Hello khalling,
Very good.
Thank's,
O.A.

... and just a bit of reflection... Princes and Beethovens are like born into their worlds. We all play the hand we are dealt. Friedrich II ("the Great") of Prussia is recognized as a composer. So are many of the patrons of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and others. That is why the princes and counts commissioned works and housed musicians before capitalism opened the markets to great music in the 19th century.

Thanks. It is too bad that we do not have a Category for Aesthetics (or Esthetics). "Entertainment" seems inadequate for Nicolas Elllis's "Beethoven."

The sad fact is that Ayn Rand condemned Beethoven as "malevolent." She also called Wagner a "street musician" a composer of folk ditties. Her appreciation of "classical" music was limited to Rachmaninoff and a couple of others.

I walked into that minefield when she was a guest on a radio call-in show. She mentioned a couple of composers. I had read a couple of her works by then, The Fountainhead, principally, but not yet Atlas Shrugged more than once, as I recall, and had enough world history to understand the context of the Romantic Revolution. But I had not yet subscribed to the Objectivist Newsletter. I started my question with Wagner and his refusal to stuff a ballet into Rienzi and she cut me off -- at the knees.

I related to Nicolas Ellis' complaint that in school music classes, we were not taught how to listen to music. I had four years from 7th through 10th grades, both French horn in orchestra class and also singing in Chorale class (and some semesters both). We never got into theory.

However, fortunately, I had an excellent music teacher in elementary school, 3rd through 6th for five semesters. We did all the singing, of course. But she also showed us how to take a song like Yankee Doodle and play it in different styles. Also, she was the one who taught us how to read music, to understand the key from the signature of sharps or flats, to read the notes, to understand the different times 4/4, etc. In those same semesters, 4th through 6th, I also took coronet lessons. Our teachers there expected us to know all of that from outside sources. We were supposed to have independent music lessons on our own. So, Ellis's criticism struck a responsive chord with me.

One upside to Cleveland Public was that from the 4th through 12th grades, twice a year, we attended young people's concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. Mostly, the conductors and lecturers were the young Louis Lane and Robert Shaw. Only once did George Szell grace the podium.

Interesting khalling, Thanks for sharing.

Yea Beethoven.