Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: National anthem performance in a jazzed fashion

This is topic National anthem performance in a jazzed fashion in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-09-2004, 10:13 PM:

Perhaps because I feel established traditions must be preserved I thought I would discuss something that has been troubling me lately.

I just happened to tune in to the Pro Bowl football game yesterday from our Aloha Stadium here in Honolulu on ESPN and only watched the first hour before I had to go on a photo assignment and cringed when a young woman sang our national anthem in a jazzed up rendition. I have been hearing others sing it the same way a lot lately and frankly, I do not like it at all. As most of you know, the words are by Francis Scott Key from his poem "The Defense of Fort McHenry" and the melody is supposedly by an 18th century British composer ,John Stafforfd Smith. Both the lyrics and the music are very stirring and majestic when sung in the traditional manner and played by a military band or a symphony orchestra. The lyrics means a lot to me because it describes the Union victory over the British at Fort McHenry, Baltimore after heavy Bombardment by the enemy on September 13, 1814. Jazz and Rock and Roll has been around for a long time and so has the blues and I cannot understand why our national anthem is only now being performed in large public gatherings in such a undignified manner. I also love the Canadian and British anthems "O Canada" and "God Save The Queen" and so far, I have not heard any jazzed up versions of them and I hope I never do.

This matter reflects only my personal opinion and I am very curious if some of you who are much younger feel the same way as I do?

-Claude

Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 02-09-2004, 11:13 PM:

Claude,

As a 34 year old I have to agree with you on this. I am much apart of the Rocka nd Roll era but singing and performing the National Anthiem in an out of tune, out of pace manner is really revolting to me. As a student of Marching band in 7-10th grade and classical Violin in the 5th and 6th grade I can have a great appreciation for how the Star Spangled Banner should be performed that most probably do not understand or care to as yourself and I do.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 02-09-2004, 11:56 PM:

I absolutely agree. Perhaps some of the blame belongs with the producers or whoever has control in giving the so called performers too much license to do whatever they please.

The Star Spangled Banner is also one of a handful of national anthems that is not a march.

In addition to to the British & Canadian, the French national anthem is a great piece, I have no idea what it says though.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-10-2004, 12:32 AM:

Yes., Bill

The French anthem "La Marseillaise" is beautiful and I also like it . Beside France, Germany also has a nice anthem and is known as "Deutschland Uber Alies" The music is by Franz Joseph Haydn and is taken from his "Kaiser" Quartet. Another one I like is the anthem of my ancestral homeland, Japan. It is known as "Kimi Ga Yo " and is rather short with a subdued but elegant melody.

-Claude

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 02-10-2004, 01:24 AM:

Does it matter what tempo the anthem is played in, as long as it is played.
At big rugby games here the anthem is usually played at a fast tempo with the crowd on their feet, dancing & singing.
This is a wonderful sound that brings everyone together (in hatred of Australia)
Study note; See version of SSB in "Mystery Alaska"

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 02-10-2004, 01:47 AM:

It is all connected to the "hip hop" infiltration of our society. It doesn't really bother me. I have not thought much about it. I do think that at some point it will get to be too much. Kids today have no concern for history.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-10-2004, 02:48 AM:

quote:
Germany also has a nice anthem and is known as "Deutschland Uber Alies"

The first verse "Deutschland ueber alles" is not sung anymore. Its originally sentimental meaning - the poet von Fallersleben wrote it in exile, and frankly it is a very simple, kitschy poem, but innocent in its nostalgic reflection on the lost fatherland - was transformed in meaning by the Nazis to mean "Germany above everything in the world" in the sense of "let`s conquer the rest of the world".
Therefore, only the third verse is sung which basically means "unity, justice and freedom for the German fatherland, let us all strive for that as brothers" etc etc. That is much more free of negative associations.
> The French anthemn is an authentic song of the Revolution. Its text is quite graphic, it is worth looking up a translation...

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 02-10-2004, 03:45 AM:

Chris: I don't think it's necessarily the hip-hop influence. But I do somewhat agree with you about the lack of "concern" by SOME/(most?) kids (and people in general) today.

Perhaps a better word would be lack of "respect" for history and those that "paid" so those "kids" can enjoy their freedom. Oh, and lack of respect for everything including people. IMHO, a sad commentary on the direction society.

And Claude, I agree 100%. Some things ya just DON'T screw around with. I fail to see the merits of trying to be "cool" by changing the tempo and/or arrangement of our National Anthem.

>>> Phil

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 02-10-2004, 06:33 AM:

The Jimi Hendrix version of the national anthem used to sort of irk & baffle me, but I find now I really like it. It moves backward & forward in time. It's a traditional thing, & a relevant thing of the moment too. Very busy, very thought provoking.

Not that I ever really was fond of the national anthem as a piece of music. I'm with the camp which would rather have had "America the Beautiful" as the national anthem. "The Star Spangled Banner" is an old English drinking song with new sort of blunt, clunky lyrics. When you know it was a drinking song, you suddenly understand why that high note at the end was put in, & how much fun it must have been with a bunch of singing drunks.

Posted by Lance C. McFetridge (Member # 95) on 02-10-2004, 06:42 AM:

Call me old fashioned but sing it as written....and take your hat off.
lance

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 02-10-2004, 07:27 AM:

I have to agree with Claude and his feelings on the National Anthem. I also find it extremely disrespectful. I usually turn the sound off when it is other than traditional.

I also turn any program with Rosanne, off because of her disgraceful treatment of the Flag and Anthem several years ago in San Diego.

Yes Greg you can.

[ 02-10-2004, 09:36 AM: Message edited by: Bob Maar ]

Posted by Greg Mueller (Member # 17) on 02-10-2004, 09:12 AM:

Ditto Bob
(can I say that on here?)

Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 02-10-2004, 09:46 AM:

I took have noticed that nearly everyone that sings the national anthem has to change it in some way or do something silly with part of it (usually the end). I usually end up at my parents' house on Sundays at lunch and they're NASCAR fans and I usually have to suffer through whoever murders the national anthem. You'd think with all the money the NASCAR folks have that they could find and pay someone to sing the national anthem without murdering it.

Posted by Paul Cassidy (Member # 951) on 02-10-2004, 11:18 AM:

I liked the way Beyonce' sang at the SUPER BOWL [thumbsup]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-10-2004, 12:21 PM:

Beyonce started out just fine, and I thought she was going to give it a respectful reading. But by the time the song ended, she was all over the scale and showing off her "pipes" by putting in little trills and runs that don't belong. It was not as bad as some, but still substandard.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-10-2004, 04:55 PM:

William Hooper wrote "---- The Stars Spangled Banner is an old English drinking song with a new sort of clunky lyrics. When you know it was a drinking song, you suddenly understand why the high note at the end was put in and how much fun it must have been with a bunch of singing drunks". I am afraid I have to differ about the lyrics as I had mentioned in my earlier post on this topic. However, I will agree with William that "America The Beautiful" would have been a great choice if the United States congress in 1931 had selected it instead of The Stars Spangled Banner but they voted and made the one with Francis Scott Key's poem as the nation's anthem. Because THE Stars Spangled Banner is our national anthem ,it is due all the respect it deserves from every citizen of our wonderful country.

By the way, there was another song that had a pretty bad reputation before Julia Ward Howe changed the lyrics from--

"John Brown's body lies a'moulding in the grave"

to---

"MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE COMING OF THE LORD"

-Claude

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 02-11-2004, 01:36 AM:

I remember Mel Torme singing the national anthem in the 70s, & he gave it a little swing here & there. It was a cappella, nobody disliked it. As usual, I think it boils down to what musical style is more acceptable to any listener. The style is going to change in any performance unless they are all the same: and a cappella rendition is not going to sound like a marching band, or like a symphony orchestra, or a solo guitarist. I like his national anthem, but I'm more appreciative than really a fan of Jimi Hendrix except when he plays the blues & shows that he came from dragging Elmore James' amp even further into psychosis (what kinda specific miracle is it with these Mississippi guitar players in Chicago?)

I'm just not very fond of The Star Spangled Banner musically. As far as the melody goes, it's lugubrious & lurchy. More than anything else, it sounds like the soundtrack of trying to pull a truck out of the mud. You can practically see downshifting, upshifting, & wheels spinning. Carl Stalling would have been on it in a second if it weren't the national anthem.

quote:
Therefore, only the third verse is sung which basically means "unity, justice and freedom for the German fatherland, let us all strive for that as brothers" etc etc. That is much more free of negative associations.

Claude has pointed out that for many people, & really I think by definition all, the associations with a piece of music come first. Almost everyone my age & older when hearing the melody of Deutschland Uber Alles immediately think of it as The Nazi Theme Song. Zap goes every nerve! It can be argued that music also exists independently of the associations that others bring to it, but it ends up in someone's head & whatever happens there is part of the manipulation machinery which is what makes music effective. In that tunes case, it doesn't matter even if you go back past Haydn. Many, many church organists have been ripped a new one after playing Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken, they've argued that it pre-dates the song which folks are associating it with, but the argument ignores the response.

I agree with Mark Twain that Dixie is probably the best march ever written; I'll go beyond that & say it's one of the best songs. Spritely, hooky, immediately familiar, it's a hit. Unfortunately, it's got baggage that won't go away, & it's even been whistled, sung, & played to insult & injure. It's damaged beyond repair. That's musically; lyrically it didn't even have a good start. It went through several changes of lyrics, the last being very effective, evocative, & not very offensive, but the original by Dan Emmett & several later versions were standard outsize cartoon blackface minstrel doggerel monsters.

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 02-11-2004, 07:14 AM:

I'm another of the people that would like to see a new National Anthem. The Star Spangled Banner has only been our official anthem since the 1930's.

My mother, who in her day had an incredible vocal range, often said that the national anthem was very difficult to sing. In order to get it right, you basically have to start in the basement on the 'twilight's last gleaming,' and hit the roof on the 'rockets red glare.'

America The Beautiful is my choice for a replacement. Lovely, simple, and too the point. No bombs, no rockets. Just grain, mountains, and things that endure.

As for the Roseanne fiasco, I blame whoever invited her to do the anthem, not her. I knew her voice could cut glass long before she sang.

Wanna a nice America The Beautiful? Run the old film "Spencer's Mountain" (1963 WB--on DVD) and enjoy Barbra McNair's rendition of this song. Lovely.

Next?

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 02-11-2004, 08:58 AM:

In Canada a lo o people favoured "The Maple Leaf Forever" instead of OCanada back when they were doing away with "God Save the Queen"
Others felt the Maple Leaf Rag would have been more appropriate [Big Grin]

Posted by Greg Mueller (Member # 17) on 02-11-2004, 09:04 AM:

Bruce
Then you'd have people bitchin about the "God shed his grace on thee" part

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-11-2004, 02:33 PM:

quote:
Almost everyone my age & older when hearing the melody of Deutschland Uber Alles immediately think of it as The Nazi Theme Song.

How old ARE you? And on which occasion have you heard it in connection with the NSDAP?

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 02-11-2004, 05:02 PM:

Bruce said:

quote:
America The Beautiful is my choice for a replacement.

That would be an excellent choice! Especially the Ray Charles version! Whew! HOT!

>>> Phil

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 02-12-2004, 01:16 AM:

quote:
How old ARE you?

Sheesh, let's see, Ed Jurich is a little older than I am, so judging by his picture I'd say I'm probably about 9. Maybe 11.

quote:
And on which occasion have you heard it in connection with the NSDAP?

Casablanca, for one! Steiner uses a minor key quote from it as a cue! I think it's when Bogart & Bergman are in Paris.

It's been a standard cue for all the US WWII era and a couple decades after cartoons, documentaries & movies about WW II. ENGLAND! (Couple bars of Rule, Britannia) FRANCE! (La Marseillaise) Tympani roll....GERMANY. (Deutschland uber alles) Not just in original release, but OVER & OVER for decades in TV packages. You don't see them as much since TV programming today won't run black & white for anything outside of the classic movie channels, but they were saturated up through the 70s'. Probably for folks 30 & younger the association hasn't been burned in, due to the extinction of b&w movies on mainstream TV during their time.

Posted by Paul Cassidy (Member # 951) on 02-12-2004, 02:24 AM:

The unofficial National Anthem of NZ is Engelbert Humperdinck's "Ten Guitars" [thumbsup]

How Ten Guitars became popular in New Zealand
Eddie O'Strange has kindly sent details of his part in making Ten Guitars so popular in NZ, while it has remained unknown elsewhere in the world. Thanks Eddie.
September 1967, Rotorua. I was chief programme officer at station 1YZ. That day the weekly box of new records arrived from Head Office, Wellington. As usual we took a quick listen to all the singles.
An HMV rep had asked us to look out for Engelbert Humperdinck's Please Release Me- "In England they've got high hopes for this guy, but his name's unmarketable and it's been a struggle to get it charted back home". My first impression was that the guy was a great singer but the old song's popped-up arrangement was a tad too histrionic.

I flipped the single to Ten Guitars and before it was over I said "That's a song that could be turned into a hit in this country." The reaction was underwhelming and cynical. I had a mission!

I played in a band 5 nights a week at the Redwood Lounge at the DB Hotel. That same week I scrawled out chord charts and started singing Ten Guitars. Within a couple of weeks we were getting constant requests for the song.

It wasn't long before I was typing out the words and handing out carbon copies at the pub to patrons who wanted to learn the song. By the end of the year we heard that some people on the East Coast and up in Northland were singing it.

The local record shop firstly ordered a few copies of the record, then started ordering by the box [25 copies]. Meanwhile, back at the radio station, we played both sides of the single but it was the B-Side that got requests. The A-Side, Please Release Me was doing nothing on the national charts, but the sales of Ten Guitars in Rotorua were enough for HMV to claim that Please Release Me was chart-bound, and persuaded radio stations around NZ to spin it.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-12-2004, 02:46 AM:

I understand the association now. A lot of these aren`t exactly accurate historical sources. In reality, the Nazis didn`t sing the Deutschlandlied all the time. They had their own theme songs, most of all the "Horst Wessel Lied". But I can imagine it was used a lot like you say. Just like you always see the swastika everywhere in movies, especially on military vehicles and planes, because the NSDAP and Wehrmacht (the armed forces) are always confused.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 02-12-2004, 03:36 AM:

I'm of the Mike Blakesley school. It irks me when people feel they must embellish the National Anthem, just to show off.

I can't stand all that, "Ooh-uhho OOOOH uhh yippp uh-uh.. yeeeeh!" Just sing the words without the Whitney Houston bull [bs]

, so people can understand you!

And when did this annoying crap start with the extra note on the end?
"...land of the free--YEEEE!" It grates.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 02-12-2004, 06:34 AM:

quote:
A lot of these aren`t exactly accurate historical sources. In reality, the Nazis didn`t sing the Deutschlandlied all the time.

It's just what got burned into the popular culture through repitition. Like the word "despicable" has now as its practically univeral pronunciation the comedic MISpronuciation that Daffy Duck used over & over. No kidding.

quote:
They had their own theme songs, most of all the "Horst Wessel Lied".

Isn't that what they sang that in Casablanca at Rick's Cafe'?

quote:
And when did this annoying crap start with the extra note on the end?
"...land of the free--YEEEE!" It grates.

Showing off. "I can hit it, & still got room for more!"
I agree it's pretty cheesy & annoying. I'm also in the camp that thinks coloratura sopranos are about as pretty as a Skil Saw going through petrified oak. Altos are really nice, though.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 02-12-2004, 01:25 PM:

National anthems:

http://www.aresearchguide.com/anthems.html

http://www.thenationalanthems.com/

http://www.gergo.com/home/midi/anthems.htm

I've always loved "America the Beautiful" too, and like the "Star Spangled Banner" played without "embellishment".

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-12-2004, 02:53 PM:

I was once listening to a Vienna Philharmonic New Year's concert on a CD while I was working in my studio and a good friend plaid me a visit. Yugo was much older than me and when the orchestra played the "Radetzky March by Johann Starauss Sr and the audience joined in my clapping their hands, my friend said it sounded like a room full of Nazi's having a good time.

On the other hand, back in 1978, I was covering a football game between Campbell High, the school I provided year book photography service and Nanakuli High, a brand new school on the west shore of the island of Oahu. Before the game started the Nanakuli band played the national anthem followed by their school song and I was surprised when it turned out to be "Deutschland Uber Alles". Since that game, a lot of the seniors from that school came to me to have their portraits made for family and friends and just to amuse them, I played the "Kaiser" Quartet by Haydn and when the kids heard the familiar melody, they asked how I got a recording of their school song. After I told them the music was a little over two hundred years old, they though it was sooooo cool. It is very obvious when the school selected "Deutschland Uber Alles" by changing the German lyric of the anthem to their own, many who knew it was used a lot in films involving the Nazi's, never felt it was the 'Evil Empire" theme song. I also agree and that it why I always enjoy hearing it when it is played. It is also the same when I listen to "DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN", a four opera cycle by Richard Wagner that gave Adolph Hitler the idea to create a perfect Aryan society in Germany by first eliminating the Jews.

-Claude

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-12-2004, 03:35 PM:

...so ironic, because the closing scenes of Das Rheingold offer about the most powerful warning as to the consequences of fascism as it would be possible to deliver. And sure enough, about 12 painful, shrieking hours later, Wotan duly gets his come-uppance. Related to which, has anyone ever invited Björk to play Brünnhilde? She'd be ideal for all those screeching 'hiyajojo's (not as good as Porky Pig, but you can't have everything).

quote:
By the way, there was another song that had a pretty bad reputation before Julia Ward Howe changed the lyrics from--

"John Brown's body lies a'moulding in the grave"

to---

"MINE EYES HAVE SEEN THE GLORY OF THE COMING OF THE LORD"

I like Oscar Peterson's version (on the album Very Tall). As it's purely instrumental you can imagine which lyrics you like...

And as for buggering about with national anthems, I guess we're the last people to talk after The Sex Pistols were through with God Save the Queen...

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-12-2004, 03:49 PM:

I don`t remember what they sang in Casablanca, but I will pay attention next time.

Claude - Wagner had some antisemitic tendencies, but he was also anti church, anti bourgeoisie, anti authority, basically anti everything - an extreme nonconformist and individualist. Later in his life, he regretted that he had made negative remarks about Jewish music as a young man, out of jealousy of Meyerbeer, who was a very successful composer in Paris. Many of the musicians who worked in Bayreuth where Wagner had founded his own festival were Jews, including Herrman Levi, who conducted "The Ring of the Nibelung". Hitler was a big fan of Wagner, but that he got these ideas from Wagner and more specifically from the "Ring" is pure nonsense. That came from many other sources.
BTW, you can find many motifs from "The Ring of the Nibelung" in "The Lord of the Rings".

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-12-2004, 04:08 PM:

quote:
Wanna a nice America The Beautiful? Run the old film "Spencer's Mountain" (1963 WB--on DVD) and enjoy Barbra McNair's rendition of this song. Lovely.

I haven't seen that, but the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's version in This is Cinerama is beautifully sung (and recorded, for that matter).

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-12-2004, 04:28 PM:

One of Wagner's character, Siegfried in the "RING" operas was a young man with blonde hair, blue eyes and very clear skin and extremely handsome. This is what Hitler wanted in his new Aryan society and many noted music historians has agreed Hitler was indeed influenced by Wagner and these operas. This is another reason, the music of Wagner is not permitted to be performed in Israel because of this and other anti semantic feeling the composer had.

By the way, Wagner's music from his "RING" cycle played a very important part in John Boorman's 1981 film, "EXCALIBUR"

-Claude

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 02-12-2004, 05:02 PM:

does that mean excalibur can't be shown in israel?

what is the name of that lizst piece used in the old flash gordon serials that turns up in a number of other films, including closely watched trains?

carl

Posted by Christian Appelt (Member # 1067) on 02-12-2004, 05:59 PM:

The Nazis in Casablanca sing a song called DIE WACHT AM RHEIN (Watch on the Rhine). IIRC, it originates in the mid-19th century and certainly was nationalistic, but it was there long before the Nazis.

BTW, the DDR (German Democratic republic, a.k.a. East Germany) had a really strange national anthem. It is credited to Hanns Eisler and is called AUFERSTANDEN AUS RUINEN (Risen from the Ruins). However, it is an almost note-by-note carbon copy of a song called GOOD BYE, JONNY from the UFA film WASSER FÜR CANITOGA made in the 1930s.

This song was composed by a popular (later West German) band leader named Peter Kreuder, who even tried to sue East Germany at the UNO copyright commission.
When Kreuder did a concert tour through East Germany in 1976, he also played GOOD BYE JONNY just for fun, and every time the audience rose because they thought the national anthem was played...

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 02-12-2004, 10:10 PM:

Ah, the memories

God save the Queen
the fascist regime,
they made you a moron
a potential H-bomb.

God save the Queen
she ain't no human being.
There is no future
in England's dreaming

Don't be told what you want
Don't be told what you need.
There's no future
there's no future
there's no future for you

God save the Queen
we mean it man
we love our queen
God saves

God save the Queen
'cos tourists are money
and our figurehead
is not what she seems

Oh God save history
God save your mad parade
Oh Lord God have mercy
all crimes are paid.

When there's no future
how can there be sin
we're the flowers
in the dustbin
we're the poison
in your human machine
we're the future
you're future

God save the Queen
we mean it man
we love our queen
God saves

God save the Queen
we mean it man
there is no future
in England's dreaming

No future
no future for you
no future for me

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-12-2004, 10:54 PM:

Carl
The symphonic poem by Franz Liszt used in the old Flash Gordon films is "LES PRELUDES". Portions of the music was also used on the old Lone Ranger radio broadcasts.

I do not know if "EXCALIBUR" played in Israel with Wagner' music. I do know Zubin Mehta, the music director of the New York Philharmonic at the time was invited to guest conduct the Israel Philharmonic and had programmed some music by Wagner but was either asked or told not to play any of the music by the German composer and he complied and selected other materials. On the other hand, the renowned conductor and pianist Daniel Baremboim who is a Jew , played a piece by Wagner as an encore during one of his concerts in Tel Aviv and all hell broke lose. I am not sure if he was booed by some of the audience but he was severely reprimanded by the music society and the government and very likely banned from performing in Israel again.

-Claude

[ 02-13-2004, 01:47 PM: Message edited by: Claude S. Ayakawa ]

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-13-2004, 04:46 AM:

The blond hair/blue eyes thing was a very common stereotype of the "Germanic ideal" at the time. Hitler did not get that from Wagner - it was all over the place. To say that Wagner gave Hitler the idea for the holocaust is shallow nonsense.
Hitler was a huge Wagner fan though. There are certain elements in his work that he and other nationalists admired, for instance Wagner`s celebration of Germanic mythology and the grandiosity of his music. As Leo already pointed out, they generally chose to ignore the warnings included in "The Ring". After all, the whole thing ends in complete catastrophy.

Much more problematic is that Wagner`s heirs, foremost of all his daughter in law - who ironically was from England - teamed up with Hitler and sought his protection for the Wagner festival in Bayreuth. They gave him a sort of legitimation he, a failed artist, craved. That is what made the Wagner-Nazi association so problematic, not Wagner`s work.
On the other hand, a lot of great Wagner conductors were and are Jews - Georg Solti, James Levine, Daniel Barenboim, Lorin Maazel - all of which have performed in Bayreuth. That should make you think.
Barenboim played the "Tristan and Isolde" prelude as an encore of a concert with the Staatskapelle Berlin, the orchestra of the Berlin State Opera of which he is music director. He made a little speech before doing so. I watched it on TV. There wasn`t a big scandal, but some audience members chose to leave.

Another composer unhappily associated with the era is Richard Strauss. He was president of the national musicians organization for a year or two when the Nazis came to power, but he fell out completely with them and they even forbade all official celebrations of his 80th birthday in 1944 - an outrageous insult to the greatest living German composer at the time. His music was not performed in Israel for a long time. Interestingly though I once watched an Israeli movie from the 50s (but I don`t remember the title), and there was a scene with someone listening to Strauss on the radio.
Zubin Mehta, who has been the Israel Philharmonic`s Music Director for many years, once said in an interview that it was not possible to play his music live, but that they played the music sometimes in rehearsals, because Strauss` orchestral works are very demanding and essential training for the orchestra. But in recent years, it seems that the audience in Israel has been reconciled with Strauss. This year, the Israel Philharmonic even plays his biggest orchestral work in concert.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 02-13-2004, 09:15 AM:

For the classics, Debussy does it for me! His was some of the most haunting and ethereal music you'll ever hear.

I like Clair de Lune and Arabesque , in particular.

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 02-13-2004, 12:08 PM:

I remember the first time I heard a non-traditional rendering
of The Star Spangled Banner": it sent chills down my spine.
For Jimi Hendrix's rendition was widely regarded as his protest of the war in Vietnam, specifically of the mass bombings of Hanoi.

Hendrix's glissandos with electronic distortion effectively mimicked the doppler shreiks of approaching missles and bombs, while his booming bass notes rendered the ground explosions with shuddering accuracy.

Were it not for the historical context, one might think he was merely illustrating "the bombs bursting in air" of the Fort McHenry action. The original lyrics were composed during an anti-colonial struggle, and many Vietnamese regarded the U.S. intervention as a continuation of France's colonialist war. This
context, plus the widespread opposition to the war and Hendrix's
overwhelming brio, gave his ironic version the iconic status of an audio Guernica, burning in my memories of that struggle along with the shooting at Kent State, the photo of the naked girl and boy running from the napalm attack, and David Duncan's photos of American wounded.

When I found my JHS students singing the National Anthem mondegreen fashion (Jose', can you see...?) I taught a lesson during which we parsed the lyrics of the first stanza, so they could understand the three-fold question and the implied significance of the answer. Understanding America's break with its colonial master, it seems to me, is important to appreciating our national heritage.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-13-2004, 06:26 PM:

quote:
This year, the Israel Philharmonic even plays his biggest orchestral work in concert.

Umm, which one qualifies as 'biggest'? I guess 'orchestral' rules out opera, so I'd hazard a guess at Also Sprach Zarathustra or Ein Alpensinfonie.

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 02-13-2004, 06:43 PM:

"Eine Alpensinfonie" (An Alpine Symphony) is Strauss` longest tone poem and it also employs the biggest orchestra.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-15-2004, 11:20 AM:

Sorry about the wrong gendered article - German never was my strong point! But full marks to Leo on the guess, though; not bad for someone who's had absolutely zero formal music training above grade 3 piano! [Smile]

I have an 1959 LP of Bruno Walter conducting the Columbia SO in Eine Alpensinfonie (himself a Jew who was hounded out of Europe by the Nazis). Rerecorded to CD, the sound is so clear that I frequently used the 'Gewitter und Sturm' sequence to get a sense of how good the acoustics and B-chain were in an unfamiliar cinema. The clarity of those massed brass and strings takes no prisoners, and played back in a large auditorium the little bit of tape hiss quite simply disappears.

Agreed on Wagner, though - he seems to have been anti-everything... apart from Richard Wagner!