But I am not here to write about my thesis, though I would like to talk about suffering, and music. I would like to talk about orchestra, and Beethoven, as well. These thoughts came to me during orchestra today. We were playing Beethoven's 7th today. The whole of Beethoven's 7th is a masterpiece. The scherzo is a little long, but it is still a masterful joke. Anyone who has read my senior thesis or gone to my thesis oration will know that I love Beethoven. And that I hate Mozart, but that is a story for another day.
Well, we were playing the second movement of that masterful work, the 7th symphony, and our director, Dr. Newby, said, "The thing about tragedy is that life still goes on, and I think that is what Beethoven is trying to express here. You have to keep the music moving. When you slow it down, it defeats the whole purpose." That made me stop and think. While I was listening to the winds and brass practice a section, I began to muse over what Dr. Newby had said. Yes, when there is a tragedy, life goes on. We can never hold onto our sorrow for too long, for even though someone we love is gone, we still have life. The world around us has life, and we have to go on living. We can't help it. It is not any sort of disrespect to the dead. They know, and we know, that we have to keep moving. When we slow down, it defeats the whole purpose.
Throughout the rest of the movement, I mused on this, and as I mused, I saw what Beethoven was trying to express unfolding in his music. The movement starts quietly and somberly with the lower strings. It is a throbbing rhythm, as if someone were weeping. It it the sound of a coffin being lowered into the grave, while we look on and weep. The sorrow continues. It gets stronger, but it keeps moving. The pain is excruciating, but we must keep on going.
Then, quite suddenly, the sun comes out. The music is serene. It is not Mozart-happy; it is peaceful. The pain is not gone, but it is hidden away in a secret recess of our hearts, so that when we want to, or must, we can let it out. And we do want to let it out. Not long after the sun comes out, the music turns to the theme again, and the sorrow returns. It is not for long, however, and as it always does, the sun comes out again. That is the way of things.
The movement ends with the theme. It gets softer and softer, almost dying out, until it resurges in the last two measures. I do not think that is despair. No, it is a promise. It is a promise that we will never forget. We will go on with our lives, but we will always remember, and that pain will always be in the deepest recesses of our hearts because we loved. That is the way of life. That is the way of Beethoven's music.
And that is why I love Beethoven.
