36 Years Ago

36 Years Ago, Vienna 1971—A Student Journal

Day 068: Music appreciation, Vienna style

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Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing & friends.



Day 68 — Music appreciation, Vienna style
09-October-1971 (Sat.)


TRANSCRIPT

Couldn’t practice: (1) pimple on my lip; (2) closed rooms early. Thus, spent the day mostly reading up on past news (Time [Magazine])—very discouraging. No wonder I’m a pessimist.

Went to [the] “München grüst Wien” exhibit at Rathaus—typical exhibit. Not bad. Mostly about the 1972 Olympics in Munich. [I] Even had a glass of Munich beer outside the hall.

Saw
Boris Godunov again. Enjoyed it much better because of the better sound in the Gallerie. The music is beginning to grow on me—especially the folk quality of [the music]. I got much more out of it this second time.

I am continually amazed and “joyed” [joyful] by the spirit of how the people welcome the music. The applause is not the typical “polite” applause, but always enthusiastic and, I believe, sincere. The applause never stops. Just the acknowledgment of a “good” (usually excellent) orchestra takes a long time. And especially for good performances by the group and singers. This is what I call
appreciation of music.


REFLECTIONS

Pimple deflects practice. Didn’t practice today, that means no complaining.

1972 Summer Olympics preview. I don't remember anything about the exhibit that I went to, but it was partially about the Olympics that were coming to Munich, Germany in the summer of 1972. I suppose this was a preview. At the time, no one knew that these 1972 Olympics would be marred by the grievous tragedy of the murder of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes. I will be making a trip to Munich before the year is up.

Boris Godunov 2. Seeing an opera a second time allows you to gain more understanding of the music. Do it when you can. That’s where owning a good CD collection, the iTunes Store, and an iPod come in handy—you can listen to your favorite music again, and again. How did civilization exist before the iPod? It’s seems almost unreal that we once listened to vinyl records, 45s, 33s, [78s were before my time], 8-track tapes, and cassettes. Did you know that the CD is 25 years old? (I am fairly certain.)

Appreciation of music. A common theme in this journal is the obvious appreciation of music by the Viennese audiences. There is great music to be had, experienced, and appreciated in Vienna. It’s such a good feeling to experience this—to be in those audiences. Nothing beats great, live music. Realistically, in the modern world, it’s often very expensive and you don't live close enough to venues to go very often.

In 1971 Vienna, I was within streetcar or walking distance of most concerts. As students, we often went
standing room at many concerts, and always went standing room at the opera—about 10s ($1) a pop, if I remember.

See ya tomorrow.

John

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