Composer Kings
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- čas přidán 28. 07. 2024
- This video looks into the hidden compositorial talents of some of history's most famous leaders. I am sure you are aware of the many political figures who also happened to be good musicians, but were you aware that Ivan the terrible, Henry VIII and Frederick the Great were also talented composers?
Links to Ivan the Terrible album:
itunes.apple.com/us/album/sti...
www.amazon.com/Stichera-Ivan-...
No mention of Gesualdo? He's a prince, but still in a monarchial system.
no mention of him, yes technically you are right, but maybe you noticed I used his music in the background at the beginning :) for the purpose of setting the tone. Gesualdo is surely interesting enough to have an entire video just about him.
another great essay! thanks!
where did you get the female version the song Henry VIII
Sirinu: The Complete Music Of Henry XIII
Frederick the Great's music is very good, but unfortunately he also had an unsavory side. Prussian forces destroyed the Dresden Opera house in 1760, along with all the music manuscripts inside, including Johann Afolphe Hasse's operas. Frederick the Great's attack on Leipzig in 1761 then wound up destroying Johann Adolphe Hasse's home and all the music manuscripts he had. (And ironically some of that music was written for Frederick the Great). At that time the publisher Breitkopf was preparing a complete edition of Hasse's music, and Hasse would have been the first composer to have a published complete edition. This is one of the main reasons Johann Afolphe Hasse is forgotten today, even though he was one of the most popular composers of the 18th century, and one of the most important composers during the transition from Baroque to Classical.
Fascinating! Thank you for this very informative comment!
The only thing I didn't like about this video was the judgemental tone you assumed for the "less savory" historical figures. Sure, they were flawed in significant ways, and that's something humanity must not forget. But you seemed to go out of your way (only a little bit, to be honest, but it still stood out) to point out that the first two characters were "bad men", and worse, after discussing Ivan, you seemed to suggest that their music might not be worth listening to.
That got me. Seriously.
I understand it's a tough ethical question: should we enjoy the art of people we disagree with? Can we? Does a paedophile's artistic output lose all merit because the artist was a paedophile? Tough questions, but I wished you had focused more on the music and less on your personal dislike of those characters. It just felt...off.
Lastly, your treatment of Frederick at the tail end of the video had hints of unfair judgement too: as though the narrative you were going with was, "This talented king challenges one of his subjects to accomplish a nearly impossible feat. And the humble subject shows him who's boss." I doubt Bach felt that way. And it's no fault of Fred's that he was born king. That's just how society was structured then. And Bach was certainly delighted to be invited by his sovereign to his court to play on his new instruments. At least, that's how I interpreted the episode in Goedel-Escher-Bach.
Anyway, I learned one new thing today: Ivan the Terrible wasn't so terrible a composer :)
I'm looking forward to more content from your channel.
You're upset that he called Ivan a bad person? Well that's your problem then.