The Fine Art of Listening

Two important Christian celebrations happen at the beginning of November, and are linked with Halloween. All Saints’ Day is November 1st, All Souls’ Day (AKA the Day of the Dead) is the 2nd. Most churches today celebrate these two days together on the first Sunday in November; the resulting combination includes elements of both holidays – the work of the saints are celebrated, and the dead are remembered.

For me, the beginning of November and these celebrations remind me of a young boy I knew who died of a brain tumor before his third birthday. My first child was roughly the same age as the boy, so the events of that year hit me. He became ill around the beginning of November, and his funeral (for which I played the organ) was in June. It was by far the most difficult service I’ve ever had to play.

Ever since then, I’ve played this piece by Louis Vierne on All Saints’ Sunday. “Stele pour un enfant defunt” (memorial for a dead child) tries to emotionally capture the peace that parents seek when they lose a child. Vierne dedicated the piece “to the memory of my little friend”. The sweet, high melody searches for resolution, but the twisted harmony keeps wrenching it away. At the end, the harmony tries to break the melody’s resolution, but fails; peace is attained at last.

Vierne was a marvelous composer who kept late romanticism alive long after it had gone out of style. This was the final piece he played, before he himself died, sitting on the organ bench.

As the green earth slowly dies away into winter, it’s natural for a person to ponder his/her own end.

That’s exactly what Richard Strauss did in his “Death and Transfiguration.” The work is a tone poem: a piece of music, usually a single movement, that tells a story or evokes a mood using music rather than words. Strauss didn’t event the tone poem (it slowly evolved throughout the late 19th century), but many will argue that the form achieved perfection in his music.

Death and Transfiguration portrays the process of dying. Someone (perhaps the composer, in his imagination) lies on his deathbed; the great struggle to survive ensues; his life flashes before his eyes – he sees his childhood, his loves, his dreams and failures; finally, he accepts his end and is ‘transfigured’ to a perfect state of being – heaven, nirvana, the afterlife. Perhaps Strauss was preparing himself for his own end, hoping to approach the moment with grace and elegance rather than fear. It is said that, on his deathbed, Strauss commented that passing was just as he composed it to be.

The ‘transfiguration’ theme first occurs at 13:06 – this short vision of heaven helps bring the protagonist from fear and suffering to a peaceful death. AND, it’s nearly identical to the second theme of John William‘s Superman music.

Oh, to be Czech. They are by far the world leaders in beer consumption. On average, a Czech consumes 142 liters of beer every year – their Austrian and German neighbors hold the #3 and #4 positions, but with a figure 40 liters lower. And, they have some of the most gorgeous scenery in Europe.

Czech composer Bedřich Smetana‘s most famous opera is The Bartered Bride – but no, it’s not about a mail-order wife. It’s actually just a classic story of a couple whose true love prevails over her parents, who want to trade her for money and social status (WIN parenting right there!) But more importantly, there is a rousing beer-drinking chorus, and a circus scene in which the performers dance some (what else) traditional Czech dances.

Warning: listening to this might make you drink beer and dance a polka.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc81uNcscIk