The group I sang Handel’s “Messiah” with is now singing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (or at least the final movement), and I went to the first rehearsal on Wednesday night. The director was going on and on about Beethoven and how great he is, and how the 9th is the pinnacle of human achievement, blah blah blah, while I asked myself, “Why am I doing this?” I am very aware that many people love Beethoven, and maybe I am doing this in an effort to figure out why. Is it a waste of time to try to appreciate music you don’t like right away?
I loved Schuetz from the first hearing. I love his rhythmic variety and constantly shifting modality. Last night at Lutheran choir practice we sang his “In Te, Domine, Speravi,” where the plaintive opening line contrasts with the wild tango rhythm of “non confundar,” and the music really seems to mean what we are singing: “In you, oh Lord, I have hoped; never let me be put to shame.” Non confundar in aeternum. The Beethoven has an admirable sentiment about all men being brothers, and this moved the director at Wednesday’s rehearsal deeply. Why does it not move me like Schuetz does? So now I have to decide if it is worth it to go back to Beethoven rehearsal: will I learn to love the music or just be torturing myself?
Famous Hat
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2 comments:
Who is Schuetz? As for Beethoven and what you are singing, all I can see is scenes from A clockwork orange
Schuetz is an amazing late Renaissance composer.
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