Judaism In Music Das Judenthum In Der Musik Being The Original Essay Together With The Later Supplement Classic Reprint

Author : Judah Leo Landau
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780366502059
Total Pages : 28 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (2 download)

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Download or read book Judaism in Music written by Judah Leo Landau and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2018-10-08 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Judaism in Music: Jacques Francois Halévy, a Lecture Ladies and gentlemen, the great distinction of music, by which it excels and affects us more powerfully than any other art, by which it appeals to the emotions of all men - of course, of men who possess the intel lectual faculties to enjoy works of art - is its peculiar universal language. But I need hardly point out to you that music is the expression of a man's emotional and not intellectual life. It is, therefore, often the case that while listening to a musical composition, instead of entering into the spirit of the artist, instead of sharing his sentiments to which he gave such passionate expres sion, and which he tried to communicate to his audience, we interpret his composition to suit our emotions, those which happen to dominate us at the moment. The artist has in such cases lamentably failed in his task. This is not rarely true even of people who listen to a Beethoven sonata or symphony. The artistic interpretation of such a composition is, therefore, in itself a work of art. The libretto of an opera, when viewed from this standpoint, is undoubtedly a distinct and positive advantage, as it enables us to know and to understand the ideas which the artist wishes to convey. The music is no longer to us a formless mass of sounds, which each of us might take the liberty to mould according to his personal feelings and momentary state of mind'. We are obliged to live in the scene and situation which the author has created for us and to accept his interpreta tion. But the libretto, on the other hand, places the composer at an enormous disadvantage, as it compels him to force the stream of his inspiration, the stream of his ideas, which often well up in him with an elementary force calculated to break down all artificial dams, into narrow, pre-arranged channels. It reminds one of the ancient Grecian legend of winged Pegasus being bridled like an ordinary horse. The libretto, written by a stranger and, as a mile, a professional librettist, rarely corresponds with the' ideas and the impelling motives of the genius. This fact in most cases has been responsible for the failure of many an opera, and was mainly responsible for the repeated failure of Halevy's earnest artistic efforts. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.