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The Muse is Back!!
Apr. 17th, 2010 02:10 pmHoorah! I'm writing again. At last. The Muse has been a bit sluggish over the last couple of days...
I had a rather nice surprise this morning. I recently gave a copy of my thesis publication to one of the worthies who's been gently nagging me to publish it over the past few years. He sent me a little card thanking me for the book, and thanking me, too, for acknowledging his encouragement through the years. I was rather chuffed by that!
I took some time out last night to watch the film Immortal Beloved. I stumbled across it in HMV last month, and though I'd never heard of it, I bought it out of interest because I like Beethoven, and because its all-star cast made it seem worth trying.
I'm not sure how well it reflects Beethoven's life (I'm not an authority on Beethoven) but I really enjoyed it, and the way it used Beethhoven's music was rather wonderful, too. My husband reflected rather dryly that Gary Oldman, who played the inimitable 'Ludwig Van' (to quote Alex from Clockwork Orange) was playing it the same way he played Dracula. Come to think of it, he looked a bit like Dracula in places, too...
When I was a music student, I used to have heated debates with my fellow musicians over the composer whose music we liked best. My top three were Mahler, Wagner and Beethoven, and I found it very difficult to organise them into any particular order. Mahler was always a suggestion which invoked mixed responses. Too heavy! Too emotional!! Too long-winded! Too over-the-top!!! Wagner, strangely enough, was usually greeted with a similar criticisms. I, in turn, scoffed at Bach and Mozart. Too clinical! Too unemotional! Too dry!!!!
But we always agreed that Beethoven was the maestro. Everybody seemed to like his stuff. Whether their instinctive reaction was to favour Bach, or Brahms, or Mahler, or whatever, they liked Beethhoven.
I'm listening to Fleetwood Mac at the moment, but I know that just as soon as I switch off the stereo, the strains of Beethoven 7 or Beethoven 9 are going to come slinking back into my thoughts.
If you enjoy Beethoven's music, or you like historical fiction movies (early 19th century especially) in general, check out Immortal Beloved. It was very stylish and visually splendid, and all in all, an enjoyable romantic diversion. Though this was one of those occasions when I wanted to take both protagonists and slam their heads together very hard because they had a lot of angst and misery over nothing, and it all seemed rather unnecessary... Haven't quite worked out how it turned out so badly for them both in the end, but this just means I'll have to watch it again.
Still, if the end result of all this emotional suffering really was Beethoven's Choral Symphony, I'm not complaining...
I had a rather nice surprise this morning. I recently gave a copy of my thesis publication to one of the worthies who's been gently nagging me to publish it over the past few years. He sent me a little card thanking me for the book, and thanking me, too, for acknowledging his encouragement through the years. I was rather chuffed by that!
I took some time out last night to watch the film Immortal Beloved. I stumbled across it in HMV last month, and though I'd never heard of it, I bought it out of interest because I like Beethoven, and because its all-star cast made it seem worth trying.
I'm not sure how well it reflects Beethoven's life (I'm not an authority on Beethoven) but I really enjoyed it, and the way it used Beethhoven's music was rather wonderful, too. My husband reflected rather dryly that Gary Oldman, who played the inimitable 'Ludwig Van' (to quote Alex from Clockwork Orange) was playing it the same way he played Dracula. Come to think of it, he looked a bit like Dracula in places, too...
When I was a music student, I used to have heated debates with my fellow musicians over the composer whose music we liked best. My top three were Mahler, Wagner and Beethoven, and I found it very difficult to organise them into any particular order. Mahler was always a suggestion which invoked mixed responses. Too heavy! Too emotional!! Too long-winded! Too over-the-top!!! Wagner, strangely enough, was usually greeted with a similar criticisms. I, in turn, scoffed at Bach and Mozart. Too clinical! Too unemotional! Too dry!!!!
But we always agreed that Beethoven was the maestro. Everybody seemed to like his stuff. Whether their instinctive reaction was to favour Bach, or Brahms, or Mahler, or whatever, they liked Beethhoven.
I'm listening to Fleetwood Mac at the moment, but I know that just as soon as I switch off the stereo, the strains of Beethoven 7 or Beethoven 9 are going to come slinking back into my thoughts.
If you enjoy Beethoven's music, or you like historical fiction movies (early 19th century especially) in general, check out Immortal Beloved. It was very stylish and visually splendid, and all in all, an enjoyable romantic diversion. Though this was one of those occasions when I wanted to take both protagonists and slam their heads together very hard because they had a lot of angst and misery over nothing, and it all seemed rather unnecessary... Haven't quite worked out how it turned out so badly for them both in the end, but this just means I'll have to watch it again.
Still, if the end result of all this emotional suffering really was Beethoven's Choral Symphony, I'm not complaining...
