My mom had two tickets to the RPO a few weeks ago, and no one to go with. I didn't know a thing about Mahler. Who's that? I'm not really into going to concerts of music I don't know anything about. I have a tendency to doze off . . . It was going to be his second symphony, the "Resurrection Symphony." Enter Wikipediaen.www.wikipedia.org--the source of all truth. (Well, almost.) Knowing the story makes all the difference. I love to know who the composer is. Where did he live? What was the history of the time? The flavor of the culture she was living in? What music influenced their art? What other tidbits wove their way into the musical fabric? And then the music comes to life. For Mahler, the story is fascinating.
Into Slavic-speaking Bohemia in 1860, Gustav was born Jewish to a German-speaking family in a little town called Kalischt in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today, Kalischt is the thriving Czech metropolis of . . . 330. To understand Mahler, it helps to know a bit about his family. His grandmother had been a lowly street peddler. His father, first an employee at an inn in Kalischt, was able to elevate the family's standing by moving his wife and infant Gustav 25 kilometers southeast to the town of Iglau where he purchased his own inn. The family's standard of living rose somewhat. To quote the omniscient wikipedia: "Iglau was then a thriving commercial town of 20,000 people where Gustav was introduced to music through street songs, dance tunes, folk melodies, and the trumpet calls and marches of the local military band. All of these elements would later contribute to his mature musical vocabulary." Yet despite this introduction to a larger world, Gustav would continue to feel like an isolated outsider, a minority. "Always an intruder, never welcomed," he would say later in life.
Like Mozart, Mahler demonstrated a very early gift for and love of music. From the age of 15, he spent several decades studying and working in Vienna, and then other cities around Eastern Europe, gaining experience, respect, and praise along the way. In 1888, he began what would become a six year long undertaking--the composition of his Second Symphony.
Fast forward 11 years to a day that demonstrates Mahlers attempts to balance his perpetual feelings of exile with his desire to belong. He had lived most of his life as a cultural, nonpracticing Jew. In 1897, he was well on his way to his ultimate goal: a prestigious conducting appointment in Vienna as director of the Hofoper, the Vienna Court Opera. One obstacle stood in his way. He was a Jew, which didn't fly well in Vienna where anti-Semitic sentiment ran through culture and politics. In February, he converted to Catholicism, and two months later, he was appointed to the Hofoper. Most scholars believe that this conversion was one of pragmatism, and not a genuine spiritual decision. But genuine or not, it is one more example of Mahler's ability to assess his listener's desires and respond to them.
Rabbi Kotok of one of Rochester's synagogs, participated in the pre-concert lecture, and made the fascinating observation that Mahler had a gift for understanding and communicating the thoughts, and especially the emotions, of his audience and patrons. His Second Symphony is a beautiful example of this. As a non-religious individual, he was able to write something truly sublime that expresses some of the most moving core Christian doctrines and yearnings.
Mahler wrote a narrative program to accompany the symphony: "In this programme, the first movement represents a funeral and asks questions such as "Is there life after death?"; the second movement is a remembrance of happy times in the life of the deceased; the third movement represents a view of life as meaningless activity; the fourth movement is a wish for release from life without meaning; and the fifth movement – after a return of the doubts of the third movement and the questions of the first – ends with a fervent hope for everlasting, transcendent renewal."(see wiki) The music is first haunting, then contrastingly joyful and light, next confused and angry. His music ranges through extremes reflecting the emotions he artfully conveys. And the audience moves with him. At one point, muted trumpets call mournfully from off stage, suggesting a haunting distance and longing. The RPO music director staged the fifth movement with the choir seated discretely in the first few rows of the front of the theater. At the necessary point in the program, the choir stood and we saw and heard them. Perhaps a seemingly strange decision, but as the movement built, and the emotion swelled, the choir suddenly turned around and sang toward the audience, providing the powerful boost in volume and impact that only such proximity and staging could convey. As the final few notes of the symphony evaporated from the theater, my mother and I turned to each other with jaws dropped, and the entire audience stood up to applaud and call "Bravo." It was, hands down, the best orchestra concert I have ever been to. Stunning. Varried. A clear emotional journey.
As I thought about the concert over the next few days, I couldn't help wondering about this ability to stand in another person's shoes. A good friend, who is also a stunning artist, once spoke about the importance of understanding the intent of the artist. What medium did they use? What was their goal? Why did they choose to represent their message in that particular way? Then feel free take the art a step further by creating your own interpretation. Loose it from that context and allow it to take on it's own meaning in the context of your viewpoint. Perhaps with what you bring to it, it has another message to communicate. Build on it. Interact with it. Apply it to something you have experienced. And that is just as valid as the artist's.
How well do I stand in other people's shoes? It is a hard thing to do sometimes when I think I'm right. I'm reminded of a few things I've seen recently. A blog post about a bishop who sees a shy sweet boy for who he really is and not the sulking impolite cad he is often labeled as. Another (that I can't find--grrrrr) about a woman who, against her "better judgement," gives a homeless man some cash and experiences her own epiphany that she writes about simply and beautifully. And a video that demonstrates how our small choices in wording can move people to action. In our most intimate interactions--the ones in our homes during the daily chaos and routine--the most transcendent of miracles can happen when we put ourselves in each others' shoes, whether we decide to keep them off, or just wear them around for a while until they become comfortable before we give them back. I can't count how many times Jeff has "worn my shoes" only to have me trade mine in at the end. But it is always his act of understanding and validating that brings me to that point. To be understood, truly understood, and to have that shown back to you clearly and perhaps artistically, is a gift. It helps me understand myself better. It enables me to better decide what to do with that part of me.
I think of the imagery along those lines that show up in Mormon and Christian scripture:
- For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (here)
- Pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love . . . that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (here)
- And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (here)
I'll leave you with the translation of the choral text to Mahler's transcendent pleadingly hopeful fifth movement. And perhaps an urge to go shoe shopping . . .
- Rise again, yes, rise again,
- Will you My dust,
- After a brief rest!
- Immortal life! Immortal life
- Will He who called you, give you.
- To bloom again were you sown!
- The Lord of the harvest goes
- And gathers in, like sheaves,
- Us together, who died.
- O believe, my heart, O believe:
- Nothing to you is lost!
- Yours is, yes yours, is what you desired
- Yours, what you have loved
- What you have fought for!
- O believe,
- You were not born for nothing!
- Have not for nothing, lived, suffered!
- What was created
- Must perish,
- What perished, rise again!
- Cease from trembling!
- Prepare yourself to live!
- O Pain, You piercer of all things,
- From you, I have been wrested!
- O Death, You masterer of all things,
- Now, are you conquered!
- With wings which I have won for myself,
- In love’s fierce striving,
- I shall soar upwards
- To the light which no eye has penetrated!
- Its wing that I won is expanded,
- and I fly up.
- Die shall I in order to live.
- Rise again, yes, rise again,
- Will you, my heart, in an instant!
- That for which you suffered,
- To God will it lead you!
When did you find it helpful to stand in another person's shoes? When did someone put on your shoes and make a difference for you? What does Mahler's story make you think about?
No comments:
Post a Comment