Say the words “abstract art”, and what comes to mind? Scribbly canvases, urinals turned upside down, music that sounds like nails scraping across a chalkboard?

Abstractism isn’t a 20th century novelty, though – it comes and goes. Mosaic patterns on an ancient church floor may not have any specific meaning, but you can still enjoy looking at them. Likewise, a piece of music doesn’t have to tell a story (by words, or without words) to be beautiful. On one hand, we have Till Eulenspiegel, which, without words, tells a story; and then there’s the fabulous symphonies of Mozart, which say so much without telling any sort of story.

It’s easy for us to swallow the idea of Ludwig van Beethoven‘s “Pastorale Symphony“. What could be more natural than a musical painting of a city boy’s refreshing trip to the country? When it was written, though, it was quite contrary to popular style of the classical era, which favored abstract instrumental pieces with solid, predictable forms (even sacred music of the classical era favored compositional form over the meaning of the sacred texts – one of the reasons you’ll hear Mozart’s Solemn Vespers in concerts but rarely in a liturgical setting).

Beethoven closed the door on the classical era and ushered in the romantic; his 1st and 5th symphonies do this by breaking the typical classical forms. The revolution might be subtle to our modern ears, but the Pastorale Symphony crushes the classical era by tossing convention aside and reviving a passion for programmatic music – music that is charged with a story, meaning, and even purpose.

“Nimrod” from Elgar‘s Enigma Variations is supposedly inspired by an all-night conversation about the slow movements of Beethoven symphonies. I’ve always imagined this movement to be the core of that conversation.

And then there’s this Jupiter.

The last symphony Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed stands as a monument to his compositional genius, and as a pillar of regret to the fact that he died so young. This symphony looks ahead to Beethoven and the romantic era in general. With its scope, complexity, size, and orchestration, we hear a Mozart who was maturing; many might even mistake this symphony for one of Beethoven’s. But unlike Beethoven, Mozart never gets “lost” in his composition; he’s always completely in control, whereas Beethoven had to occasionally resort to cheap tricks to get him out of a tough spot.

But back to Jupiter. So is this about the planet, the Roman god, or both?

Neither. It was just “Symphony No. 41 in C major” when Mozart wrote it. Like Haydn‘s “Clock Symphony” and Beethoven‘s “Moonlight Sonata“, it was named long after it was composed, and not by the composer.

This is the fourth and final movement of the symphony, which contains some incredible fugue writing – enough so that even Bach would blush!

Like my March 1 post, today and tomorrow’s music is related to gods and planets.

Today, Jupiter the planet. Well, kind of. Gustav Holst‘s famous suite for orchestra, The Planets, is titled after the heavenly bodies, but the individual movements are subtitled in a manner that makes the orbiting spheres seem more like deities. But don’t be confused; instead, enjoy one of the hilarious things about being human – our ability to reconcile two contradicting ideas. And if nothing else, you gotta love the music.

Jupiter (the planet) doesn’t seem jolly to me, nor does it seem capable of that gorgeous English march in the middle section of this piece. The planet always struck me as very sinister – the Snidely Whiplash of the solar system.