Saturday, October 11, 2008
Beethoven vs. Mozart
I think that a major difference between these two giants is that Mozart is inspiring aesthetically while Beethoven is inspiring ideologically. Of course Beethoven is inspiring aesthetically too, but his works such as "Ode to Joy", "Egmont", "Eroica" and "Wellingtons Sieg" have extreme ideological messages. I am not saying that Mozart's works were not ideological--The Magic Flute, the Marriage of Figaro, etc. preached the Gospel of the Enlightenment but they had to be somewhat masked still for the time whereas Beethoven's works could be more openly nationalistic and liberal due to the climate created by Napoleon.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
It all comes back to Napolean, doesn't it Tim? Interesting that you always circle back to that one central figure...
Thanks the forces of Good in the Universe for Napoleon! What a mess the world would be without the wonders he wrought, eh?
Astute and compelling observations, Tim!
Miss you!!!
Napoleon Schplamoleon. I don't think you can explain the differences between Mozart and Beethoven away due to the climate created by Napoleon, though I admire you for trying.
If anyone (besides the artists themselves) is to be credited for those artistic differences, or for creating such a 'climate' such a feat must certainly be attributed to Lord Nelson!
Brad and I have commissioned a ginormous mural of Napoleon to be painted above our family room in honor of you. On the other side, we have commissioned a portrait of Barrak Obama. You will have to come up and check it out.
Tim, I wrote something about you on my last blog post, check it out, you will like it.
Post a Comment