on the Marche to the Supplice from Symphonie Fantastique- which I have no doubt you know ends with the guillotine sforzando followed by the cheers of a crowd. ( I have a good Symphonie Fantastique story, by the way).
I understand that years later Beethoven wrote that the 1st movement should be at 108 beats a minute. I can’t imagine playing it that fast. I doubt many orchestras can!
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Whatever it may seem like, my musical knowledge is far more holes than cheese. I didn’t know that about the Berlioz & must give that a listen as I read! Interesting about the designated tempo for the Beethoven, too. I wonder what tempo Gardiner used.
I don’t know what tempo he used. I have to see if I can get my hands on a recording- the Fifth is one of my favorites, and as I already have 5 or 6 recordings of the 5th it’s only right that I’d have his too. The favorite of the ones I have was done by the Weiner Philharmoniker. It has a lot of energy and pushes the tempo. I clock it at about 100-105 bpm.
Do you know the Symphonie Fantastique? Here’s the story in a nutshell: In real life Berlioz fell for an actress he saw in a play, but she kept ignoring his love letters (gee, I can’t imagine why!). He wrote this to express how he felt about her. It’s a programmatic symphony: in the first movement the protagonist meets a woman and falls in love; in the second he’s at a ball but keeps thinking of her (we keep hearing her theme, or idee fixe); in the third he’s out in the country feeling lonely and obsessed by her. In the fourth movement, he attempts suicide by opium (Berlioz was apparently an opium addict). The opium doesn’t kill him but does make him psychotic. He thinks he’s murdered his beloved and is going to the guillotine. He has one last thought of her- a partial final recapitulation of her leitmotif in a clarinet solo, and WHAM!! Down comes the guillotine, and the crowd roars. The fifth movement is the Hexensabbath, or Witches’ Sabbath, which if I remember correctly is a dark Disney Fantasia-like celebration of his death.
My own relationship to this piece is weird. I think it’s remarkably innovative for its time and is therefore an important piece. I’m not a big fan, however. The story has way too much ick factor for me. it is also DAMN hard to play. This past summer, when I had decided to change orchestras, I narrowed my choices down to two. One was a terrific orchestra in Chapel Hill, and they recruited me pretty hard even though I was a brand-new beginner. Their main sales pitch was that the highlight of their season was that they were playing Symphonie Fantastique. I pulled the bass part down off the Internet, looked at it and said “Hell no.” There was *no way* I could play it.
So what do I find on my stand 10 days ago? The Marche to the Supplice. I can NOT get away from this piece, it keeps following me!!
Want you to know, thanks to you, I just finished listening to the Berlioz, and am now listening to Beethoven’s Fifth (Gardiner), all courtesy of Spotify (though I do have the Gardiner Symphonies on CD, just not on hand here). Thanks for the prompts to listen to both!
Nice. You’re most welcome. Did you hear the guillotine?
I am just now listening to Gardiner’s 5th. It feels more immediate, more intense. I dig it. It will probably end up being my favorite.
amazing, I will have to revisit this tete-a-tete (but not really private) when my mind is a bit more awake – you and Susan are quite fun to follow for music edu ~ a
I have to note a subtle homage to you with the use of Morse code as a title- I was thinking of your decorative use of colons and exclamation points in your posts. A little tip of the hat to you.