Haydn: Missa in tempore belli (1796)
More precise intentions and the effect was the "Missa in tempore belli (Mass in Time of War) of Haydn, written in 1796, while Napoleon advanced on Vienna, where he later was occur. Although written in C major, a key normally "carefree" and the irrepressible optimism of Haydn, the opening and closing sections are loaded with unusual fanfare of trumpets militarists (and at the same time, sacrilegious) and beating of drums. (Haydn had used a similar instrument in its earlier Symphony No. 100 in G, but in this case is looking for a simple decorative effect.) At the Mass, while the accents of the percussion and metals are isolated, they inject a dye of anxiety and despair in the final sentence relaxing peace.
One of the hallmarks of good music is his ability to speak to future generations, and the "Missa in tempore belli" did it very eloquently and forcefully on 19 January 1973, when he stressed the "Concert for Peace", directed by Leonard Bernstein at the National Cathedral in Washington, to protest the Vietnam War and the official concert in the Kennedy Center in celebration of Richard Nixon's second term (that night).
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (1822)
Beethoven used a similar application conclusion, devastatingly effective, his "Missa Solemnis" (1822). A final section of the score Beethoven called "Prayer for inner and outer peace." In a long spiritual journey, a melody in 6 / 8, delicately passionate, points the way to its satisfying ending, but that is when raging drums and fanfares were introduced, while the solo first and then the whole choir, staccato tones, terrified , make the prayer for peace in a desperate plea. Just as the fears subside, and the smooth music seems to go back to the expected successful conclusion, the orchestra interrupts with an angry every flight, crowned by the sound of metal screaming loud and thunderous percussion. Calm returns, only to fall twice in complete silence, to reveal Timbales, threatening, still ring in the distance. Finally, comes the final cadence, but it is brief and subdued, a wholly unconvincing attempt to dispel lingering doubts or solve a massive structure and tense.
is, at best, a troubled expression of faith, a problematic issue, not a fan or a comforting statement spiritual meditation. Beethoven finished his most ambitious and possibly the largest, with a witty warning about a mind preoccupied with thoughts about the war can not be truly comfortable or happy.
Britten: War Requiem (1962)
hearings Beethoven may have had to infer their intentions, Benjamin Britten but left no doubt in his haunting "War Requiem" (1962).
In his first major work to seriously challenge the sacred ritual, Britten interspersed the benign authority of the traditional liturgy of mourning with the poetry of Wilfred Owen, a British peace activist who died in battle at 25 years old, leaving a legacy of insightful poems.
The grim reality of exquisitely sensitive observations but ineffably sad, disappointment, grief and emptiness (sung in her solo debut by British and German), makes the liturgical platitudes choir, learned by rote, hollow sound. The final combined sublime usual prayer for peace and eternal rest with a prophetic foreboding Owen about his own useless death, with a tinge of regret that the vanity and arrogance of the world will not to change in the slightest. Britten prefaced his score with Owen on the fear that "All a poet can do is warn." Although Owen died shortly before the armistice that ended the First World War, his words seem eerily accurate in diplomatic paralysis of our time.
Beethoven and Britten imagined war with force, but indirectly.
Shostakovich: Symphony No.7 (1941)
Dmitri Shostakovich wrote most of his Symphony No. 7 (1941) in Leningrad, during the first two months German occupation. Later, the composer would argue that the work was intended as an attack on Stalin abandoned the city ("destroyed Stalin and Hitler merely finished the job"), but actually during the war had claimed more direct approach .
The first movement is an attack, in his infamous central episode, a serene atmosphere vanishes with a loud and annoying that seeps up constantly through the entire orchestra, with increasing intensity in a bolero without grace and increasingly violent .
Although repeatedly been criticized as too large for their weak material (English critic Ernest Newman referred to this work as "too many degrees of longitude and platitudes") (1), persistence insipidus shrill, suggests perfectly the painful oppression of the war. After the march descends into a numb pain, the remaining movements evoke bittersweet dreams of better days, a nostalgic elegy for lost innocence and a powerful climax of victory.
Hailed as a timely symbol of endurance, suffering and hopes of the Russian people, the "Leningrad Symphony" gave several presentations, both in Russia and abroad. At least in one sense, the representation of the battle was taken literally, when Toscanini and Stokowski publicly fought the U.S. premiere after NBC edited the full score on microfilm.
While the symphony esteem plummeted after the Allied victory, his heartbreaking portrait of a society reeling from the war remains an important caveat for our anxious times.
Whether subtly or directly, each of these works offers a clear message against war, as many others. But our beloved democratic tradition depends on a variety of opinions, and so that this study does not seem unfair, I tried to achieve some balance with some works in favor of the war. I found songs that served an immediate purpose, to rally the troops and civilians (the "Marine Corps Hymn," "Over there" in Cohan), works that honored the heroes who rose in defense of their homelands ("Lincoln portrait, "Copland's" Alexander Nevsky "by Prokofiev), epic dramas and romances put in a historical perspective (" Les Troyens "by Berlioz," I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata "by Verdi), and accompanying soundtracks a documentary film and television ("Victory at Sea "by Richard Rodger). In a deeper search, are the "Ballets" Red Chinese, the Nazis and other junk oratorios forgettable touched by faceless committees or written under duress to glorify the fascist regimes. But as serious music, enduring, with a view in favor of the war, I found none.
And I think that is why.
Note
(1) In the art. original, there's a pun. He says: "... So Many degrees of longitude and platitude." No need to explain it, no?
To see the first part of this article: Music in Time of War (1)
Translated .
Peter Gutmann: Music In Time of War: ... or how I Had to stop listening in order to love the Bomb.
To view the art. original Classical Notes
(naturally, the videos are not in the original article, but are an aggregate mine.)
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