PORCH PONDERINGS

Beethoven is still popular folks

22. Today in History
Look up some events that happened on December 22nd,
select one, and tell us about it.

In 1808 Beethoven's Symphonies No. 5 and No. 6, Choral Fantasy and Piano Concerto No. 4 (featuring the composer as soloist) premiere at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Austria. It happened on this day.

Seems the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra had a celebration of this event. Nice.
https://www.cincinnatisymphony.org/tickets-and-events/buy-tickets/cso/1920-cso-s...

I love Beethoven. I think of the wonder of his creativity. The amazing gift he gave us, even with the disability of deafness. To hear the music in his mind and transfer it to paper and then never be able to hear it. Truly remarkable.

Symphony #5 is the famous “da-da-da-DUM”. You’ll recognize the opening notes when you hear them. I found a link to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra that did a recreation of that concert by Beethoven. As I read more about it, seems that Beethoven was almost completely deaf when he performed in that concert.

Classical music is a favorite of ours. I used to listen to it often. Not so much any more, not sure why. I used to listen to it when I went to sleep, but that was when I was single. Hubby is a big classical fan as well. We have dozens of classical CDs. Remember them? Back before streaming music, YouTube. But after cassette tapes, and 8 track tapes, and 45 RPM, and 78s. I really am showing my age now. Now all the music he loves is loaded on his Apple desktop computer. Beethoven in the modern era.

Classical music is calming. It has been shown to work wonders on babies. I think it is the rhythm, the scales, the lyrical qualities. I listen to it when I drive by myself. I especially loved the ‘1812 Overture’ by Tchaikovsky when I drove home from play practice last summer. When the cannons went off, and you have to have the version with the real cannon fire, I would honk the horn. I know, I’m a geek. So how, you say, is that calming? Well, I felt that it kept the deer away. It worked all but that one time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture

But this is about Beethoven, a German composer. His name means “beet root farm”. What’s that saying? “How you gonna keep them down on the farm once they see Paree!” It’s a song popular around the era of WWI and all those GIs coming home from Europe. (And I assume you know that Paree is a referral to Paris. Come on people, don’t you listen or read?)

Check out on YouTube a few entries for this song, pretty fun.