All right, I have had a bit of break from blogging over the holiday season. We all need that.
The other problem is that I tend to be a bit flighty in my interests. I have suddenly been gripped with an obsession for re-reading Carl Jung after a study Keirsey's book, which is a systematised method of classifying personality types along Jungian lines. The trouble is writing a musical post based on this. Actually someone suggested that Beethoven might be an INFP personality type. That did get me thinking—well, what influence does personality have on composition style? An intriguing question.
Moreover, there are unfinished draughts of posts that are continuations of my previous discussions of looking at musical aspects of The Coming of the Third Reich. I need to finish these before I get too flighty and jump to something totally unrelated. I tend to be a bit like that.
Oh, yes, and I want to read a bit more about Althusser and his re-readings of Marx, that makes him sound much more classically Hegelian. It has nothing at all to do with music. Or maybe it does? Maybe there is a link in there somewhere with Wagner. I'll certainly be thinking about it anyway. Did I tell you I get distracted easily?
Finally, I know that people want to see me carve up Joachim Köhler's The Last of the Titans. Let me assure you I will take great pleasure in doing so. I now own both the German Urtext as well as the published English translations (purchased second hand on Abebooks to ensure that idiot Köhler doesn't earn a cent of royalties from me). These books are steadily accumulating pencil markings, which in term will translate to blog posts. These will appear eventually—all in good time!
Thank goodness. I was getting rather worried you had disappeared or grown bored. Oddly, also reading Marxist literature at the moment - along with much else. Although, became rather weary of Eaglton's "Why Marx Was Right" which became less like an argument and more like he was trying to hammer me into submission. But this may be just me and I shall return to it in the next few weeks.
ReplyDeleteHave you read this by the way: http://www.wagele.com/Beeth-personality.html. Interestingly of course, Cage, used methods deliberately to try and "remove" his personality from his compositions. Perhaps reaching its zenith in 4' 33''. Although one might argue this itself was an expression of his personality. An interesting line of thought you have. I would be intrigued to see you investigate it further.
You might find this of interest if you have not come across it: http://www.questia.com/read/62952072/from-beethoven-to-shostakovich-the-psychology-of
Sorry for the long silence, and thanks for the links.
ReplyDeletePart of the trouble is that I ensure that my posts of academic publication standard when it comes to using bibliographic citations to back my statements up. Anyone knows that means lots of work rather than the usual casual blog when people shoot from the hip. So I needed a break, and also went away over the holiday season.
As for Cage removing his personality—composition based on the I Ching really speaks loads about Cage's colourful and brilliant personality. Far from removing it, his oversize personality shines through!
Hey, good to see you active again. I've got two interesting pieces of news for you.
ReplyDeleteThe first one concerns our friend Joachim Kohler. You might want to wait a bit before tearing into him again because if this article is correct it seems he had done if not a complete about-face, then at least an acknowledgement of a moajrity of his most egregious previous errors.
The second concerns our mutual regret how no author seriously examined Cosima Wagner's perversion of Richard's legacy. According to this review, it would seem that the German music historian Oliver Hilmes did just that. BTW, the English translation of his books title is utterly inadequate since the original German title is "Herrin des Hügels: Das Leben der Cosima Wagner".
Thanks, I saw that you'd linked to that in a tweet. But Köhler's books remains in print without any formal addendum or retractions and many people continue to take his word as gospel. I'm hardly going to relent until he formally retracts his statements. He doesn't deserve it.
ReplyDeleteI actually have that book on Cosima (in English) but just hadn't got around to reading it beyond the first chapter or so. And I've gotten side tracked reading Richard J. Evans and now have got stuck into Marx's Das Kapital. Must finish that book on Cosima...
The other tragedy is that the incredibly sensible, balanced, and deeply insightful writings of Dieter David Scholz on Wagner remain untranslated and unpublished in English. His website seems to be down at the moment but it is only in German (you can run it through Google translator).
www.dieter-david-scholz.de
More than any other writer, I will forever be deeply indebted to Scholz for helping me find the real Wagner. Vielen Dank Herr Scholz!