Day 071: Music—no boundaries
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
71 — Music—no boundaries
12-October-1971
(Tue.)
TRANSCRIPT
Saw “War and Peace”
(Krieg und Frieden) again. Unbelievable,
again. The music and just the production. I have to
remember to look more closely into the music. Some
beautiful stuff.
ust an observation that in the Arts,
music is
supreme. In other words, people
work hard to put on [performances of] music, and
[other] people enjoy hearing that music. When a job
is done well (rather, the performance is good), then
people applaud all [of] the hard work that went into
it. When the music touches you, it sends chills up
and down your back, no matter what nationality the
music is. In other words, people don’t even think
about politics and nationalities in a performance of
music. And thus, there can possibly be no “dumb”
dislike of something because of politics. That’s
what’s fantastic about the arts, (hopefully) no
boundaries.
REFLECTIONS
I’m
into peace. I see
Prokofiev’s War
and Peace for a
second time, again performed by the Bolshoi. And
again, I truly enjoy the performance.
Music is supreme. Interestingly,
I make the statement that “in the arts, music is
supreme.” I’m a music person. I think that I meant
that music has the power to move
people,
like no other art form. Art, photography, dance,
ballet, film, sculpture, and other art forms can
“move” people, emotionally and spiritually. Music
does the same, but often with more intensity. Just
the excitement and emotion of an orchestra playing
and singers singing.
Certainly, there is always appreciation of the arts,
and today’s comment reflects back to the music
appreciation of the audiences that I spoke of a few
days ago. I suspect that the entire impact of the
opera that night—staging, stage sets, action,
costumes, the singers, chorus, massive sound of the
orchestra, and the music itself—had an emotional
impact on me. That’s good. I like that.
One regret, over the years—I haven’t experienced the
amount of “live” music, operas, and concerts that I
wish that I could have in all these many years. It
would be nice to change that in the future. If you
can afford it, get out and see some concerts, or
catch a local live band in your town.
Beyond
politics. In reading
the last few sentences of today’s journal post, I
wasn’t sure what I was getting at. It was the way I
said things. After some reflection, I think that the
impact of tonight’s musical performance made me
realize that music
transcends politics, and other
issues and small dislikes that we may have in life.
Perhaps I am concerned about what I am reading
in Time
magazine,
about the Vietnam War, every week. Although I’m not
writing about the year’s current events in the
journal, I am reading about them, and perhaps these
reflections on politics, music, and life are in my
mind as I write.
Perhaps we need to inject more music into the
equation in Iraq and other world hot spots in today’s
world. Appreciating different cultures, art, music,
religions, races, and all peoples of the world might
lead to some peace. It would be nice. Let’s hope.
“That’s what’s fantastic about the arts—no
boundaries.”
John
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