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Classical Court From Perotin to Prokofiev (and beyond), performed by Caruso to Khatia, it's all here. |
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Classical Court From Perotin to Prokofiev (and beyond), performed by Caruso to Khatia, it's all here. |
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In Reply to: Re: Bruckner:Sym#4-Complete Evolution of Versions posted by Rob on June 7, 2000 at 02:33:43:
For those wishing to discover the real man behind the cartoonish characature, I recommend “Bruckner Rememberedâ€, Stephen Johnson, ed. Here you’ll find that when Bruckner was around people he felt comfortable with and socially equal to, he was straightforward, very down to earth, humorous and not at all clumsy, weird or importunate. He was pretty much a normal guy, with the difference being that he was also a gifted genius. But that didn’t stop him from calling his barber a flat out idiot, or saying to one of his close friends that unlike Brahms, they were hearty, red-blooded guys who enjoyed life, or behaving like an average 19th century Viennese man when amongst friends. Of course, he had quirks - who doesn't? Secretly pass gas lately?Bruckner’s problem was that he felt intrinsically inferior around those whom he thought were of a higher social class, and he behaved in a really ass-kissing, clumsy, foolish manner around them due to his
insecurity. There are loads of insecure people around – nothing astonishing about that. I don’t know why people make such a big fuss about it when it turns out that some great artist was insecure.He was also an artist. Seen any artists lately? Even by today's fast &
loose standards they're a pretty individual bunch. Bruckner happened to be sensitive. So sue him. Any of you happen to be bullet proof? Doubt it. In any case, he was sensitive and he led a harder, crueler life than most poeple ever will. For time to time he succumed with a particular form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Big stinking deal. These days, untalented celebraties fill rehabs with drug, alcohol, eating disorder, and every imaginable kind of behavior problem, yet they aren't considered wacko-idiot-savant-nuts.We must keep in mind that unlike today’s social mores, Vienna (indeed, most European 19th cent society) was stratified into various social levels. One’s accent, mode of dress, personal sophistication, and countless other personal behavioral subtleties determined whether one was accepted or ridiculed and ostracized. Imagine the depictions of high school social norms we see in movies and multiply those by a factor of a thousand. The demands of the ultra-sophisticated Viennese society were particularly severe in the social skills that were necessary to escape ridicule.
Further, Bruckner wasn’t the only one who behave in a kowtowing way around those whom he felt were his social betters. I’ve personally known persons who were brought up in the era of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, and they had the inherent sense of bowing to social superiors, and of holding those superiors in some degree of awe. It was necessary to employ a kind of ass-kissing respect in order to secure career
positions for many of these people, especially if they came from the countryside.The time has come for us to dispense with the social bigotry that has characterized most commentary about great artists, classical composers in particular. We live in a time when any mode of dress is acceptable – you can be a long-haired hippy or a Mohawk-scalped, tatooed gen-xer. You may wear big baggy clothes – as Bruckner did (he like to be comfortable, social standards be damend) – or ultratight supermodel blue jeans. Nobody gives a damn. Why should we apply a different standard to the human beings that gave us some music we like?
--SPL
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- Bruckner: The Actual Person - SPL 18:39:17 06/07/00 (0)
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