I started this blog six months ago, knowing that many blogs are begun and abandoned shortly thereafter. I gave myself a goal – one post a day, for one year. Of course this brought up all kinds of questions. Do I know 365 pieces of music? Definitely. Do I know 365 pieces that are so good they’re worth writing about? Well, I wasn’t so sure about that. But here I am, six months from my start – and halfway to my goal.
Partly, this blog is just a place for me to throw some creative energy into and keep my head fresh with new ideas. The other aim is to introduce Art Music – the music I love and have devoted my life to – to audiences who haven’t been exposed to it. So, on its half-birthday, here’s a champagne toast to Art Music, along with a few other things that typically go with opera – cross dressing, nudity, drunkenness, and bad dancing.
(The word “Batman” doesn’t really work in German.)
There’s a famous opera by Johann Strauss II called “Die Fledermaus” (“The Bat”). One of these days, I hope somebody writes “Batman: The Opera”. I’m not holding my breath, though. At least we have a fun overture from Strauss to tide us over.
In the late 19th century, Richard Strauss became the champion composer of tone poems – musical pieces which illustrate non-musical ideas, such as poetry, stories, or even philosophy. Tone poems can be representational (like Berlioz‘s March to the Scaffold, in Symphonie Fantastique) or abstract (most of Also Sprach Zarathustra); you can listen carefully for specific events in the story portrayed, or just sit back and enjoy the music.
Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks is a representational tone poem – Strauss has taken a number of scenes from Till’s life and set them into easily recognizable sections.
Wait … you don’t know who Till Eulenspiegel is? Let me “Till” you …
Till Eulenspiegel is pretty easy to sum up – he’s a wily trickster who loves to play jokes on everybody. I’d also recommend reading his history – especially the origin of his name and his *ahem* crappier tricks (not for children! or maybe, more appropriate for children …). Like many tricksters, he is tolerated for a time, and then despised as people tire of his foolishness.
The work begins with a legendary musical statement by the strings that supposedly says “once upon a time” in German. We then hear the merry prank theme in the horn – easy to recognize, and returns often. Till is represented by the Eb Clarinet – a squeaky little thing that should never have been invented – which represents the goofy character perfectly. We hear a number of his tricks: knocking things over in the market (3:07), dressing up as a priest (7:06), chasing after women (8:43). Eventually he is caught and sentences to death (12:27), pleads for his life a couple of times (12:43 & 13:00). We think he has died (14:15), but in the end, he escapes! (15:31)
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