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Horizons, v. 6, issue 2, whole no. 21, December 1944
Page 9
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Horizons 21 Music for the Fan For a long time, "Don Juan" was my favorite among the Strauss Richard tone-poems. However, about the time my wavering doubts about how much of a genius Strauss Richard really is were pretty well resolved, my affections took a sudden veering in the direction of "Don Quixote", which is the matter under consideration in today's lesson, children. Precisely why this should be remains one of those mysteries of the universe. And to be frank about the whole thing, I care as little about solving one riddle as the other. Now, the odd thing about Strauss Richard and his music is that his conservative, unexperimental compositions and parts of compositions are those that are most often performed and most highly considered at this late date, a half-century after most of Strauss' best work was written. Scriabin is remembered now for such items as his "Poem of Ecstasy" -- I refrain with great difficulty from quoting Philip Hale's wisecrack about the title -- and his lovely early works are forgotten; Shostakovitch's new works have usually eclipsed their predecessors; and so it goes. Almost alone of the most-celebrated living composers, it is the old, not the new, that finds favor in Strauss. "Don Quixote" (Introduction, Theme with Variations, and Finale): Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character" is the full and complete title of this composition. The composer has followed the book, in a sense, in that after the work was published Strauss connected up each of the "variations" with an episode from Cervantes, and the music follows the descriptions so precisely that it probably was composed with a plot in mind, instead of being written as pure music and accidentally coinciding with certain pages of the novel. The form of the work, theme with variations, is as far from a Haydn set as I am from moving to Los Angeles; in fact, you can solve the question of whether it is or is not a theme with variations only if you can figure out when a kitten becomes a cat. There are three melodies which run throughout the entire work, and at least one or two of which appear in each "variation"; and that's about as far as it goes. The "plot", of course, is the height of simplicity and familiarity. An object lesson to fans, Don Quixote's good mind snaps under the strain of reading too many novels about chivalry, conceives an obsession of his "Ideal Woman", and goes through numerous escapades battling against the hordes which seek to oppress and separate him and her, accompanied by Sancho Panza, which musical character deviates to a certain extent from that depicted by Cervantes. You can't "follow" the plot without knowing it in advance, but you can keep up with the various episodes with ease, if they're laid out before you. First comes the lengthy introduction, a sort of "once upon a time" affair in which the theme of the Don is followed by the lyrical Ideal Woman melody, who is promptly attacked by a giant and rescued by Don Quixote. The music builds up to one of Strauss' more violent sets of thundering discords, obviously intended to represent the snapping of the Don's intellect. The "theme" presents that of the Don, almost identical with the woodwind passage that begins the work and is taken to signify chivalry in general, usually thereafter given to a solo cello; then that of Sancho, generally in the solo viola, and always reminding me of the "Horses, Horses, Horses" ditty. A little queer sort of run for the clarinet is also evident, the strangeness of its harmonic progressions throughout the work keeping up the sense of unreality. Then begin the adventures, one to a variation. The first is that of the attack on the windmills. Next is the "Victorious Battle Against the Host of the Great Emporer Alifanfaron", which turns out to be a triumph for the Don, who scares to death the flock of sheep. You can't miss their rather realistic baaing, imitated by extremely discordant muted brass instruments. The third of the variations contains only an animated dialogue between Don and Sancho over the merits of this life of chivalry; the fourth -- omitted from at least one recorded version -- consists of the Don's unhappy attack on a band of
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Horizons 21 Music for the Fan For a long time, "Don Juan" was my favorite among the Strauss Richard tone-poems. However, about the time my wavering doubts about how much of a genius Strauss Richard really is were pretty well resolved, my affections took a sudden veering in the direction of "Don Quixote", which is the matter under consideration in today's lesson, children. Precisely why this should be remains one of those mysteries of the universe. And to be frank about the whole thing, I care as little about solving one riddle as the other. Now, the odd thing about Strauss Richard and his music is that his conservative, unexperimental compositions and parts of compositions are those that are most often performed and most highly considered at this late date, a half-century after most of Strauss' best work was written. Scriabin is remembered now for such items as his "Poem of Ecstasy" -- I refrain with great difficulty from quoting Philip Hale's wisecrack about the title -- and his lovely early works are forgotten; Shostakovitch's new works have usually eclipsed their predecessors; and so it goes. Almost alone of the most-celebrated living composers, it is the old, not the new, that finds favor in Strauss. "Don Quixote" (Introduction, Theme with Variations, and Finale): Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character" is the full and complete title of this composition. The composer has followed the book, in a sense, in that after the work was published Strauss connected up each of the "variations" with an episode from Cervantes, and the music follows the descriptions so precisely that it probably was composed with a plot in mind, instead of being written as pure music and accidentally coinciding with certain pages of the novel. The form of the work, theme with variations, is as far from a Haydn set as I am from moving to Los Angeles; in fact, you can solve the question of whether it is or is not a theme with variations only if you can figure out when a kitten becomes a cat. There are three melodies which run throughout the entire work, and at least one or two of which appear in each "variation"; and that's about as far as it goes. The "plot", of course, is the height of simplicity and familiarity. An object lesson to fans, Don Quixote's good mind snaps under the strain of reading too many novels about chivalry, conceives an obsession of his "Ideal Woman", and goes through numerous escapades battling against the hordes which seek to oppress and separate him and her, accompanied by Sancho Panza, which musical character deviates to a certain extent from that depicted by Cervantes. You can't "follow" the plot without knowing it in advance, but you can keep up with the various episodes with ease, if they're laid out before you. First comes the lengthy introduction, a sort of "once upon a time" affair in which the theme of the Don is followed by the lyrical Ideal Woman melody, who is promptly attacked by a giant and rescued by Don Quixote. The music builds up to one of Strauss' more violent sets of thundering discords, obviously intended to represent the snapping of the Don's intellect. The "theme" presents that of the Don, almost identical with the woodwind passage that begins the work and is taken to signify chivalry in general, usually thereafter given to a solo cello; then that of Sancho, generally in the solo viola, and always reminding me of the "Horses, Horses, Horses" ditty. A little queer sort of run for the clarinet is also evident, the strangeness of its harmonic progressions throughout the work keeping up the sense of unreality. Then begin the adventures, one to a variation. The first is that of the attack on the windmills. Next is the "Victorious Battle Against the Host of the Great Emporer Alifanfaron", which turns out to be a triumph for the Don, who scares to death the flock of sheep. You can't miss their rather realistic baaing, imitated by extremely discordant muted brass instruments. The third of the variations contains only an animated dialogue between Don and Sancho over the merits of this life of chivalry; the fourth -- omitted from at least one recorded version -- consists of the Don's unhappy attack on a band of
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