Jazz and Civil War by Ken Burns

Ken Burns

Just a quick note that I recently watched Ken Burns' Jazz documentary film, and am presently working my way through his Civil War.  I've been making good use of my treadmill time to work my way through both of these lengthy productions.  Jazz was something in the neighborhood of 15-20 hours of film; Civil War is probably 10-15 hours.

They're both terrific productions.  I know just enough about either topic to be dangerous, but now have just enough appreciation for each topic to dive deeper.

I've been listening to lots more jazz, and have developed new appreciation for Louis Armstrong, Lester Young,  and countless others, since watching Burns' work.

Culture Clash

As I've written before, one of my favorite aspects of history is when different cultures from vastly different regions somehow find themselves in direct contact. Because we tend to learn, study and read about different topics in silos, it strikes me as really interesting when the silos cave in on one another. It's sort of like the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family bumping into one another at the grocery store.

Now I'm running into a similar co-mingling; not across geographies but across different aspects of culture. All of a sudden I'm hearing about it everywhere.

The most recent example has to do with the operas of Mozart, which I'm continuing to study and enjoy. For example, Mozart, born in the middle of the 18th century, is certainly a cultural phenomenon himself. But I had no idea of the content of his opera. His first opera (written at age 11, by the way) entitled Apollo and Hyacinthus is based on the Roman writings of Ovid in his metamorphoses, almost 18 centuries before his time.

It turns out that Mozart, not exactly known for his academic achievements, wrote a lot about historical figures. His opera Mithridate, King of Pontus is based on the actual Mithridates (yes, he was King of Pontus) from Asia Minor, who ruled during the late Roman Republic. Mozart's Lucio Silla is, not surprisingly, based on the Roman General and all-around bad guy Lucius Sulla - though not without wild divergence from the historical facts. There are many other examples which I won't list here.

I'm also reading about similar occurences in the Italian Renaissance, where artists set aside their religious beliefs to rediscover and immortalize the pagan gods of ancient Greece and Rome in their works.

I've also been watching a movie on the life of Marco Polo. A Renaissance Venetian in the middle of Kublai Khan's court in Mongolian China must have been quite a sight, indeed. The fact that he stayed and prospered there for more than a decade is almost unbelievable.

I guess it turns out that cultures have always had a fascination with one another. Granted, much of this culture clash has to do with the idolization of classical civilization. However, I think it actually says more about the education of society. In Mozart's day it was expected that you would know the story of Mithridates. If you didn't, you would have a really boring night at the opera.

Nowadays I could throw a stone in the middle of Times Square and not hit a soul who could tell you if Mithridates was an ancient king, a river in South America, or the nightclub in Hollywood where Lindsey Lohan was recently spotted!

Sensory Underload

It's almost impossible to really understand what life was like in the historical past. In the present we have access to virtually all media at anytime, from virtually any place. We can read, see, hear, or experience just about anything at anytime, thanks to the Internet, television, iPods, etc. Jet travel allows us to visit virtually any modern culture, or explore any remains of the past.

Just think how different this is from the life and times of Wolfgang Mozart. He is quoted as saying "I have only to hear an opera discussed, I have only to sit in a theater, hear the orchestra tuning their instruments - oh, I am quite beside myself at once." His genuine excitement with live music is palpable.

Obviously Mozart loved the opera, but in those days music simply wasn't heard except at rare professional performances. Nothing in the background over dinner, nothing at the local pub, nothing in the elevator (thank goodness!).

Except for brief interludes, scattered throughout space and time, you really didn't experience much culture in everyday life. As such, live music was cherished by the few who could experience it from time to time. As Professor Robert Greenberg says in his audio course The Operas of Mozart, "In Mozart's day, the opera house was a combination theater; Super Bowl half-time show; major league ballpark; rock concert; carnival midway; high-end fashion show; high-tech IMAX-style movie place; theme park; and special effects extravaganza: in sum, a total sensory-immersion facility."

Again, compare that to the world of today where almost no one actually goes to the opera. We suffer from sensory overload; the ancients suffered from sensory underload.

I suppose that's why art was so much more revered in times past; why the church invested its wealth adorning their interiors with brilliant works. St. Peters is absolutely amazing to experience today, but can we even begin to imagine how it overwhelmed the hearts of pilgrims of centuries past? Such rare beacons of beauty were genuinely perceived as heavenly, adding an allure to religion that almost can't be understood today.

As I listen to Professor Greenberg and his selections of Mozart's brilliant works, he points out something even more surprising: Mozart himself never heard his own music with the quality that we do today. Musicians simply weren't as good back then; their instruments hadn't been around that long, and lacked the centuries of trial and error that we benefit from today. The best musicians and ensembles of Mozart's time perhaps sounded something akin to an excellent high school ensemble today. Still, people were more fascinated, exhilarated and touched by his music than we are by the best of Super Bowls in the modern world.

Mozart, Part II

As previously mentioned, I'm in the midst of a deep dive into the classical world of Mozart. His name at birth was actually Johannes Christian Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart, with the Amadeus (beloved of God) added much later by admirers who first began to mythologize the life of this great artist.

My source is another audio course that I've just completed by The Teaching Company entitled Great Masters: Mozart - His Life and Music by Professor Robert F. Greenberg of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. I found the course extremely interesting, serving diligently to debunk much of the myth about the man, while providing fact-based insight into the genius.

It turns out that he was not a freak, an idiot-savant, or a mouthpiece for God. He was quite simply an amazingly talented person who channeled those gifts into extremely hard work, focus and dedication towards producing the greatest music ever.

And I'm removing the film Amadeus from my list of all-time favorites. As it turns out, it was filled with much of the legend that makes great books and movies - but is misleading, untruthful and innacurate to the extreme.

More than anything else, this course on Mozart has given me a budding appreciation for opera music - something I've never had in the past.

Mozart

I'm taking a respite from growing my jazz collection, and am building up my repertoire of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart recordings instead.

It's going to take quite some time to acquire his entire catalog. I feel quite accomplished just by collecting all of his piano sonatas, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.

I suppose that's the difference between his genius and mine. He spent his life writing his catalog of works, and will spend most of mine simply buying it!

Chet Baker

My current musical obsession is with jazz trumpeter/flugelhornist/singer Chet Baker. I stumbled across him on eMusic.com and have downloaded virtually his entire catalog over the last several weeks. His mellow, melancholy brand of jazz sets a tone that I can't seem to get enough of.

Unfortunately, I've learned from his biography that he basically led a sad life, full of starts and stops, drug addiction and jail sentences. Its hard to understand why the hugely gifted often times just can't pull it together.

Check him out on a rainy day, and you won't be disappointed.