I completed the Hillsdale course in May. Hyperion Knight is a phenomenal professor that is not only passionate about the music itself, but in the history! I learned so much about the greats. Thank you for this.
I must protest that the peak was Handel, if for nothing else than his honor of Christ. His music has such a jovial bigness that I find it utterly inspiring.
We are privileged to be able to access the music of the past and present. But the decline in public awareness and enjoyment of it has tragically declined to the point where the word "music" is in the mass media a referral to pop music and jazz, not the classics. Once upon a time everyone had a piano and most children learned to play it and it pushed the classics into a respected public arena.
In the 1940s there was a film about and featuring the leading musicians of the day playin the classics. That day is gone. It is a cultural tragedy.
Thank you for this essay. The mathematical and intellectual aspects of classical and other music impress me more and more. As I delved into Bach a little bit, I was amazed at the relationship between order and beauty, which you touched on very effectively. It's interesting that, as other aspects of western culture started going off the rails, things like atonality began to play a bigger role in music. It seems that there's a place for atonality, but I believe that it became a sort of dogma in some circles. And as with with architecture, compositions with beauty and order were downgraded by those in powerful circles.
Bravo! This Substack illuminates the canvas with a brilliance rivaling the Old Masters themselves. With each insightful exposé, you draw back the curtain of history, revealing the true heart of artistic expression. Here, we find not mere aesthetics but a vibrant dialogue between artist and epoch, a discourse as relevant today as it was in the salons of yore.
I liked the beginning of the essay, but I feel like you made a few rapid jumps in logic starting with Beethoven. Can you explain how he "stayed true to the rigor of mathematical order?" Didn't scales and modes change at some point between chants and then?
And in the conclusion you say that the point of music is to show "how our subjective experience of life meets the ordered rationality of the world around us." What exactly do you mean by this? I am curious and think you are on to something, as music is more than just self-expression, but I am not able to follow your logic here.
I like a great deal of classical music - even a lot of the modern classical - but I cannot come to terms with opera. I try (my wife is a huge fan and plays it almost daily), but it just comes across as good music spoiled by yodelling. I'm resigned to being an irremediable barbarian on this topic!
You miss the point. Something matters if it matters. If the people as a whole lose engagement with a cultural construct, it gradually loses the degree to which it "matters" by definition and it is unhelpful for the old guard to wail about it - it is a matter of fact. It is well documented that younger generations are losing interest in classical music. Enter a classical concert anwhere in the world, get a seat in the circles and look down at the stalls: it is nearly always the same - a sea of white and grey hair. If they want to value crass youtube videos or homemade pornography over Mahler or Beethoven, so be it, it is their prerogative and not for some paternalistic patronising philisopher to dictate to them what they should like or no. Gustibus non disputandum est.
I hardly ever meet anyone who shares the same passion I have for classical music! This is a really good article, I hope it turns people’s attention to what they’re missing out on. Would love to see more articles about this genre!
I can say that the girl may be, was interrupted by something that was at the side where she is looking at. But initially, she was working with her patner on her music or their music if I may say.
“The modern music industry would have us believe that the timeless power of music is only meant to stir us up emotionally, leaving us stuck in the confusion of our individual experiences.”
I recall my parents recommending music from the 70s to me while I was young only to be rejected by my “love” of Eminem. Eventually as I grew I gained a strong appreciation for the works before Slim Shady as I realized his creation and growth would have never been possible without those that came before, like from the 70s. Now, it seems the older the music the more beauty there is.
I think we're put off classical music by some some vague idea that we need to 'understand' it, which is a prerequisite for listening to literally no other form of music. Just listen, feel and enjoy. If you're compelled to pick up the Oxford guide to classical music afterwards, great. If not, also great
I completed the Hillsdale course in May. Hyperion Knight is a phenomenal professor that is not only passionate about the music itself, but in the history! I learned so much about the greats. Thank you for this.
Beautiful! Amazing lectures that deserve more attention.
Same, I’m in the middle of them. I found it absolutely delightful through 3 lectures.
I must protest that the peak was Handel, if for nothing else than his honor of Christ. His music has such a jovial bigness that I find it utterly inspiring.
We are privileged to be able to access the music of the past and present. But the decline in public awareness and enjoyment of it has tragically declined to the point where the word "music" is in the mass media a referral to pop music and jazz, not the classics. Once upon a time everyone had a piano and most children learned to play it and it pushed the classics into a respected public arena.
In the 1940s there was a film about and featuring the leading musicians of the day playin the classics. That day is gone. It is a cultural tragedy.
Great article. I enjoyed reading your take on the importance of classical music a lot.
Thank you for this essay. The mathematical and intellectual aspects of classical and other music impress me more and more. As I delved into Bach a little bit, I was amazed at the relationship between order and beauty, which you touched on very effectively. It's interesting that, as other aspects of western culture started going off the rails, things like atonality began to play a bigger role in music. It seems that there's a place for atonality, but I believe that it became a sort of dogma in some circles. And as with with architecture, compositions with beauty and order were downgraded by those in powerful circles.
Bravo! This Substack illuminates the canvas with a brilliance rivaling the Old Masters themselves. With each insightful exposé, you draw back the curtain of history, revealing the true heart of artistic expression. Here, we find not mere aesthetics but a vibrant dialogue between artist and epoch, a discourse as relevant today as it was in the salons of yore.
I liked the beginning of the essay, but I feel like you made a few rapid jumps in logic starting with Beethoven. Can you explain how he "stayed true to the rigor of mathematical order?" Didn't scales and modes change at some point between chants and then?
And in the conclusion you say that the point of music is to show "how our subjective experience of life meets the ordered rationality of the world around us." What exactly do you mean by this? I am curious and think you are on to something, as music is more than just self-expression, but I am not able to follow your logic here.
I like a great deal of classical music - even a lot of the modern classical - but I cannot come to terms with opera. I try (my wife is a huge fan and plays it almost daily), but it just comes across as good music spoiled by yodelling. I'm resigned to being an irremediable barbarian on this topic!
Have you seen Dr Robert Greenberg's Great Courses lectures?
You miss the point. Something matters if it matters. If the people as a whole lose engagement with a cultural construct, it gradually loses the degree to which it "matters" by definition and it is unhelpful for the old guard to wail about it - it is a matter of fact. It is well documented that younger generations are losing interest in classical music. Enter a classical concert anwhere in the world, get a seat in the circles and look down at the stalls: it is nearly always the same - a sea of white and grey hair. If they want to value crass youtube videos or homemade pornography over Mahler or Beethoven, so be it, it is their prerogative and not for some paternalistic patronising philisopher to dictate to them what they should like or no. Gustibus non disputandum est.
Mahler's 2nd is life changing.
I hardly ever meet anyone who shares the same passion I have for classical music! This is a really good article, I hope it turns people’s attention to what they’re missing out on. Would love to see more articles about this genre!
I can say that the girl may be, was interrupted by something that was at the side where she is looking at. But initially, she was working with her patner on her music or their music if I may say.
“The modern music industry would have us believe that the timeless power of music is only meant to stir us up emotionally, leaving us stuck in the confusion of our individual experiences.”
I recall my parents recommending music from the 70s to me while I was young only to be rejected by my “love” of Eminem. Eventually as I grew I gained a strong appreciation for the works before Slim Shady as I realized his creation and growth would have never been possible without those that came before, like from the 70s. Now, it seems the older the music the more beauty there is.
I think we're put off classical music by some some vague idea that we need to 'understand' it, which is a prerequisite for listening to literally no other form of music. Just listen, feel and enjoy. If you're compelled to pick up the Oxford guide to classical music afterwards, great. If not, also great