Music Which Had No Business Being Composed

Yes, I am a tough critic.  My ears are very sensitive things and are highly evolved.  Even though I can name a number of pieces which I like since Shubert's Unfinished Symphony, it is difficult.  As the 19th Century continued and the Romanticism of the Victorian Age ran rampant, this certainly became even more so.  The more layers of sugar and treacle that a composer could put on a piece of music made it indigestible.  Emotionally over-wrought Verdian operas with their dying heroines vied with wraith-like Willis on the ballet stage.  In the concert hall itself, the pianoforte was further developed in order to provide more of this grand emotion that this new audience seemed to crave.  Instead of the subtle intricacies of the earlier stringed instruments played by the Bach's, Mozart, Beethoven. et al, which you could hear playing with the musical groupings and early orchestras, now it was only a wave of sound.  My husband likes to term it "piano-banging."  I must say that at times it is quite apropos and can leave one with quite the head-ache.
Now, getting to music that probably never should have been composed, there are a number of late 19th century and 20th century British composers who liked to compose what I term "fake Baroque" or "fake Classical" music.  Examples of these are Lady Radnor's Suite and The London Suite.  It was not only the British.  I heard a symphony by an unknown Swedish composer (early 20th century) which I must say had no point to it at all.  Mayhap this is why he is unknown.
There may be unknown masterpieces being played in the repertoires in Europe which have not made it to this country because the few well-heeled who fund the arts only know the boring "war horses" -- the piano-bangers as it were.  At least here in Southeastern Connecticut we are fortunate to host two Early Music festivals in the early summer.
So, yes, I do find noise which claims to be music as obnoxious -- and I will speak up about it.  

According to Myers-Briggs: INFJ

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INFJs are value-driven individuals who tend to remain mysterious and complex even after you’ve become close to one. They are often creative and inspired individuals. They are good at perceiving emotions and are sensitive to the feelings of others, but they are not very prone to revealing much of themselves until they trust someone completely. That said, they are intensely interested in the well-being of others and are often seen as protectors as well as natural leaders.

 

 

So, who would have thunk it, huh?  Here I am, a certified cat-person who wuvs her kitties (small, medium, large, and huge) being compared to a wolf!  However, I do have a secret love of Dobermanns and Salukis.  If you won't tell, I won't.



It's True! People Are More Stupid -- And They Are Getting Worse Every Day

The word is out!  It is official!  Since the Victorian Era mankind has LOST an average of 14 IQ points.  (Looking around over my shoulder: could it be you? you? you?)  Think I'm crazy, do you.  I cannot hold an educated conversation with most people I know.  The amount of ignorance simply knows no bounds.  Along with this comes another disturbing trend about "not judging another's so-called truth."  This is why the last 2 generations are filled with psychopaths.  They were never taught limits and boundaries and never had real consequences.  Time out!  Don't make me laugh.  The child and any other children should write down their parts in the transgression.  Usually, it's just stupidity.  Ethics and moral behaviour start at the beginning.  It cannot wait.  The same thing goes with our educations.  Generally speaking, we don't need high-priced glitz.  We need to spend our money on dedicated educators who know that the currently marketed panacea is just that -- a panacea.  Education accumulates incrementally: language and maths are the only thing small children need besides art, music and play.  Of course, during the day a good teacher will keep children motivated  by telling them about all the other great stuff coming up after they have mastered this.  Real progress, not faked progress manufactured  by some DEd, a worthless piece of paper.

PRNK: It Never Will Be Missed, It Never Will Be Missed

Maybe this is the time that I always knew would be coming.  Back in the mid-1970's I joined the officer corps of the United States Air Force.  From November 1975 through November 1976 I spent a remote tour of duty at Osan Air Base in the Republic of South Korea.  During the summer of my tour, two US Army officers were brutally murdered by North Korean troops while supervising South Korean workers trimming the bushes at Panmunjom, the place where the cease fire was signed in the early 1950's.  Needless to say, we had a much tenser situation over there than was ever realized by the civilian population in the US.  In fact, it was on my order that the alert fighter pilots took to their planes.
Now, we have Pyongyang threatening not only South Korea but the United States itself with nuclear war.  This is only because we have let them develop this technology.  The ruling family, the Kims, are the most evil people in the world today.  They do not even have the excuse of being mislead by misreading the Q'ran.  Religious fanatics are to be pitied because their minds are so narrow (we have them in this country, too).  This regime does not have narrow minds -- it has pure EVIL in all its intentions, it always has, and it always will.
Therefore, I do wish that, as Koko in The Mikado had his little list, that we have ours and that Pyongyang and North Korea are at the top, ready to be wiped-out at the first direct provocation, because as he sang: "THEY NEVER WILL BE MISSED.  THEY NEVER WILL BE MISSED."
Special Note:  I am also sure that we have already taken care of Peking/Beijing. 

2013: A Few Thoughts, A Few Sighs

Well, 2013 is finally here for all the good it will do us.  Yes, I am feeling a lot cynical this year and for many good reasons:
Misogyny in its most horrendous forms has shown its evil head, leering eyes and subtle innuendo at all of us during this past year.  Not only has a brilliant and beautiful young woman been viciously gang raped and as a result murdered, more countrymen in India during the months of November and December have done the same thing to other women, some of whom were accompanied by husbands and friends.  One of these women suicided and another apologized -- apologize for WHAT I ask, just for being a living, breathing FEMALE!!!!  While in this country the damn GOP says the most egregiously stupid and hateful things about women and their sexuality that (even though I support full gun control) I would really like to take a flame-thrower to them, as Al Pacino does in Scent of a Woman.  Well, I can dream.
The NRA, like the Westboro Baptist Church, is a Hate organization.  More guns is NOT the answer to gun violence!  I sobbed -- and still cry when I think about those babies and educators in the western part of my fair state who were BRUTALLY murdered by a young man who was jealous of his mother's attention.  This was because the mother was mislead by the NRA into thinking that she NEEDED those weapons for protection.  NO ONE NEEDS MILITARY WEAPONS! (I am an Air Force veteran and I do not own weapons.)  I do NOT need protection from my government, which the NRA and many of the Right Wing ilk hint at in their literature (why else is there the so-called "militia movement" when we already have a militia in the National Guard).
I feel as if the stupid are taking over this world.  They have denigrated everyone who has a real liberal arts education and has learned how to think.
Well, everyone, I will try to blog more often and I might be positive as well.