"The Old Wig", JS Bach

[khiemtran]

Listen to Mozart and you'll learn about humanity. Listen to Beethoven and you'll learn about, well, Beethoven. And listen to Bach, and you'll learn about music.

Comments

[sciamanna.livejournal.com]

Because of how your post first appeared on my screen, I got to read the first line (to "And listen to Bach") without seeing the rest. I finished the sentence in my head before scrolling down -- and came up with exactly the same words :-)

(I don't know Mozart well enough to say anything about him; for Beethoven, if I wanted to make it short and snappy, I would probably have said "You'll learn about 1848" -- but then I know that I have a rather skewed view of Beethoven...)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Hey, cool!

Hmm. 1848. How about Verdi then? Not that I know much about Verdi...

[sciamanna.livejournal.com]

Well, yes -- but Verdi was much more specifically Italian, and more directly linked to the nationalist movements. His name was used as an acronym by the nationalist rebels: they would shout or write "Long live Verdi", where the name was taken to mean Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia (King of Italy) -- the Piedimontese king who was trying to unify the country.

Verdi can be fun, but I don't like his operas much. I prefer his sacred music (he didn't write a lot of it), and even then he wouldn't be one of my favourites. For Italian opera, I'm very definitely a Puccini fan :-)