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[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Available for free here:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/books/Pauls_two_centuries_in_one.pdf

This book greatly appeals to my unabashedly and unapologeticallly romantic reactionary self --- and will probably infuriate bore hardcore modernists no end. 

Fixed for you! 

[ritter]

Available for free here:
....

Still appears a bit too expensive to me....

[Florestan]

well you get what you pay for (looked at it briefly)

You should start a drinking game for every time the author uses the word 'emotion'

like emotion is somehow the exclusive province of traditional tonality

he does not seem to understand that Schoenberg, Berg and other modernists were expressionists, defined by Adorno as seeking "the truthfulness of subjective feeling without illusions, disguises or euphemisms"

he seems equally perplexed that people could ascribe emotion to later composers in this tradition such as Ferneyhough

The tables can be turned just as easily: if "emotion" is such a negative term / concept, then why the need to ascribe it to Schoenberg and Ferneyhough?

[Florestan]

Fixed for you! 

Why, thanks! In my book "reactionary" is a badge of honor.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

The tables can be turned just as easily: if "emotion" is such a negative term / concept, then why the need to ascribe it to Schoenberg and Ferneyhough?

The point is not that emotion is a negative term. The point is that the author mistook his inability to grasp the emotional content of modern music for an absence of emotional content in modern music.

[Florestan]

Still appears a bit too expensive to me....

It certainly doesn't sing any praise of Boulez, that's for sure. 

[Florestan]

The point is not that emotion is a negative term. The point is that the author mistook his inability to grasp the emotional content of modern music for an absence of emotional content in modern music.

Should I assume that you took the care to read the book and think through its arguments? That would be quite a feat, reading a 500-page book in 10 minutes.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Should I assume that you took the care to read the book and think through its arguments? That would be quite a feat, reading a 500-page book in 10 minutes.

No, but I read BWV1080's comments and it seems clear to me what he meant and that you misrepresented them. He can clarify if I mistook him.

[Florestan]

No

I rest my case.

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

I rest my case.

Many a case is rested and lost.

[Florestan]

Many a case is rested and lost.

Certainly. One of the most blatant such cases is Schoenberg's claim that "one day even mailboys will whistle my tunes"... 

[Ghost of Baron Scarpia]

Certainly. One of the most blatant such cases is Schoenberg's claim that "one day even mailboys will whistle my tunes"... 

Maybe in Vienna they do...

[ritter]

And we all know that street sweepers in Bucharest  are whistling Schumann all the time....

[Ken B]

well you get what you pay for (looked at it briefly)

You should start a drinking game for every time the author uses the word 'emotion'

like emotion is somehow the exclusive province of traditional tonality

he does not seem to understand that Schoenberg, Berg and other modernists were expressionists, defined by Adorno as seeking "the truthfulness of subjective feeling without illusions, disguises or euphemisms"

he seems equally perplexed that people could ascribe emotion to later composers in this tradition such as Ferneyhough

Explain disguises, illusions, and euphemisms in music.

[JBS]

Found this on Facebook. Probably the best thread to post this to.
http://assets.londonist.com/uploads/2018/11/fictionalbritainversion4.jpg

[Florestan]

And we all know that street sweepers in Bucharest  are whistling Schumann all the time....

If they do or don't is irrelevant because Schumann, unlike Schoenberg, never expressed any such concern. 

But talking about street sweepers: Manuel de Falla once overheard one in the streets of Madrid whistling one of his (de Falla's) Seven Spanish Folksongs. Intrigued, he asked the man where he learned it, upon which the guy replied "Why, Sir, I really don't know. I must have heard it somewhere and it got stuck in my head." That's precisely what Schoenberg had hope for. 

[Florestan]

Explain disguises, illusions, and euphemisms in music.

I am reminded of Lichtenberg aphorism to the effect that, while it's true that there are more things in heaven and earth that are dreamt of in philosophy, it's also true that there are many things in philosophy of which there's no trace in heaven and earth. 

[Jo498]

Found this on Facebook. Probably the best thread to post this to.
http://assets.londonist.com/uploads/2018/11/fictionalbritainversion4.jpg

Very nice. A large number of them must be from Wodehouse...

For some reason I pictured Kirrin Island (if this is from Blyton's Famous Five) further north, certainly not in the Channel. And Jack Vance's Lyonesse is far bigger and far further southwest (but this was probably to fit it onto the map at all or maybe there is another Lyonesse). Finally, I had thought Hogwarts was not quite so far up, rather closer to the border between England and Scotland.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I am considering reading Balzac's Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes when by chance saw a copy at a local library. Didn't take it yet since I have a bit too many books going on simultaneously.

[aligreto]

Hesse: The Glass Bead Game





About half way through and I am enjoying it.