off my top – from Bach to Beethoven
_______
when I listen to Bach, I feel like I’m
on a train – from Leipzig to Dresden,
say, his territory – the constancy of
his rhythms, modified only by
accidentals along the way, the
particular condition of the rails, that
indeed decorate an otherwise
monotonous clockwork progression,
beat upon beat, there is neither an
increase in volume, which hadn’t been
formally invented yet as a principal
musical implement – and I’m only
partially joking here – the music is
horizontal, not focused on reiteration,
but on getting there, accomplishing a
mission, upon which the outcome is
even spiritual – it’s Dresden, I get off
at the Neustadt Station, am not only
refreshed but utterly inspired,
reminded of my position in the world,
and my place in this novel, but
ordered, and pious, environment
listen to Bach, his Sonata for Violin
and Piano, B minor, BWV 1014, 1717
to 1723 approximately, for instance
with Mozart, I get on a merry-go-round,
at a carnival, the clockwork has become
circular, you can sing the tune, and sing
it again without a problem, the wooden
horses fly by, one after the other, entirely
recognizable, though ever magical and
entertaining, but you get off at exactly
the same untransformed station,
however delightedly
Mozart’s Sonata for Violin and Piano,
no 18 in G major, K301, 1778, say
with Beethoven, though, it’s like going
through the looking glass, if you’ve ever
been through one, the direction is
horizontal again, you might try singing
along, but get only so far, until you’re
utterly confounded, what happened,
where am I, you wonder, when
suddenly a Mad Hatter comes along,
or a Queen of Hearts, and speechless,
you hold onto your seat, it’s
Disneyland, but without the usual
safeguards
later, after however many movements,
you’re returned to, if you’ll permit in
its American transliteration, Kansas,
from Oz, and Dorothy’s tornado, her
equally transformational journey,
safe and wondrously sound, but with
extraordinary benefits, mystical,
even transcendental
but, o my goodness, you think, it’s
late, I’ve got to get the supper on,
and, did that really just happen, a
blip in the order of consciousness,
a very illumination, a transcendence,
however secular, however
non-denominational a take on the
question of our shared fate, our
shared humanity, our manifest
and sublime glories, our profound
and wrenching tragedies, as
probing, and indeed as oracular
as the words of any of the other
propounding pastors, indeed
philosophers, then, in a world
coming to grips with the debate
around God, and by extension,
I might extrapolate, my own
God/dess
for by this time, that had become
a concern, Science, which is to say,
the Enlightenment, the Age of
Reason, had provided a convincing
counterpoint to the various takes on
an, even just Christian, Supreme
Deity, Who’s very viability was up,
in the 18th Century, for grabs
Beethoven provides the first
personal option, his version of the
Ten Commandments, for the later
non-denominational ages, our
souls, our individual agonies, he
demonstrates, are enough of an
argument for our unconditional
salvation, our personal, and
resplendent souls are not not to
be discounted, their poetry, their
truth and beauty, are the heaven
towards which we can existentially
all aspire, for better, of course, or
for worse
Beethoven, his Sonata for Violin
and Piano in G major, no 10,
Opus 96, 1812, listen
R ! chard
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