Your first classical 'hero'?

[marvinbrown]

Hm, I must have been a bit too concise... What I meant was - Beethoven and Wagner were my first heroes,

   0:) these two are my current heroes  0:)

  marvin

[Philoctetes]

The first disc that I ever bought was Mahler's 1st with the VPO and Maazel. It's still the best version I've heard of this symphony. I'm not much of a Mahler guy anymore, but he was my first 'hero.'

[Mirror Image]

My first classical hero conductor:



My first classical hero composer:

[starrynight]

Probably Mozart, definitely a composer rather than a performer anyway.

[some guy]

It's fun to resurrect moribund threads. Fun to read about what people were thinking in the olden days, in the long, long ago, in the before time.

And those people. Some very interesting posters no longer posting here. Driven off, perhaps, by The Provider.

Anyway, I'm sure I had heroes before John Cage, but he was definitely the first hero I met in person. And by no means the last, either. I eventually arranged my life so that I was meeting my heroes all the time. And now, of course, I don't have any heroes at all.

Lots of nice friends, though. I think that's better. Friends are better than heroes. (Friends that I worship, yes. Be fair!

[owlice]

Composer: Beethoven. His was the first "real" music I played on the piano when a child (though I played Bach on the flute even earlier, but I did not consider the flute my instrument). Even now, there's Beethoven, and then all the others.
Performer: Van Cliburn. He was the first big-name performer I heard/saw when a child, and I still have LPs of his music I got when a teenager.

[starrynight]

I also tend to think hero worship isn't that good a thing, everyone is human with faults as well as virtues.  And I never had pictures of people stuck up on the wall of my bedroom anyway. 

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

For me a 'hero' is an inspiring presence, a friend who accompanies me on my inner journey. No worship is involved, only love and a recognition of similarities.

[Karl Henning]

Right. The fact of the phrase hero worship indicates that worship is not any intrinsic component of recognizing a hero.

[Ataraxia]

LvB

Duh. 

[Karl Henning]

TWU!

[Ataraxia]

?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

That Was Unexpected (I think...)

[Karl Henning]

Oui.

[Elgarian]

I also tend to think hero worship isn't that good a thing, everyone is human with faults as well as virtues.

I'd like to use this comment, if I may, to express my sense of frustration. Whenever I talk about the artists I most admire, or am profoundly grateful to, or indeed (in a manner) love, someone, somewhere, will tell me that 'hero worship' is a bad thing - as if that's what I was talking about. But I never, never, speak in terms of 'worship'. I wouldn't (couldn't) 'worship' any human being, living or dead. And it's blindingly obvious that every human being has faults, even the best of us. I am quite baffled about why this issue so often crops up.

Because, by contrast, admiration, gratitude, and love are among the finest responses that human beings are capable of. Elgar the man was often a difficult companion and a poor friend, but I admire him immensely for all sorts of other reasons; I shall be forever grateful to him for the great changes his music has brought about in me; I feel a depth of affection and kinship with him through his music that I don't feel with any other composer (actually, it's not dissimilar to the feelings I have for my dearest friends). But this is a million light years away from 'hero worship'.

Why is there this confusion between something that on the one hand is banal and foolish (hero worship), and something that, on the other, is fine and intensely human (admiration and gratitude)? I don't get it.

[Ataraxia]

I'd like to use this comment, if I may, to express my sense of frustration. Whenever I talk about the artists I most admire, or am profoundly grateful to, or indeed (in a manner) love, someone, somewhere, will tell me that 'hero worship' is a bad thing - as if that's what I was talking about. But I never, never, speak in terms of 'worship'. I wouldn't (couldn't) 'worship' any human being, living or dead. And it's blindingly obvious that every human being has faults, even the best of us. I am quite baffled about why this issue so often crops up.

Because, by contrast, admiration, gratitude, and love are among the finest responses that human beings are capable of. Elgar the man was often a difficult companion and a poor friend, but I admire him immensely for all sorts of other reasons; I shall be forever grateful to him for the immense changes his music has brought about in me; I feel a depth of affection and kinship with him through his music that I don't feel with any other composer (actually, it's not dissimilar to the feelings I have for my dearest friends). But this is a million light years away from 'hero worship'.

Why is there this confusion between something that on the one hand is banal and foolish (hero worship), and something that, on the other, is fine and intensely human (admiration and gratitude)? I don't get it.

My hero!!

Oh, wait...

[Elgarian]

My hero!!

Oh, wait...

Right, that does it. Now, you are Doomed!

[Ataraxia]

Now, you are Doomed!

0:)

[Elgarian]

0:)

Oh yes, I know what you're thinking: 'But it's my pleasure to be doomed'.

Well you just wait. That's all.

[Karl Henning]

Yea, even Doom is contained in The Shed. For a limited time only, 10% off Doom . . . .