Category Archives: Sturm und Drang

Day 21: a.k.a. Three Weeks

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HaydnCD21You know the old saying that times flies when you’re having fun?

Well, it’s not true.

Time flies whether you’re having fun or not, usually when you’re busy as hell and it becomes, as the late MacDonald Carey used to say at the start of each Days of Our Lives episode, “like sands through the hourglass.”

The older we get, the more those sands fall to the bottom of said hourglass.

I type that because three weeks have already passed since I started this three-year project. I have no idea where those 21 days went. Tell you what, though, if I could stick my finger in that little narrow tube between the top of the hourglass and its bottom I most definitely would. (Hmm, the words “stick my finger in” and “its bottom” in the same sentence don’t necessarily enhance the appeal of this morning’s Asiago bagel. But you know what I mean. )

Symphony No. 70 in D is another delightful composition, one that grabbed me from Continue reading →

Day 20: Eavesdropping

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HaydnCD20Sometimes, being at Panera in the morning is a lesson in trying – hard! – to mind ones own business.

Like this morning for example. There’s a man and a younger woman (a dad and his daughter, I quickly discovered) sitting in the booth behind me who are deep in conversation of a serious nature. “The irony is,” the man just said, “that’s not who I am…wearing the right suit, saying the right thing at the board meeting…”

I don’t know who he tried to be, or what he wants to be. But it’s clear he’s not being what he thinks he is.

I’ve found that to be true with most people these days.

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation,” Thoreau wrote in Walden (1854). (Note that he did not write: “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation…” That’s a misquote, according to the Thoreau web site. Plus, the quote did not come from Civil Disobedience and Other Essays. That is another mis-attribution. Oh, the things I learn…)

Whatever the exact quote, or its precise source, I think not being what one is is one of the great tragedies of human existence. I wonder if Haydn ever thought to himself, Continue reading →

Day 15: Rocky Start

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HaydnCD15I was all settled into my usual table at Panera, ready to watch the sun rise, when I discovered I couldn’t play anything. iTunes wouldn’t play. I couldn’t stream from the ‘Net. Hmm.

I pushed (and re-pushed) buttons. I Googled “Why won’t my MacBook Pro play music or stream audio files?”

Alas. To no avail.

So I shut everything down and restarted my computer.

It worked. Whew.

I am now being serenaded by the dulcet sounds of a Franz Joseph Haydn composition. Symphony No. 52 in C Minor, one of the last of Haydn’s Sturm und Drang-era symphonies. This one was Continue reading →

Day 13: Changes

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HaydnCD13I decided to shake things up this morning.

Instead of dining at the Panera farther away from where I live, I chose the Panera closer to me.

And instead of a booth, today I occupy that same square table I used to race to possess every day at 6:00am when I listened to the complete works of Mozart a couple of years ago.

Ooh. Big changes afoot.

Panera3I dunno. May not seem like much to you. But if I was a cat I’d freak out at such major alterations to my schedule.

I listened to the following three symphonies (twice!) on CD 13 this morning:

Symphony No. 46 in B, which Haydn composed in 1772 during his Sturm und Drang period. He was 40 years old.

This symphony was gripping from the start. I Continue reading →

Day 12: Living In the Moment

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Haydn012When I walked into the dimly lit Panera Bread restaurant this morning at 6:30, I cringed when I heard their choice of Muzak. It was a selection of that emo stuff, with guys sounding like someone’s squeezing their nuts…and girls singing with flat intonations, all mush-mouthed and sleepy like they just rolled out of bed.

I wonder if contemporaries of Franz Joseph Haydn, upon hearing his latest symphony — say, Symphony No. 43 in E Flat — thought the same way, like: “I say, Franz. This is frightfully trite. Do you honestly think anyone will want to hear this in a hundred years?”

If they did, they were wrong. Over two hundred and forty years later, here I am listening to that same symphony, nicknamed “Merkur” (Mercury).

By way of contrast, as much as I like Jason Mraz‘s “Living in the Present Moment,” I seriously doubt anyone will be listening to it in several hundred years.

Today’s Haydn symphony (another from the Sturm und Drang years of 1770-1774) grabbed me from the opening notes. I’m not sure why, or what it is about certain passages of music that earn my immediate respect. But this is one of them.

Here, maybe you can figure it out. This is exactly what I’m listening to this morning:

Someone uploaded to YouTube Symphony No. 43 in E Flat performed by the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, Adam Fischer conductor. So (at least for as long as it remains on YouTube) you can hear for yourself what I’m hearing. Maybe you can figure out Continue reading →

Day 7: Lamentatione, But No Light Roast

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Haydn007If there’s one thing I can always count on at this particular Panera Bread it’s this: The coffee I want will be out. Doesn’t matter what time of day I arrive. Or how many other people are here, or have been before me. The Light Roast urn will be dry. Taste it and you’ll discover why. It really is that good.

So here I am, at 6:25 am, waiting for Light Roast. No other coffee on the planet will do.

In the meantime, I have Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 25 in C to keep me company.

According to its entry on Wiki, this composition is “[r]are among Haydn’s symphonies” because it “lacks a slow movement.”

I’m not sure if the folks on Wiki are hearing the same symphony as I am. The first movement is painfully slow, very much the adagio it claims to be — until about 3 minutes in. Then it bursts into a much-welcome allegro molto. Perhaps the chap who wrote that wasn’t waiting for a steaming mug of Light Roast coffee.

But, suddenly, I don’t care if I have a steaming mug of Light Roast in front of me or not. (Thank you, Franz Joseph.)

That’s not to say that I think Symphony No. 25 is the greatest thing since Symphony No. 24. On the contrary, Light Roast or not, I’m not warming up to this symphony. I’m not hearing the hooks.

Symphony No. 26 in D minor (“Lamentatione”), on the other hand, is fascinating. Its first movement, a kick-ass “allegro assai con spirito” (allegro = “fast, quickly and bright” assai = “very much, quite fast” con spirito = “with spirit”) boasts very clear and clever melodic lines that sound as contemporary as Continue reading →