One of the reoccurring theme of this reading is that the main protagonist (named "me") is a modern day person who joins in on an intellectual conversation about music with a group of people in a salon from an earlier time period. The antagonist "me" has a more mechanical view of music, analyzing 18th century music bit by bit and while the other individuals of the salon and (who happen to be from the time period that "me" is analyzing) don't have such an idolized view of their music but view it more as a sense of entertainment. This contrast of perceptions of music at-the-time and future perceptions is a reoccurring theme of most of the reading.
"Me" is shown to have a stereotypical systematic view of music as he states "We (the modern people) tend nowadays to esteem the work independently of its execution; and we judge the execution according to the ethics of production and perfection that entered European society with the industrial revolution" (16). The view of the people can be summed up with Buffon's quote of "... in the salon we remain among the concerns of ordinary men and women. Here, we are more likely to feel indifference toward a very ingenious work; ...the conversation of a friend will always please me more than that of Voltaire" (18).
The metaphor here is that the people of the salon view the music as nothing to be taken too seriously or to be analyzed academically as "me" does. This is a sharp contrast with the audience's perception of their own music of the 18th century and future generation's perception of the music. This contrast of how they are viewed is also depicted in the layout of their performances; where in the past had small salon venues where the noisy audience was composed of people of all backgrounds, while compared to the future generations where we have large venues that cater to a sophisticaed class and must have absolute silence.
The "nameless charm" is another important aspect that helps to show the difference between modern day and at-the-time perception (27). The "nameless charm" is a feeling that one gets from listening to the music and the interpretation that one views. "Me" views the music as structural sections of a harmony section, melody, and tunes. On the other hand, the salon goers view the piece as a nostalgic feeling that gives them either memories or places them in a dream like state from the sound of the music.
Questions
Is it true that we over analyze music or arts in general too much? Is it possible that the music we consider popular today is subject to the same process of deeper analysis in the future as the character "me" did to the music of the past?
Is there a "nameless charm" felt when we listen to the pieces today or is it more of a systematic analysis?
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Willie, The strength of this Opening Statement is your choices of foci: you hone in on two really rich points that promise to yield conversation in class, in part because they *force* us to confront differences between "then" and "now." That's synthesis, right there. Putting two things together and seeing how they fit, don't fit, or put each other in new light.
ReplyDeleteQuoting specific passages helped me follow what you were trying to accomplish. Have a look at how some of your colleagues went about staying clear and focused -- for example, by moving in a clearly stepwise fashion from beginning to ending question.