Comments on: A quick question

By: Fried und Freud

Fried und Freud — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:42:15 +0000

In German Titles, Only The Nouns Need To Be Capitalized.

I do look forward to discovering this cantata. Thanks for the tip!

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:14:46 +0000

GÃ³msÃ¦tt!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:35:32 +0000

One of my favorite examples of inversion is Holst’s First Suite fo’ Military Band, in the Chaconne.

He begins the piece with the melody in the low brass, and slowly moves it up the octave, exploiting many of the band’s textures, and then inverts it and sets the inversion in a minor key, completely changing the mood. And, after playing a while in the minor, he makes a slow move to major, ending it with striding chords.

woot.

I also think that we could safely compare Schoenberg’s forms (esp. his inversions of tone rows, etc.) to the dog holding onto the leash. He could push as far as he wants into atonality, but still holds on to forms with a Mozartian grip.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:35:09 +0000

I suppose it is too simple (and too serious) to see the dog as a metaphor for all creative artists who choose to work within received forms – who hold their own leashes, as it were.

By: Steve in NYC

Steve in NYC — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:39:49 +0000

re the inversion in Buxtehude’s cantata:
It’s wonderful music; I hadn’t heard it before.
Most people who know Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini” probably don’t realize — as I had not until I read the book “Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid” by Douglas R. Hofstadter, many years after first hearing it — that the ravishingly beautiful slow, languorous theme about halfway through the piece is an exact inversion of the original theme, which is quick and jumpy. Knowing this somehow makes it even better.
P.S. The 4th iteration of Buxtehude’s original theme (the 2nd time the bass sings it, around the 4th minute) is already the inversion of it, before the soprano group sings it a minute later.

By: Leon

Leon — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:38:12 +0000

They don’t call her Missy “Buxtehude” Elliot for nothing.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:02:39 +0000

Hey, too bad you can’t come and perform in Ottawa.

Who would you walk 250 miles for?

Thanks for the Buxtehude!

By: Craig

Craig — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:52:52 +0000

Maybe dogs don’t understand that the leash is what’s holding them back. Certainly, neither of my dogs understands that the leash can trip old people or that I am easily disabled if they run around me in circles. Oh. Maybe they do.

By: Aeijtzsche

Aeijtzsche — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:39:26 +0000

Oddly enough, I knew this guy who named his dog Buxtehude, and Buxtehude would do that: take his leash in his mouth as you describe.

In my recent reading, I’ve come across several accounts of slave owners sending their “most trustworthy” slave to catch a runaway in the northern states during the US slavery era. Not equating “pet custodianship” with slavery, but that is pretty heartbreaking.

By: Chris Hodge

Chris Hodge — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:19:36 +0000

You might wnat to check out some of the writings of Vicki Hearne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicki_Hearne) poet and animal trainer. (also http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEEDB1E31F934A1575BC0A9679C8B63)