I'm turning forty in less than two months. My artistic arc has brought me to the point where on Friday I auditioned for a MacDonald's commercial where the character description from the casting director said:
"THIS ROLE FOR SURE EATS AN EGG MCMUFFIN." (I did not add the caps).
After that, I needed a few days off from Beethoven - the compare and contrast was too bruising.
But now I'm back! Ready for full ego dismantlement!
Here's our man at about the age of 25. This is the only portrait I've seen of him where he appears to have an upper lip. His cheeks are rosy, his eyebrows appear neatly plucked, his hair is dark and full and, most strikingly, he doesn't seem grumpy at all. He looks like a porcelain composer doll.
It was at this age that Beethoven composed the song "Adelaide", based on a romantic poem by Friedrich von Matthisson, best known for his poem "Adelaide", because of the song by Beethoven.
As Chocolate Mouse in Youtube comments said: "Love me some 18th Century pop". You know it, Chocolate Mouse.
Beethoven adored Matthisson's poem and laboured over his setting of it for as much as three years. The result: a hit. The song was "24K Magic" popular in Beethoven's day, going through several "editions", which is a crazy thought unto itself. Now, if a song is a hit, it means millions of people consume it digitally. In 1797, a hit meant that many many people bought the sheet music and went home and PLAYED IT THEMSELVES. I find that thought staggering. Not only did musical popularity at that time require at least a portion of the population to be musically literate, a fraction of that portion would have to be skilled enough to play Beethoven's writing.
I'm not saying one is better or worse. I just love the idea of people falling in love with a song and the interpretation they know best might be their own.
Here's the wikipedia article about the song. It includes the poem itself.
My first instinct was to laugh at the poem's gonzo idealization of its subject. Lines like, "In the fields of stars thy face beams forth, Adelaide!" But then my younger self piped up and reminded me of how completely lost I got in people when I was young, how I saw them in everything, how the whole world became them, and I realized - oh, the poem might be ridiculous, but it's true. I'm just getting older.
I like imagining young, intense, idealistic Beethoven recognizing a truth in himself in this poem and dedicating himself to honouring that truth with all his heart. It warmed my shitty older self right up.
I listened to a few versions of the song. The one I offer you is Jussi Bjorling singing. Bjorling is one of my grandfather's favourites and this extraordinary recording is ample evidence as to why. Bjorling's singing is god-like. His control in quiet passages is incredible and how he sings her name at 4:07 gave me goosebumps.
Plus, there's a bonus to this YouTube video buried in the comments section. A petty snipey fight between two guys calling themselves "The Art of Bel Canto" and "Alf Zay" about vocal technique and pedagogy. High comedy.
Enjoy Adelaide.
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