Sunday, January 02, 2005
Writing about music
First of all, thanks, Jerry, for inviting all of us to take part in this forum -- or perhaps I should just speak for myself, and not for my colleagues. In any case, the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversation is certainly appreciated.
As you say, "for composers... talking or writing about music must be like translating ideas from one language to another," and inevitably some or much is lost in translation. We are probably all too familiar with the comment attributed to Laurie Anderson: "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."
I am reminded of a story Scott Lindroth tells: he composed a piece for the Philadelphia Orchestra called "Clash and Glitter." It was reviewed favorably, with the critic focusing on the loud, sparkling bursts of percussion. He then retitled the piece "January Music" for a subsequent performance -- and was complimented on writing "such wintery music."
So composers are understandably hesitant to verbalize their artistic intentions, since a few words can color the listening process irretrievably. One last attribution, this a quote from Mendelssohn: "People often complain that music is too ambiguous, that what they should think when they hear it is so unclear, whereas everyone understands words. With me, it is exactly the opposite, and not only with regard to an entire speech but also with individual words. These too seem to me so ambiguous, so vague, so easily misunderstood in comparison to genuine music, which fills the soul with a thousand things better than words."
posted by Lawrence Dillon
11:40 AM
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