Dominant Schtominant

Musically I'm an ignoramus. I don't know a dominant from a mediant - or at least I didn't before last night. I signed up for a Community College course in the Beethoven Symphonies, and last night was my first class - I missed the first week, it seems. The instructor's approach is to begin by explaining the musical elements and illustrating them with brief excerpts - dual themes with variations, sonata form, minuet and trio, etc., etc. Unfortunately I'm a bit too slow to pick all that up, and my musical memory is not so hot either.

He adds another layer to this sort of syntactical analysis - a sort of Symphony as novel layer. (I liked his remark that Beethoven found the Symphony as a book of four short stories and left it as a novel with four - or five - chapters.) I was a bit less thrilled with the particular novel he found, though. I suppose it would be too obtuse to fail to see Beethoven's Fifth as something other than threat, struggle, and ultimate triumph, but somehow, when it was reduced to the C Major theme whacking and ultimately abusing the now broken and cowering C Minor theme it felt a bit too pat and personal. Especially when the subject turned orchestral "hugs" and "embraces." Again, it seemed almost TMI, like learning the details of your parents' sex lives.

Still, I do love the Fifth Symphony, even if he kept interupting with voice over reminders of the musical structures in question. Perhaps enough will stick that I gain a deeper appreciation of the music.

Did I mention that I tend to suffer from semi-obsessive musical thoughts - there often seems to be a sort of damned juke box playing in my head. It may not be a promising sign that when I woke up at two AM, the tune that was on was not Beethoven but Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.