Beethoven Takes 'Em Down In The Third!

An apology…

So I stared a blog. I decided that I was going to write every day and share the ups and downs of being “me” with anyone who wanted to take a moment and read. Well, it’s tough to write every day when one of your hands decides to jog to the left when you ask it to go right. When you want to punch the “H” key your finger hovers over the “K” key and shakes for five minutes. Then when you finally get your hand to calm down and start typing, your left eye can see the screen in front of you but your right eye is focused on the USC coffee mug filled with pens sitting just to the side of your laptop. I’m trying not to make my M.S. an excuse. But it does indeed get in the way of productive living from time to time.

So I will post on this blog as often as I am able, and as an excuse to keep my hands and mind working on something. Hopefully it will continue to be interesting to read. Thus I have apologized for not posting in such a long time. I will put more effort into a more regularly scheduled appearance on this site. Thanks for reading and for taking some time to spend with my neurosis!

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Yesterday I went to a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” in Providence. Granted it was in the middle of Sunday afternoon during prime football time, but I do love me some Beethoven. Little did I know it was to become one of the more dangerous choir performances I have ever seen!

Now I have been involved with music for the majority of my life. I played in orchestras in high school and in college, and I have seen many performances over the years. I enjoy all kinds of music from J.S. Bach to Arvo Part. I was lucky in the my father had extremely eclectic musical tastes that he truly enjoyed sharing with me as I was growing up. He calls his tastes “Catholic”, though I’m not really sure why. Anyway, he was the first person to play me Simon and Garfunkel, Philip Glass, Gilbert and Sullivan and of course good old Ludwig.

I remember the first time he played me the Fifth Symphony. I was about four years old and we were driving in his orange Opel GT when it came on the radio. He stopped talking and looked right at me with his eyes as wide as grapefruits, “Do you hear that?” He said almost in a whisper. “That’s Beethoven. This is some of the greatest music ever written!”

We drove around Chicago and listened to the entire performance. I don’t know what orchestra it was, but my dad was conducting right there from the driver’s seat. His arms were waving around and he was singing along, “Bum bum bum buuuuuuuuh! Bum bum bum buuuuuuuh!” I loved it. I wasn’t sure what I was hearing, but it sure was exciting. He told me that the Allied Forces used to play Beethoven’s Fifth over the radio during World War Two to piss off the Germans. Apparently the famous rhythm is also morse code for “V” which stood for “Victory”. This was a double fold insult to the Nazi’s because the American’s were stealing their favorite son’s music to promote their eventual downfall. As a four year old, this made the music even more mysterious and powerful!

I was a little bit bummed that I wasn’t going to get to watch any football yesterday, but my Bears’ game wasn’t being broadcast out here on the east coast anyway. Spending an afternoon listening to some Beethoven wasn’t the worst thing in the world in my book anyway. Now for those of you who aren’t too familiar with Beethoven, as beautiful and lush as his music might be, he was not familiar with a concept we call “brevity”. His pieces are often pretty long and intense. Once might say that calling them robust is an understatement. The “Missa Solemnis” is most definitely an example that fits in the “lengthy” category.

Not only is it about an hour and a half long, it is intensely difficult for the choir to sing. It is a piece that doesn’t get performed very often due to it’s challenging nature for the vocalists. It was written to coincide with Beethoven’s patron Archduke Rudolph’s installation to the position of Archbishop of Olmutz in 1820. The work became so complex and difficult to complete, that it was not finished until 1823 and not even performed for a full year after that.

Now you might be asking, “How could a nice Jewish boy enjoy spending his afternoon listening to a frustrating and really long piece of music singing about Jesus?” Well I can give you two reasons. The first is that the music transcends all religion in its passion and veracity. It is lush and vital and gorgeous. Secondly it was at this very concert yesterday afternoon that after hundreds, if not thousands of concerts, I witnessed my very first choir injury!

Toward the end of the third movement I noticed a movement to the top right of the stage. One of the microphones above the choir was shaking wildly. Every member of the Alto section was looking down eyes and mouths agape and stretched wide with fear. A few of the women in the front row were beginning to jump down to the base of the mic stand and started waving off to the side of the stage for help. We in the audience really couldn’t see much of the goings on as it was all hidden behind the bass and cello sections of the orchestra.

A few seconds later the movement ended and the conductor stepped to the side of the podium. All was silent in the hall. It felt like we were holding our breath for hours. The hushed creaking of a stage door broke through like shattering glass. By now every member of the orchestra had turned to see what was happening as well. The stage hand walked swiftly out, bent down and helped the woman to her feet. He held her arm and walked her off the stage through the open door as we all began to applaud. Then the door shut and almost immediately the conductor took to his podium, raised his baton and the orchestra began playing the fourth movement.

It… was… awesome! Beethoven had taken her OUT! Ludy made her sing so hard she collapsed! I was almost ready for a t.v. timeout! I was waiting for Pam Oliver to be standing backstage giving us the details of the injury report and whether or not the Alto would be able to return for the remainder of the performance! Sadly she did not get back to the game, but I hear through the grapevine that she has a slight bump on her head and will indeed be able to return for next months performance of Handel’s “Messiah”.

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