Today, July 7th, 2010 I'll succumb to my daily urge and pontificate away... after all he only turns 150 once and a little leeway can be afforded me every century and a half. If I waited till his 200th they'd have to regenerate me from my hologram-plasmatrix lunapod and what fun would that be?
How much of a genius was Mahler? Give a listen to the stormy opening of the 4th mvt of his very 1st symphony. All hell is breaking loose in this battle scene that is a metaphor for man's struggle to find redemption and peace. During a climactic moment at 1:37 he decides to give a single solo note to the triangle...and it works!!
That would be enough in my books but there's so much more!
His 3rd symhphony finale, conducted below by Leonard Bernstein, is a huge work divided into 6 movements. Initially he had subtitled each one starting with "What the Rocks Told Me" and ending with "What Love Told Me".... a veritable blueprint for the evolution of human consciousness and spirituality. Mahler wasn't religious in the traditional sense, more of a pantheist actually and for him God, love, music, and nature were all the same thing.
The clip above starts right after another crushing defeat in the human (and we can assume his own)attempt to find meaning.
In a typical Mahler move the human voice is given to a single wind instrument, in this case the flute, to dare once more ask the question followed even more plaintively by the child like piccolo.
Another regularly used device is a heavenly choir of trumpets as the voice of "god"... Mahler uses archetypes, symbols and musical genres to get his point across...a little military march here, a chorale there, even a schtickel Klezmer. Sure he converted to get a better gig, but once a Jew always a Jew, at least that's what Richard Wagner said.
When said trumpets begin to finally relate the whole truth and nothing but the truth the strings tremble in awe but soon rise up to join the goings on as the benevolent universe reveals itself.
Of course, ever the genius, Mahler decides two tympanists should get the honours, pounding out the fundamentals while the rest of the gang jubilate in a major chord.
I love this guy but I also love my readers!Next post you'll get a little of this action when we discuss the latest revolution in leggings.
Ever the genius, Mahler would've approved.
17 comments:
Yeah, Blob, LEGGINGS!!!!!
Look... I know we priests are all viewed as being really, really creepy old men, but we're not ALL homos!!!
Bring it on, Blob!!
BTW... never heard of this Mahler guy... was he as good as the Singing Nun?
Bl -
That's quite an audience in attendance for that opening clip. Was there a Lady Gaga concert in town that night or something?
TD
Mahler is the wind that spins the wheels of my spiritual bicycle.
Fraulein Gaga,
I am being humbled. [but I would have thought it was Beth Midler who spun your spiritual wheels; it was my understandig you were gaga over Beth Midler]
Very sincerely,
GM
You should submit this article to McGill, it might just earn you a doctorate. You are the wind between my cheeks!
Yours in Christ,
Dixxx
My husband ALSO said, "Some of my best friends are Jews..." high praise, indeed, it seems to me... but no one ever seems to remember that one, do they?
Pfftttt... Mahler... oh, please!!
Teutonically yours,
Cosima
Oh, I say, Blob!
Is he the chappie who put the banjolele in his symphonies? Ripping good stuff!
Tinkery tonk!
Bertram
As you know, any flux capacitor worthy of the name requires 1.21 gigawatts of electrical power... mine, according to the digital read-out (which I just had checked), is a least 1.29; but even so, the flux dispersal is not enough for passage through the space-time continuum... and yes, of course, my vehicle has a stainless steel body! I'm very frustrated!! Otherwise, she's a sweet, sweet ride... any thoughts, Blob? (I've already tried kicking the tires...)
BTW, can't wait for the Leggings post... oh, yeah!!
G G
Hey, lazy-ass fucker (well, at least I didn't write lazy ass-fucker...), here's something to think about, from the pen of William Wordsworth...
"Whither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?"
You hear what I'm sayin', Blob ben Sloth? You pickin' up what I'm puttin' down?
B
Publish or perish, Blob, or I am so outta here!!!
I'm in Connecticut. Chill dammit!!
It's ok guys, we can entertain ourselves!
So... Bonefucker... how's it goin'?
SOS guys! This is not a drill!! The big man downstairs has gotten wind of this blog and he.... he likes it! But he has a bad temper (not as bad as his counterpart's, but still pretty bad), and he's pissed that there haven't been new posts lately. I explained to him that the blogmaster was out of town but he said, "I wreak havoc all over the universe without leaving my futon. What's his excuse??". Blob, I answer phones, take messages, go on beer runs, and unfortunately man the Big Guy's personal computer so it's my ass if he doesn't get his way. Please Blob! Can you help a girl out?
Help me Blobeleh! You're my only hope! (We just got Episode IV on DVD, ya I know we're a little behind the times... but we really do live under a rock!)
UP
UnderworldPrincess,
It is folly to ask for help from those who will not give it...
What is The Blob? It is the flash of the firefly in the night. It is the breath of buffalo in the winter time. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset...
Huh?
Sheesh... *sigh*... all's I'm sayin' is that nothin' lasts... ah, never mind... it's not important...
Well Blobbie old friend, I've said this many, many times before, but this time I mean it... I'm outta here!
No offense, but there's a new blog in town that's all about stamens, pistils, gynoecium and angiosperm and all such! STAMENS and PISTILS, Blob! And melons, too, I hear! Great big ones!
Look... it's been fun, but you can't compete with that kind of thing, can you, ol' pal? I mean, vuvuzelas? Triangles? And where are those leggings you promised, goddammit? Anyhoo, it doesn't matter... the blogosphere is a jungle... you know it, I know it... you understand, right?
Abyssinia!!
Post a Comment