An Incomplete Education - 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn't

HERO WORSH

O f the four great Greek heroes in the days before
is, Agamemnon and Achilles and the Iliad—one p
cules. The other three are at least as worthy but, s
short on fan clubs. Here, then, is the rundown
Prometheus.

Perseus first, whose father was Zeus—making
mere hero—and the one who slew Medusa, she o
petrifying (literally) countenance; he also rescued A
ster. With Perseus, we're in what reads like a fairy
sandals, magic sack, a cap that makes its wearer in
in what could pass for a matriarchy: From his boyh
Perseus' story, beginning with his mother, Danaë (
nant by covering her in a, you should pardon the
continuing through the three Gray Women (whom
ing vital information by stealing the single eye the
(of whom Medusa was one), and Andromeda (w
monster bait if her mother, Cassiopeia, hadn't bragg
own beauty). Scholars compare Perseus to Saint
dragon and rescued a princess.

Theseus is in every way more difficult; the gre
not only in myth but in three plays by Euripides a
a legend that doesn't quit. Or, as the Athenia
awestruck by the sheer number of his exploits and
out Theseus." Unlike Perseus, Theseus was pure
Aegeus of Athens, after whom the Aegean Sea
known early adventure was slaying the Minota
monster who lived in the labyrinth on Crete) with
adne and her ball of thread; his best-known late o
wife Phaedra's infatuation with his son by a previ
between there range an ongoing friendship with
Medea, a war with the Amazons, the slaying of P
fits-all guest-room bed), the forgiving of Oedip
Quasi-legendary, quasi-historical, Theseus is also
science and compassion, and a father to his peop
just another knight.

The most difficult (and the most senior) of all
the Titans, the first wave of rulers in prehistoric G
Poseidon, and the rest of the Olympians, not to
least a generation, Prometheus (literally, "foresig

LITERATURE

HIP

the Trojan War—before, that
poses no problem. That's Her­
scanted by Hollywood, they're
n on Perseus, Theseus, and

g him a demigod as well as a
of the snakes-for-hair and the
Andromeda from the sea mon­
y tale (complete with winged
visible, and so on). We're also
hood on, women loom large in
(whom Zeus had gotten preg­
e expression, golden shower),
m Perseus tricked into reveal­
ey shared), the three Gorgons
who wouldn't have been sea-
ged in front of a god about her

George, who likewise slew a

eat Athenian hero, celebrated
and one by Sophocles, he has
ans themselves used to say,
d enterprises, "Nothing with­

mortal; his father was King
would be named. His best-
aur (the half-bull, half-man
h the help of the princess Ari­
one had him dealing with his
ous marriage, Hippolytus. In
Hercules, an encounter with
Procrustes (with the one-size-
pus, and much, much more.
o an intellect, a man of con­
ple—more King Arthur than

is Prometheus. Son of one of
Greece, predating Zeus, Hera,
o mention the mortals, by at
ght") helped Zeus overthrow

258 AN I N C O M P L E T E

their shared ancestors. In grat
ate man out of clay. Not kn
from the sun, with the help o
tle of what we now call style)
the fire business as a combin
chained to a rock, where an ea
set him free.

Several things here: First,
(a.k.a. inspiration), and is he
tyranny of established power
prefigures the Crucifixion, an
Various ages have made vario
the trilogy Prometheus Bound
Bringer; and, in the Romanti
of man's creativeness and in
Prometheus Unbound, part ps
establishment hullabaloo. (In
rebel with a cause, and Jupite
overbearing.) So what are yo
describes him as "Promethea
he's mad as hell; on the othe
nail polish.

A word about Hercules: Su
big. But he's not just about
through stables, and spelling A
scene, is known to dress up in

TWO GU

Of the myriad gods and god
heads, only two are still wort
most Greek of all the gods," w
musician, number-one archer
was cool, civilized, and ration
flashy pedigree (son of Zeus
enormous political power, ha

E EDUCATION

titude, the new gods delegated Prometheus to cre­
owing when to stop, Prometheus then stole fire
f which he was able to breathe wisdom (plus a lit­
into his new creation. Not surprisingly, Zeus saw
ation of disloyalty and audacity. Prometheus was
agle pecked daily at his liver, until Hercules finally

, note that Prometheus pursues and receives fire
ence a poet; that he has flown in the face of the
r, and is hence a rebel; and that his predicament
nd he is hence a martyr and proto-Christ-figure.
ous big deals of all this, most notably Aeschylus in
d, Prometheus Unbound, and Prometheus the Fire
c Age, Goethe, who saw Prometheus as a symbol
ndependence of spirit, and Shelley, who wrote
sychodrama, part political allegory, and all anti-
n it, Prometheus, like Lucifer in Paradise Lost, is a
er/Zeus, like Milton's God, is literal-minded and
ou to make of your cousin's new fiancé when she
n"? Well, either he's artistic or he's martyred or
er hand, knowing your cousin, he may just wear

re, he's strong. Also simple, blundering, brash, and
strangling snakes, killing lions, diverting rivers
Atlas for a while. H e also has a great midcareer mad
drag, and eventually commits suicide.

UYS FROM DELPHI

ddesses who habitually messed with the Greeks'
th getting steamed up about. Apollo, tagged "the
was the god of light, inventor of medicine, master
r, ideal of manly beauty, and symbol of all that
nal in Greek life. Like the young J F K , he had a
s and Leto; twin brother of Artemis), wielded
d numerous love affairs, and was widely admired

for his ability to dispense impartial justice and
football (or its ancient Greek equivalent) with e
nitely a representative of the Establishment, bu
order candidate was no social handicap during th
the seat of his oracle, was both a religious shrine a
of Greece.

Dionysus, by contrast, was an arriviste among G
fathered by Zeus, his mother, Semele, was a morta
sure where he'd spent his presumably wild youth b
mainland and started raising hell. While Apollo
high moral principle and urging moderation in
followers roamed the hills celebrating sex, drugs, a
far as we know, the Greeks weren't into hash, co
Dionysus was the god of wine, a substance that,
amounted to the same thing.) Before long, Dion
popular appeal and a huge following of bored Gre
lighted at the chance to slip away from their lo
shrieking, and ripping small animals to shreds wi
these Dionysian groupies, was enthousiasmos, a sta
which possession was nine-tenths of the fun. In
male power structure (we know, we know) was pr
odic lapses from wifely virtue; instead of banning
ply co-opted them. Dionysus was given his own
time-sharing with Apollo on an alternating six-m
tions became official state occasions. Since Dion
drama, these rites turned into theatrical events at
as offerings to the god—and there you have the
know it.

It may have seemed an unlikely partnership
Apollo/Dionysus alliance worked tolerably well fo
Dionysus an official element of state religion, they
his behavior, making him less threatening and mor
life became more conservative and rationalistic.

In a way, the rivalry between the two gods didn
teenth century, when Nietzsche, in his Birth of Tra
as the primitive, creative, emotional "Dionysian"
dominated by music, dance, and lyricism, with the
tional, and ultimately static "Apollonian" state, in
squelched. Later, Spengler picked up on this noti
where he theorized that the uninhibited Dionysia
culture on the rise, the overcivilized Apollonian o
In the Sixties and early Seventies, these characteri

LITERATURE

play a mean game of touch
equal panache. He was defi­
ut then, being the law-and-
he Golden Age, and Delphi,
and the political power center

Greek gods. Although he was
al, and no one was ever really
efore he arrived on the Greek
o passed his time inculcating
all things, Dionysus and his
and rock 'n' roll. (Actually, as
oke, or acid at the time, but
, being new to the populace,
nysus had amassed enormous
eek housewives who were de­
ooms for a night of dancing,
th their teeth. T h e point, for
ate of transcendent ecstasy in
nterestingly, the conservative
epared to tolerate these peri­
the Dionysian revels, it sim­
n place of honor at Delphi,
month basis, and the celebra­
nysus doubled as the god of
t which plays were presented

beginnings of theater as we

even at the time, but the
or the Greeks. Having made
were in a position to regulate
re socially acceptable as Greek

n't really start until the nine­
agedy, contrasted what he saw
" state of being, where life is
e formal, analytical, coldly ra­

which art and originality are
ion in The Decline of the West,
an element was the mark of a
one the beginning of the end.
izations fueled a lot of radical

z6o AN I N C O M P L E T E

theater and caused a great ma
tually, however, the Dionysi
again, and everybody put his
Street.

YOU SAY YOUR FA
YOUR MOTHE
YOU SLAU
AND NOW YO

BEING CHASED ARO
BLOOD-SOAKED W
IS T H A T WHA

Not every civilization has the
only did they invent the genre
erature, there have been only
within fifty years of one anoth
not counting slaves (who didn
equal to that of present-day D
never been adequately explain

E EDUCATION
any people to take off their clothes in public; even­
ian element began to lose its rough edges once

or her clothes back on and went to work on Wall
ATHER SACRIFICED YOUR SISTER,
ER AMBUSHED YOUR FATHER,
GHTERED YOUR MOTHER,
OU'VE GONE BLIND AND ARE
OUND THE COUNTRYSIDE BY THREE
WOMEN WITH SNAKES FOR HAIR?
T'S BOTHERING YOU, BUNKY?

taste for tragedy that the ancient Greeks had. Not
e, but many critics insist that, in all of Western lit­
four truly great tragic poets, three of whom wrote
her in Periclean Athens, a city whose population,
n't have much time to write poetry), was roughly
Dogpatch. Although this traffic jam of talent has
ned, it probably stemmed from the Greeks' need to

blow off steam (see "Catharsis," page 263) after tryi
instead of sacrificing virgins and praying to rocks th
fact, it was part of the function of tragedy to help
sense of a lot of decidedly irrational gods and god
for the most part, from more primitive times—whi
to them.

In the absence of public television, it was also u
bine enlightenment with entertainment. Aeschylus
with great success; Euripides, on the other hand, w
theless, given the right translation, all three still ha
to make you cry (if that's all you're after, you can m
ment), but to inspire the "pity and awe" that Aris
any tragedy worth the price of admission. Reading
give you a bird's-eye view of mankind jockeying f
center of the universe.

Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.): T h e granddaddy of Gree
lus) was the first playwright to get some real action
on stage at the same time, instead of making audien
interminably with a chorus (and, of course, the G
kicks; it just talked). In fact, action was Aeschylus'
of the bold stroke—the stirring speech, the grand g
of tension followed by the inevitable thwack of the
febrile metaphor ("Behold the orphaned children o
has died in the binding coils of the deadly viper, and
worn with hunger of starvation, not full grown to
as their father did") and a little light on verisimil
long-lost brother, Orestes, by the fact that their foo
tragic poet best equipped to make the hairs stand
Armed with the charge-forth morality of the war
having participated in the Athenian victory over P
wastes time questioning the motivation of the gods
from making mankind cry uncle, or of his characte
for thinking things through when there's a suicidal
fore breakfast. Nietzsche, one of history's three or f
of tragedy, saw Aeschylus' plays as the pinnacle of t
"reaffirmation of the will to live in the face of de
page-turners, and the vision of Clytemnestra boast
slaughtered her husband, the king, but that if she w
cumspect, she'd drink a toast with his blood, does p
to all those Married. . . with Children reruns.

LITERATURE 26l

ing to behave rationally all day
he way their ancestors had. In
p the man in the street make
ddesses—who were holdovers,
ile purporting to pay homage

up to the tragic poets to com­
s and Sophocles pulled this off
was a box-office flop. Never­
ave the power, not necessarily
make do with Terms of Endear­
stode considered hallmarks of
the three in sequence will also
for its current position at the

ek tragedy, Aeschylus (ES-ku-
n going by putting two actors
nces listen to one man rapping
Greek chorus didn't do high
' strong suit. He was a master
gesture, the relendess buildup
e ax. If he is a little heavy on
f the eagle father, now that he
d the young he left behind are
bring their shelter slain food,
litude (Electra recognizes her
otprints match), he is still the
up on the back of your neck.
hero (which, in fact, he was,
Persia; see page 606), he never
s, who seem to get their kicks
ers, none of whom is notable
l act of courage to commit be­
four most prominent definers
the form, an expression of the
eath." Certainly, his plays are
ting that not only has she just
were the teensiest bit less cir­
rovide a refreshing alternative

262 AN I N C O M P L E T E

Sophocles (c. 4 9 6 - c . 406 B.C.):
dians, Sophocles was also the
thereby thickening the plo
tragedies—as opposed to the
audiences were accustomed to
sets), as well as the most crafts
ditional myths, he wasn't oppo
to make the stories more belie
sion of the Electra-Orestes
Sophocles is also considered
more interested in perfecting
didn't have a point to prove;
he virtually defined the poetic
from Delphi," page 258). Wh
failed—albeit through no faul
vorite maxims: "Know thyself
protagonists' inevitable downf
on the next page) rather than
deity, Sophocles scored a subd
shaping of his own destiny.
power position or just apprecia
score o f first prizes—and ne
Dionysian festival at which all
claimed Sophocles' Oedipus R
call his work Greek drama at
to point out, most middle-age

Euripides (480 or 4 8 5 - 4 0 6 B.C
tune to come of age as the sun
older generation was still hold
be Greece, he started taking p
growing Athenian penchant f
antiauthoritarianism, and part
individual human suffering, E
tragedians. Psychologically, h
seem more neurotic than heroi
in pain and they never let us
well in the fifth century B.C.
recluse, having won only five f
his audiences, it must be said t

E EDUCATION

The biggest box-office success of the three trage­
most innovative (he put yet a third actor on stage,
ot considerably; wrote the first self-contained
trilogies, the Greek version of the miniseries, that
o; and even came up with the idea of using painted
smanlike. Although he, too, based his plays on tra­
osed to tinkering with the conventions a bit in order
evable: There are no matching footprints in his ver­
reunion; Orestes simply tells Electra who he is.
by far the best poet of the lot, an artist who was
g the form than in proving a point. Not that he
; as the undisputed champion of the status quo,
tradition of Apollonian classicism (see "Two Guys
hen his heroes come to grief, it's because they've
lt of their own—to follow one of Apollo's two fa­
f" and "Nothing to excess." Still, by ascribing his
fall to some fatal flaw of character (see "Hamartia,"
to a fit of pique on the part of some Idi Amin-like
de point for man as more than a spear-carrier in the
Whether Greek audiences grooved on this new
ated solid workmanship, they awarded Sophocles a
ever anything less than a second—at the annual
l Greek tragedies made their debut. Aristotle pro­
Rex the most perfect of all tragedies; modern critics
its most rational, most balanced, and, as some like
ed.

C.): Last born of the trio, Euripides had the misfor­
n began to set on Athenian democracy. While the
ding pep rallies for the glory that was supposed to
potshots at the gods, the established order, and the
for power-tripping. Partly because of his vehement
tly because of his willingness to get so upset over
Euripides is considered the most modern of the
e was certainly ahead of his time. His characters
ic; they're continously aware of the fact that they're
forget it, either. Unfortunately, this didn't play as
as it does nowadays. Euripides ended up a bitter
first prizes at the Dionysian festivals. In fairness to
that he really wasn't the playwright his predecessors

were; his plots tend to drift, his pace to drag, and
stage more often than not via a deus ex machina, lit
destinies by gods and goddesses who suddenly flew
ple of millennia later, however, Euripides was to
poet-of-choice for a whole roster of Sixties protest
Women to underscore the horror of napalming bab
to explain why they were burning their bras.

SPEAK ANCIENT GREEK L
TAKE THIS SIMPLE

How Is Greek Tragedy Different from th

In Greek tragedy, whenever a construction crane c
successful politician butchers his next of kin, you'
camera crew, the following elements:

HAMARTIA: Usually translated as "fatal flaw" (or "
what, according to Aristotle, it takes to be a tragic h
verge on vice; sometimes it can seem a misstep no
the wrong door on a game show. In either case, it fu
biding its time until the moment is right to bring
vidual to his or her knees. Hamartia is a necessary c
Aristotle reasoned, there is no point in witnessing
is thoroughly virtuous, on the one hand, or thoroug

HUBRIS: Everybody's favorite example of hamartia
pride, although it can start out as an essentially har
extremes, or, according to some critics, as merely a
much in the way of human vitality and choice, the
the cosmic—order.

NEMESIS: What's going to get a hero whose hubr
Nemesis was a quasi-goddess who epitomized righ
rules and who liked to mete out punishments. Subs
cific, individual, and thoroughly inevitable undoing

CATHARSIS: The experience of purgation, or purif
Aristotle claimed tragedy could be counted on to

LITERATURE 263

d his protagonists to exit the
erally carried off to meet their
w in on invisible wires. A cou­
o become the ancient-Greek-
t groups, who used his Trojan
bies in Vietnam, and his Medea

LIKE A NATIVE:
E QUIZ

he Six O'Clock News?

crushes a hapless shopper or a
'll generally find, in lieu of a

"error" or "shortcoming"), it's
hero. Sometimes hamartia can
more shameful than choosing
unctions like a renegade gene,
some otherwise healthy indi­
component of tragedy because,
the destruction of a man who
ghly corrupt, on the other.

a. It adds up to arrogance or
rmless character trait taken to
a hero's attempt to express too
ereby violating the social—or

ris starts showing. Originally,
hteous anger at a breach of the
sequently, a hero's highly spe­
g.

fication, of the emotions that
produce, thereby rendering it

264 AN I N C O M P L E T E

socially useful. Ideally, cathar
undergo simultaneously, alth
course, we've lost the volume
exacdy, but don't let that stan

How Is an Ancient Gre

Both base their way of living o
velopment of which is, for eac
sic example o f arete is the aco
become a mighty oak.) The G
cial as personal reverberations
velop one's potential, one wo
everyone. Self-actualizing as it
one's eighteen-year-old fresh
counted as full-fledged arete fo

What's Love Got to Do

The Greeks wrote the book
hasn't done much but muddy
didn't exist back in fifth-centu
distinct and powerful love-re
would call "sexual love," only
ship," but ditto), and agape (w
creatures" if we ever gave it a s
ness from the ground up, the
for instance, while it is the bas
ings evoked by pornographic
and women (for that matter,
ated between men and men),
that were based on a yearning
fact that fulfillment inevitab
philia can't even be translat
eros/philia the Greeks had roo
kindness toward creatures of th
(xenike). O n the other side of
of), which implied the giving

E EDUCATION

rsis is something that both hero and audience will
hough it's going to hurt the hero a lot more. O f
e in which Aristode explained what catharsis was,
d in the way of your having a good cry.

eek Like a Modern Californian?

on the concept of arete, or inborn capacities, the de­
ch, the highest purpose of the individual. (The clas­
orn that, right from the start, has the potential to
Greeks assumed, however, that arete had as many so­

and that, given all the freedom in the world to de­
uld naturally develop it in a way that was best for
t may be, leaving one's spouse and children to marry
man composition student probably wouldn't have
or the Greeks.

o, Got to Do with It?

k on forms of affection, and Western civilization
y the waters ever since. Our umbrella-term "love"
ry Athens; instead there were seen to be three very
elated forces at work in the world: eros (what we
more complex), phi/ia (what we would call "friend­
what we would call "love of God" or "love of God's
second thought). Having organized the whole busi­

Greeks were able to appreciate its subtleties: Eros,
sis for our word "erotic," didn't just refer to the feel­
vases, or even to the heat generated between men
the Greeks gave more credence to the heat gener­
but to all sorts of passions, including spiritual ones,

for union or self-fulfillment; it also recognized the
bly neutralized desire. The social implications of
ted into English, and under the joint heading
om for a whole roster of good feelings, ranging from
he same race (physike) to benevolence toward guests

the cosmic coin was agape (say it like "canapé," sort
g of affection without expecting anything back, and

which was soon twisted beyond recognition by ov
ologians. None of this is to say that the Greeks' cle
sponsible for their minuscule divorce rate, only th
time thinking about the meaning of love, whereas
to dance to it.

LITERATURE 265

verenthusiastic Christian the­
earheaded perspective was re­
hat the Greeks spent a lot of
the rest of us have opted just





S IX

Contents

Classical Musicfor the Disconcerted: Play It Again
Try to Listen 268
The Parts of an Orchestra, Dear, Once andfor All
Practical Italian for the Concertgoer 276
Five Composers Whose Names Begin With the Le
in Paganini, but We Know How Busy You Are
The Day the Music Died: Atonality, Twelve-Tone
Beyond BAY-toe-vn and MOAT-sart 284
Operafor Philistines: 350 Years of Opera at a Gla
Eleven Arias to Sing in the Shower: Bring Your O
Practical Italian for the Operagoer 295
Opera Houses: The Heavy Half-Dozen 296
A Night at the Opera: Manners and Moralsfor the

Imperial Ladies' Orchestra, HoagLake Theater, W
Lizzie A. Otto, directress

n, Sam—And This Time Well
l 275
etter P : Wed Have Thrown

279
e Theory, and Such 281
ance 285
Own Soap 292

e MTV Generations 302

Woonsocket, Rhode Island; Miss

z68 AN I N C O M P L E T E

Classical Mus

PLAY IT AGAIN
WE'LL

jen paradigmatic works,
Pareles*

JOSQ
LA DÉFL

MORT

Fo
my
sim
an
tha
ha
is t
sic
im
bas
bo
an
tio
mo
mo
mo
turn. La déploration sur la mor
the sound of the Middle Ages
who died in 1495, was the las
erworldly pieces, all of whos
piece for him, with "Requie
homage to Ockeghem, then c
voices sometimes echoing eac
a century, there would indeed
born.

*Jon Pareles is a music critic for the N

E EDUCATION

sic for the Disconcerted

N, SAM—AND THIS TIME
L TRY TO LISTEN

offered as a map for the ear by contributor J o n

QUIN DESPREZ:
LORATION SUR LA
T D'OCKEGHEM

or most regular concertgoers, music before Bach is a
ystery. Even a lot of early-music fans think of it
mply as intensely dulcet, fa-la-la-filled madrigals
nd jaunty dances played on nasal instruments. But
at's not all there is to it. This is, after all, music that
s survived almost five centuries; one way to enjoy it
to savor its alienness. Its structures can seem whim­
cal or perverse, as with "cantus firmus" pieces whose
mportant melody is the slowest-moving part, in the
ss. And early harmonies sound a little off today,
oth because the tuning of instruments has changed
d because the fifteenth-century ear had its own no­
ons of dissonance and consonance. So, early music
oves in mysterious ways—often, it just seems to
osey along, coming to a rest here and there, then
oseying on again via the occasional utterly peculiar
rt d'Ockeghem, by the Fleming Josquin Desprez, is
s becoming the Renaissance. Johannes Ockeghem,
st great medieval composer, writing seamless, oth­
se parts moved independently. Josquin's requiem
em aeternam" as its cantus firmus, begins as an
changes to the more modern style: clearer phrases,
ch other, something akin to modern chords. In half
d be madrigals; a century after that, Bach would be

New York Times.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN
MASS IN B MINOR,

Bach was the greatest Baroque composer because
was also the last Renaissance composer; that is,
wrote brilliantly in both the newfangled concerta
style—with a clear separation of melody and acco
paniment, in forms built from contrasting sections
and the older, free-flowing counterpoint. Writ
between 1733 and 1748 (Bach died in 1750),
Mass is a virtual Bach encyclopedia, with each chu
of text set as the composer saw fit. It has solo ari
sections in which voices and instruments intertwi
massive concertante choruses in which solo and
strumental groups trade off with full chorus and
Baroque orchestra of strings, organ, recorders, obo
bassoons, trumpets, and drums; and sublime, comp
fugues, pieces in strict counterpoint derived from
staggered entrances of the theme, or "subject." So
arias, such as the "Agnus dei" for alto and
"Domine Deus" for soprano, tenor, and recorder,
so devout it's hard to remember that Bach was onl
Lutheran.

WOLFGANG AMADEU
SYMPHONY NO. 41 IN
("JUPITER"), K.

In Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis called Mozart's mu
tiousness." Maybe. But not the "Jupiter." True, its
ian question/answer pairs, ever so neatly balanced
symphonies, each movement proceeds duly away
ing point. (In sonata form, used in first movement
themes are introduced, taken for a ride, then retu
But in Mozart's music, the process is displayed w
absolute poise. Even when the writing seems eff
symmetries pull it ahead gracefully yet inevitably, d
only to set it straight again. The three final symph

MUSIC 269

N BACH:
BWV 232

e he
he

ante
om­
s—
ten
the
unk
ias;
ine;

in­
the
oes,
plex
the
ome
the
are
ly a

S MOZART:
N C MAJOR

551

sic a "skein of untiring face-
themes are typically Mozart-
d. And, as with most classical
from, then back to, its start­
s of symphonies and sonatas,
urned home safe and sound.)
with diagrammatic clarity and
ortless, it moves forward; its
disturbing their own balance,
honies Mozart wrote in sum-

mer 1788 (the "Jupiter" is the
and precise. At his best, Moz

LUDWIG
PIANO SONATA
OPUS 106 ("HAM

last one) are the peak of classical form, congenial
art wasn't facetious—he was Olympian.

VAN B E E T H O V E N :
A NO. 29 IN B FLAT MAJOR,
MMERKLAVIER" SONATA)

When the movies show Beethoven in creative agon
the "Hammerklavier," which took him two years to
the roof off the sonata while honoring its form
merklavier" is an obsessive work, longer and prob
previous piano sonata, yet so concentrated that a
small, derives from a single idea: in musical terms,
Like the iodine crystal that seeds a cloud, that ide
sonatas themes, but its harmonic plan and even
ments. Beethoven's relentless logic leads him far af
that sound like Chopin) but he never, ever ram
"Hammerklavier" is no-frills writing with a vengea

FRÉDÉRIC CHO
TWENTY-FOUR PRE

OPUS 28

In some of the greatest salons of all time, Chopin w
the salon pianist. H e was much loved for his piani
technique, and for the sense of melancholia in e
his most triumphant pieces. He was also a harmon
pioneer, charting extraordinary new chords. L
most of his contemporaries, Chopin was better
writing tunes than at sustaining large-scale structu
unlike them, he had the sense to concentrate
miniatures (the preludes, waltzes, mazurkas) and
extended miniatures (ballades, nocturnes, polonaise
In 1839 he completed the twenty-four preludes—o
in each major and minor key, just like Bach's The W
Tempered Clavier; none is longer than five minu
most under two. Each is a gem: the C Minor, wh
chord sequence was stolen for the Fame theme so
the E Minor, with its sustained melody floating ab
an astounding sequence of chords; the lithely filigre
ous, breakneck, where-the-hell-are-we-going G M
more of his ideas than he ought to; if thirty-three se
the prelude ends. A few composers could take the

MUSIC

ny, the soundtrack ought to be
o write (1817-1818) and blew
m (see Mozart). The "Ham­
bably more difficult than any
almost every detail, large and
, a chain of descending thirds.
ea generates not only all of the
n the relation between move­
ield (the Adagio has moments
mbles. Despite its length, the
ance.

OPIN:
ELUDES,

was
istic
even
nics
Like
r at
res;

on
on
es).
one
Well-
tes,
hose
ong;
ove
eed E Flat Major; the vocifer­
Minor. Chopin doesn't make
econds is enough, that's where
hint.

2J2 AN I N C O M P L E T E

PETER ILY
CONCERT

AND OR

Thi
univ
conc
with
ump
cert
com
isted
cert
rum
solo
tune
with
them
show
ful A
Upo
"Th
beat

ARNOL
PIERROT

Schoenberg blueprinted quite
1912 song cycle, Pierrot Lunair
the harlequin drifts through A
dissonances of a "broken con
flute, clarinet, violin, and cello
ally "speak-sing," which Schoe
contours and speech's indeter
Anton von Webern) went on t

E EDUCATION

YICH TCHAIKOVSKY:
TO IN D FOR VIOLIN
C H E S T R A , OPUS 35

nk of Romantic man, alone and heroic, bending a
verse to his will—what better analogue than the
certo? The soloist faces the orchestra and battles it
h his virtuosity until, finally, they join in tri­
phant partnership. From Mozart's time, the con­
to had been a star vehicle, but the classical-era
mposers at least remembered that the orchestra ex­
d. By the time Tchaikovsky wrote his Violin Con­
to in 1878, the orchestra is lucky to get a few
mbles and forebodings in edgewise before the
oist enters with his first sweet, soulful melody. That
e comes back as a rabble-rousing march, complete
h trumpets, but not before a tear-jerking second
me and considerable violinistic showing-off. The
wing-off is the point, of course. After a short, tear­
Andante, the concerto's finale is a violin decathlon.
on hearing the premiere, Vienna's top critic wrote:
he violin is no longer played but rent asunder,
ten black and blue." What fun.

LD SCHOENBERG:
LUNAIRE, O P U S 21

a bit of twentieth-century chamber music with his
re. Loony (or, if you prefer, moon-drunk) Pierrot
Albert Giraud's twenty-one poems to the sinuous
nsort," instruments from different families: piano,
o. T h e poems are declaimed in Sprechstimme, liter­
enberg devised as a combination of song's melodic
rminacy. After Pierrot, Schoenberg (along with
to further compress and systematize atonal pointil-

lism in the serial or twelve-tone style (see page 281
the rage in the latter part of the twentieth cen
Meanwhile, the instrumentation, Sprechstimme,
centered form, tiny musical gestures, and atonalit
gave other composers ideas. So did Pierrot's l
headedness.

IGOR STRAVINS
LE SACRE DU PRI

(THE RITE OF S

The Rite of Spring is Tarzan among the classics: pa
ill-mannered, passionate, suffused with jungle rhyt
No wonder there was a riot at the 1913 premiere, w
it backed a Diaghilev ballet that Stravinsky never m
liked. What the vociferous audience missed, how
was the music's astonishing intricacy and deli
Between its percussive, brassy climaxes—the rite
with a young girl dancing herself to death—Le Sac
deeply melodic without an atom of sentiment
bassoon call that opens the piece may haunt you
ever). Stravinsky studied orchestration with Rim
Korsakov (of Scheherezade fame) but turned all the
tricks inside out, using woodwinds in particula
achieve an eerie, pungent sound. Half a century
Le Sacre is still galvanizing for audiences and hell
difficult for orchestras and conductors. It has, m
over, left its mark. Leonard Bernstein brought
choppy rhythms to Broadway in West Side Story, an
tifs, energizing harmonies that barely move, pred
minimalism.

MUSIC

1), all
ntury.
text-
ty all
light­

SKY:
INTEMPS
SPRING)

agan,
thms.
where
much
wever,
cacy.
ends
cre is

(the
for­
msky-
e old
ar to
later,
lishly
more­
t its
nd its obsessively repeated mo­
dicted late-twentieth-century

274 AN I N C O M P L E T E

BÉLA BARTOK: T

Strin
ous p
cello
press
Barto
thove
sum
Euro
garia
on re
tifs,
place
rhyth
tet, h
singl
up a bit, singing in the atonal p
uses every bit of the string qu
glassy harmonics and grainy co
sounds as if he s showboating b

TER

It s o
motif
more
some
musi
on to
no o
mirac
chord
sis. W
minim
nowh
want
imalism attracted a new audien
classical ideas of form and dram

E EDUCATION

THE SIX STRING QUARTETS

ng quartets, historically, are a composers most rigor­
private utterances; with just two violins, viola, and
o there's no room for anything but purest form ex­
sed in intimate counterpoint. The six string quartets
ok wrote between 1908 and 1939 are, with Bee­
en's final six, the form at its most intense. Bartok's

up his growth from an impressionable pan-
opean eclectic to a visionary native (in this case Hun­
an) voice. In the first three, Bartok puts the squeeze
eceived lyricism: He reduces themes to angular mo­
develops those motifs with merciless concision, re­
es comfortable Europeanisms with dissonances and
hms out of Hungarian folk tradition. The third quar­
his shortest, is so distilled and dramatic it feels like a
le indrawn breath. For the final three, Bartok loosens
phrases of his own new language. Along the way, he
uartet's sonic vocabulary, including sliding notes and
ol legno (playing with the wood of the bow), yet never
because every effect is at the service of the whole.

RY RILEY: IN C

only a page or two of music, a collection of fifty-three
fs in the key of C . Any number of musicians, the
e the better, can play it without a conductor. While
ebody plunks out steady Cs on a keyboard, the other
icians play a motif, repeat it for some time, then move
o the next one. They all listen to each other so that
one gets too far ahead or behind. And the nigh-
culous result is a monumental work: a rich, pulsing C
d encompassing ceaseless activity, change within sta­
Written in 1964, In C was Riley's seminal work of
malism, or trance music, or process music, or going-
here music, or cooperative music, or whatever you
to call it. Because it was so warmly consonant, min-
nce to contemporary music; because it ignored most
ma, it had the old guard outraged.

The Parts of an Orche
Once and for

Actually, you have a right to be confused; orches
as they've been doing for about three centurie
or subtract instruments at the drop of a baton, depe
piece to be performed. In general, however, when
orchestra," they mean pretty much what they mea
and what you see below. O f the four sections of inst
the largest, most important, and usually the most
winds are second in the pecking order; they add co
melody. The brass, which acts as the muscle, or amp
sionate passages, is generally used sparingly. And, o
tion provides the beat. If you still don't know a corn
page, then clip and pin it to your sleeve.

S T R I N G S : First and second violins (they're all the sa
violas, violoncellos (or simply cellos), double basses
W O O D W I N D S : Piccolo, flutes, clarinets, oboes, cor a
B R A S S : French horns, cornets, trumpets, trombones
P E R C U S S I O N : Timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cym
woodblocks, castanets, celeste, gongs, glockenspiel,

estra, MUSIC
All
Dear,

stra structures come and g o —
es—and a conductor will add
ending on the demands of the

people today say "symphony
nt in the nineteenth century,
truments, the string section is
continuously played. Wood­
olor and sometimes carry the
plifier, in those swelling, pas­
of course, the percussion sec­
net from a clarinet, study this

ame instruments, they just play different parts),
s, and, sometimes, a harp.
nglais, bassoons.
, tuba.
mbals, triangles, assorted instruments such as
, xylophone, etc.

276 AN I N C O M P L E T E

Practical Italia

First, there are the words in
sition is to be played; we'v
JL s

SPEED

grave (= solemn) very slow
largo (= wide, broad)
adagio (= at ease) quite slow
lento
andante (= walking) slow
andantino
steady, flowing

either somewhat
faster or somewhat
slower than andante,
depending on your
conductor's reading
of that diminutizing
suffix

moderato moderate

allegretto moderately fast
allegro (= cheerful) fast
vivace lively
presto fast
prestissimo very, very fast

CHANGE IN SPEED

accelerando getting faster
getting slower
ritardando
rallentando

E EDUCATION

an for the Concertgoer

ndicating the speed and volume at which a compo­
ve ranged them from the least to the most.

V O L U M E (with abbreviations)

pianissimo (pp) very soft

piano (p) soft
mezzo piano (mp) sort of soft
mezzo forte (mf ) sort of loud
forte (f ) loud

, fortissimo (ff) very loud

g
Note: Morel's orfs can
be added as desired by the
composer; there are tvtnpppppp
passages in Tchaikovsky's
"Pathétique."

CHANGE IN VOLUME

crescendo getting louder
getting softer
decrescendo
diminuendo

You've noted that the Italians like to qualify th
with suffixes (that -issimo, for instance, means "ver
little"). Sometimes they use whole words, as with:

molto much
meno less
mezzo half
poco a little
non troppo not too m

But that's just the basic, strike-up-the-band stuff.
tive terms, in simple alphabetical order, include:

A C A P P E L L A (literally, "as in church"): Used of voca
accompaniment, even though instrumental accomp
churches since the Middle Ages.

A R P E G G I O (literally, "as played on a harp"): A broke
played in succession so as to recall—on a piano
"sweeping" the strings.

C A D E N Z A (literally, "cadence"): A passage in a conc
ity, florid, brilliant, or both) in which the solo inst
chestra. It was up to the performer to decide to ex
of Mozart; now always indicated by the composer.

C A N T A B i L E (literally, "singable"): In a flowing style

C O D A (literally, "tail"): A concluding, rounding-off
a portion of it.

D A C A P O (literally, "from the head"): A n indication
tion of music is to be repeated.

G L I S S A N D O (from an Italian version of the French
note to note, as by running one's fingers over the k
harp, etc.

L E G A T O (literally, "bound together"): Describes a
accentuated notes (cf. "staccato," on the next page)

MUSIC m

hings. Sometimes they do this
ry," -ino and -etto both mean "a
:

much

Other, less blatantiy quantita­

al music without instrumental
paniment has been common in

n chord in which the notes are
o, violin, whatever—a harpist

certo (and a display of virtuos­
trument plays without the or­
xecute a cadenza until the time
.
e.
section to a piece of music, or

n that a previously played sec­

glisser, to slide): Sliding from
eys of the piano, strings of the

smooth performance without
).

278 AN I N C O M P L E T E

O B B L I G A T O (literally, "obligato
rate embellishment of a main
ordinate) to a vocal performan
precisely that element which
them, if it's a key support, it c

P I Z Z I C A T O (literally, "pinched
strings are to be plucked with

R U B A T O (literally, "robbed"): I
given tempo, marginally acce
piano keyboard one hand mig
Also known as swaying the rh

S C H E R Z O (literally, "joke"): A
Haydn and Beethoven. Comm
etc.

S F O R Z A N D O (literally, "forced"
phasis.

S T A C C A T O (literally, "detached
notes to be played in a sharp,

T E S S I T U R A (literally, "texture"
sical, excluding any very high

T O C C A T A (literally, "touched"
often used of a trumpet fanfar

T R E M O L O (literally, "tremulous
etition of a single note (by, say
rapid alternation of two notes

V I B R A T O (literally, "shake"): A

E EDUCATION

ory"): Denotes some indispensable part: an elabo­
melodic line, an instrument that's critical (but sub­
nce. Careful: Some people use the term to signal
can be dispensed with; the point is, according to
can't also be the heart of the matter.

d"): Directs that, with stringed instruments, the
the fingers, not bowed.

Indicates that a player should "play around" with a
elerating or relaxing it, for effect; sometimes on a
ght play "normally," the other go with the rubato.
hythm.

A sped-up form of the minuet, much beloved of
mon today as a component of sonatas, symphonies,

"): Designates a note to be played with special em­

d"): Opposite of "legato" (on previous page), with
highly differentiated manner.

): Refers to the basic range of a part, vocal or mu­
or low notes.

): A piece that shows off the "touch"; originally
re, now more often of a free-form keyboard piece.

s"): A "trembling" effect, either from the rapid rep­
y, fast backward-and-forward bowing) or from the
more than a whole tone apart.

A rapid, slight wavering of pitch.

Five Composers Whose
with the Letter

WE 'D HA VE THR 0 WN IN
BUT WE KNOW HOW BUS

GIOVANNI P I E R L U I G I D A P A L E S T R I N A (1525-1594):
who composed almost entirely for the Church, Pal
and hymns in the same polyphonic texture—where
each provided by an independent voice, count for
go to make up—that characterizes all music com
only marks the end of the medieval era, with all it
than the dawn of a new one, Palestrina's still one o
before Bach and Handel. Think of him as the Hom

F R A N C I S P O U L E N C (1899-1963): Wrote avant-ga
man in mind. Poulenc belonged to the group of
called the Six, a fixture of between-the-wars Par
career of irreverence, was the group's sponsor; it a
and Arthur Honegger). Against authority (in t
good taste), fond of jazz and the music hall, sus
Surrealist movements in art, these guys would all
gentrified pockets of Brooklyn today. O f the
gamin, mischievous and flippant, squarely on th
everyday people. Who'd have predicted that, by t
ing opera and religious music?

S E R G E I P R O K O F I E V (1891-1953): One of three Russ
you can't not know something about. Despite some
ongoing astringency), Prokofiev is about as accessib
music gets: melodious but not bland, rhythmic but
the first classical composer you ever heard, if your f
Peter and the Wolf the way ours did. T h e other tw
Stravinsky (see also page 273, with as many moods
casso), and Dmitri Shostakovich (the heir to Tcha
one product—and victim—of Soviet musical traini

G I A C O M O P U C C I N I (1858-1924): If Italy were on
opera could be saved, it wouldn't be one of Puccini

MUSIC *Z9

Names Begin
rP

PA GANINI,
SY YOU ARE

: No pioneer. A native Roman
lestrina wrote masses, motets,
e separate strands of melody,
more than the harmony they
mposed before 1600. But if he
ts ritual and mysticism, rather
of the most important figures
mer of music.

arde music with the working
f irreverent young composers
ris (Erik Satie, who'd made a
also included Darius Milhaud
this case, traditional French
sceptible to the Dadaist and
be hanging out in yet-to-be-

Six, Poulenc was the most
e side of everyday music for
the late Fifties, he'd be writ­

sian composers of this century
e youthful iconoclasm (and an
ble as good twentieth-century
t not blatant. He may also be
first-grade teacher played you
wo de rigueur Russians: Igor
s, phases, and ego needs as Pi­
aikovsky, but also the number
ing and strictures).

fire and only a single Italian
i's. Though there's no arguing

28o AN I N C O M P L E T E

with La Bohème, Tosca, and Ma
the best of Verdi, strike bona-
man and crowd-pleaser (not
idea or two from a colleague),
velopment of the popular mus

H E N R Y P U R C E L L (1659-1695):
pre-twentieth-century English
Now, the bad news. You do ha
with the accent up front. For h
not only of English music, bu
liant, exceptionally versatile, h
Award that would later go to
musical composition to the pe
that, had he lived a little longe

E EDUCATION

adame Butterfly at the box office, they can, next to
-fide opera lovers as a little, well, vulgar. A show-
to mention a pirate who wasn't above stealing an
, Puccini has had his greatest influence on the de-
sical theater.

: First, the good news. Purcell is virtually the only
h composer you have to know anything about at all.
ave to remember that it's pronounced "PURS-el,"
his short life, Purcell was the great Baroque master,
ut of European music in general; technically bril-
he was the first winner of the coveted Wiinderkind
Mozart. Purcell s gifts included an ability to adapt
eculiar inflections of spoken English; it's rumored
er, he'd have made something of English opera.

The Day the Music

ATONALITY, TWELVE-TONE
AND SUCH

Depending on whether you're one of the cogno
tener, atonality is either the biggest breakthro
or what's wrong with modern music. Before you ca
is, however, you have to know a little about wh
Think, for a moment, of how nicely "do re mi fa so
tonality for you. It has to do with the idea that, of th
scale (all the notes from, say, one C to another on the
have a natural affinity for, hence are capable of sus
ships with, each other. These tones interact as fa
their little tensions (dissonances) from time to ti
things out between themselves (consonances), and a
toward one restful "home" note (the tonic), which
groupings—orderly, reassuring, full of familiar emo
basis of tonality and of virtually all Western music f

In the early 1900s, however, the Viennese compos
ily influenced by Wagner (who had played around w
Isolde), by twentieth-century malaise, by German E
thinking then rampant in Vienna, and by his own T
under the old tonal tradition—and under the idea
make people feel better. In 1921 he did the first reall
years of musical history: H e threw out tonality altog
in which he gave equal importance to all twelve ton
order to keep his early compositions from slipping na
berg filled them with dissonance, in much the sam
painters filled their paintings with the grotesque: Di
kept them from forming cliques, as it were, and
tension—near hysteria, in fact—which seemed right

There was still the problem of how to hold a pie
however. Schoenberg eventually solved it by inve
which became the basis for twelve-tone, or dodeca
later serial music. Composing with twelve tones is a
plicated board game, minus the entertainment value
on a row—a particular order for the twelve pitches
basic material of the piece, with variations unfoldin
set of rules. It can, for instance, be played forward,

MUSIC z8i

c Died

THEORY,

oscenti or just an average lis­
ugh of the twentieth century
an understand what atonality
at it isn't—namely, tonality.
ol la ti do" fit together—that's
he twelve tones in a chromatic
e piano keyboard), only seven
staining meaningful relation­
amily members, experiencing
ime, but managing to work
always, ultimately, gravitating
h determines their key. Such
otional associations—are the
from Bach to Brahms.
ser Arnold Schoenberg, heav­
with dissonance in Tristan und
Expressionism, by the radical
Teutonic angst, began to chafe
a that music was supposed to
ly new thing in three hundred
gether and composed an opus
nes of the chromatic scale. In
aturally into tonality, Schoen­
me way German Expressionist
issonance broke up the notes,
evoked a kind of unrelieved
t for the times.
ece together without tonality,
enting the twelve-tone row,
aphonic, music, as well as for
little like playing a very com­
e. First, the composer decides
s. The row then becomes the
g according to a very specific
, backward, upside-down, or