I recently stumbled across a friend’s performance on youtube, and immediately though “wow, this is great – time to put this on the blog!” Any Art Music video (that isn’t designed to be click bait) with over 20,000 views is quite an accomplishment.

Now it’s common knowledge that if you want to lose your faith in humanity, all you need to do is read through the comments on any youtube video, news feed, or basically anything on reddit. Unfortunately, and against my better judgment, I scrolled down and found that many of the comments were complaints about my friend’s facial expressions – not the music. Here was a flawless performance with good sound & video quality, offered for FREE to anyone, anytime – but clearly, this generous offering of beautiful music at no cost isn’t as important as making the right facial expression.

The world is full of Philistines and Trolls. We’re all told to ignore the Philistines and not feed the Trolls, but their words still can hurt – and some of us are unable to forget cruel words, regardless of the circumstances under which they were said or written. So as a public service message to all, please think before you speak or write, and remember that beauty is a thing that needs to be protected and defended. And DON’T FEED THE TROLLS!

This short lied by Robert Schumann might take less than two minutes to perform, but to me it contains the entire universe of human love and longing. It stops me dead in my tracks – completely unable to move – every time I hear it. It is the opening movement of Dicheterliebe, Schumann’s Song Cycle masterpiece and window into his heart, depression, and mental instability.

I’m afraid to write about it, actually, because I’m afraid of ruining it. It’s an easy piece to analyze from a technical standpoint, but oddly enough, no matter how much I tear it apart, the emotional effect doesn’t diminish. The melody & harmony are simple, but not simplistic; the poetry rhymes – nothing weird here. I think the magic comes from the fact that nothing ever comes to a complete resolution – the piece floats in a special space of unknowing and awkwardness. It’s a moment of heart-wrenching love for another that will not be returned.

Oh man, there are soooooo many good Viola jokes. How many, you ask? So many, that Wikipedia has a an entry for “Viola Jokes“.

The viola is definitely the black sheep of the string family. Essentially, it’s an oversized violin – but it’s out of proportion to the violin and the cello – the body is larger than the violin, but the neck isn’t proportionally longer, and so the strings aren’t as tense as the violin or cello, giving it a sound distinct from its family members (a subtle difference, but it’s there.) Historically, violinists who couldn’t cut it on the violin were “demoted” to viola, which tended to have boring, easier parts to play.

But that was soooooo 1700. Nowadays, violists might still be the black sheep, but they can play just as well as their violin/cello counterparts, and have even managed to score a handful of pieces specifically for their instrument. Carl Maria von Weber was attracted to the dark, muted timbre of the instrument, and churned out this little two-movement Hungarian dance for the instrument.