Day 31: Something Wicked

HaydnCD31There’s nothing wicked about this morning’s Haydn selection. It’s somewhat bland. But it’s hardly evil.

No. My title refers to a book, one of my very favorite books. Every year, around this time, I read Ray Bradbury’s superlative Something Wicked This Way Comes.

If you’ve never read it, I encourage you to do so. It’s truly scary. And written with such precision and verve that each word crackles with life. Some of Bradbury’s sentences are so well written that I often re-read them, in awe, savoring every syllable, before moving on to the next one.

Screen Shot 2013-10-31 at 9.13.23 AMOh? You don’t believe me? Try this, the opening paragraphs, on for size:

THE SELLER of lightning rods arrived just ahead of the storm. He came along the street of Green Town, Illinois, in the late cloudy October day, sneaking glances over his shoulder. Somewhere not so far back, vast lightnings stomped the earth. Somewhere, a storm like a great beast with terrible teeth could not be denied.

So the salesman jangled and clanged his huge leather kit in which oversized puzzles of ironmongery lay unseen but which his tongue conjured from door to door until he came at last to a lawn which was cut all wrong.

Bradbury, Ray (2013-04-23). Something Wicked This Way Comes (Greentown) (Kindle Locations 101-105). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Not good enough? Hmm. Tough crowd. Okay. How about this:

It was the silence that made Will pull back, even as Jim leaned forward, eyes moon-bright. A carnival should be all growls , roars like timberlands stacked, bundled, rolled and crashed, great explosions of lion dust, men ablaze with working anger, pop bottles jangling, horse buckles shivering, engines and elephants in full stampede through rains of sweat while zebras neighed and trembled like cage trapped in cage. But this was like old movies , the silent theater haunted with black-and-white ghosts, silvery mouths opening to let moonlight smoke out, gestures made in silence so hushed you could hear the wind fizz the hair on your cheeks.

Bradbury, Ray (2013-04-23). Something Wicked This Way Comes (Greentown) (Kindle Locations 775-780). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Yeah. Don’t tell me you don’t feel it, too.

I think I’ve proved my point. Go buy the book. You’ll see.

On to the tasks at hand…

NOTE: The above is the exact same symphony (No. 99) to which I am listening this morning. Same conductor. Same orchestra.

Symphony No. 99 in E Flat, composed in 1793 (Haydn was 61) and first performed in February of 1794 (Haydn was a month shy of his 62nd birthday) is a big-sounding, full-on symphony. Few solo instruments. A nice melody. But it left me somewhat cold. My mind could find no purchase in its grandeur.

NOTE: The above is the exact same symphony (No. 100) to which I am listening this morning. Same conductor. Same orchestra.

Symphony No. 100 in G “Military,” on the other hand, was bombastic, with lots of clashing cymbals and a marching feel to it, especially near the end of Movement II (“Allegretto”). According to its entry on Wiki,

The nickname “Military” derives from the second movement, which features prominent fanfares written for C-trumpets and percussion effects. One reviewer wrote after the premiere that the second movement evoked the “hellish roar of war increas[ing] to a climax of horrid sublimity!”

While I would not describe this symphony using such flamboyant praise, I do like it better than No. 99. Wiki goes on to describe the construction of the “military” symphony:

The “Military” second movement is derived from a movement from an earlier Concerto for Lire Organizzata in G, Hob. VIIh/3, which Haydn had composed for Ferdinand IV, King of Naples. The movement is in ternary form with central section in the minor. The instrumentation is richer than the other movements of the symphony. It is the only movement that uses divided violas and clarinets, but most importantly is the use of “Turkish” instruments (triangle, cymbals and bass drum) which make their first appearance in the central minor section. The movement concludes with an extended coda featuring a bugle call for solo trumpet, a timpani roll, which was a revolutionary adaptation of the instrument, and a loud outburst in A flat major.

No. 100 was also composed around 1793 or 1794. Both were written as part of the 12 in the London Symphony series. Haydn was in his early 60s. Each of its four movements is a joy to behold, well composed and mentally stimulating.

Incidentally, there seems to be a discrepancy regarding how many symphonies Haydn composed. Some say 108. Some say 106. Others say 104. It depends on what one calls the four Sinfonias he composed. He composed 104 symphonies, proper, and four Sinfonias. So is that 104? Or 108?

Here’s a list of Haydn symphonies. You decide for yourself.

One last factoid: Only four conductors have recorded all of Haydn’s symphonies. Adam Fischer and the Austro-Hungarian Orchestra (the editions to which I’ve been listening) is one of them.

2 thoughts on “Day 31: Something Wicked

  1. How very Halloweenish of you. You successfully slipped from rather bland music to some exceptional writing by an exceptional author. I think everyone ought to have read Ray Bradbury, if not listened to Haydn. All of Bradbury I like. Maybe not so much the Haydn.

  2. Something Wicked is a really creepy book! I can’t believe kids read it. I was creeped out reading it as an adult. Really well written, but menacing.

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