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mrssoule's review against another edition
4.0
James R. Gaines is a former editor of Time and People magazines - I found his writing style captivating.
Synopsis: Frederick the Great was a music-loving warrior king who took pride in being on the cutting edge of Enlightenment philosophy - the idea that man's reason can solve all mysteries and religious faith has no role. Bach, a Baroque musician and devout Lutheran, was in his 60's when he was summoned to Frederick's court, and his life and philosophy were in direct opposition to the king's. Bach represented everything considered old and outdated, particularly his music style (learned counterpoint) and his faith. In his court, the king attempted to humiliate Bach by requesting he improvise a six-part fugue on an impossibly difficult theme. Bach wrote "A Musical Offering" as a victorious response.
Analysis: I loved this book. It was very interesting and entertaining. It bogged down slightly for me in the passages on intensive musical theory. The message of the book, to me, was this: both men had difficult, even traumatic, lives and both had the potential for genius if in different areas. However, Beach was securely rooted in his faith and commitment to God (as put in the book, a power to be feared more than man), while Frederick was entrenched in bitterness and self-indulgence. Arguably, nothing truly good and lasting came of Frederick's life, but Bach's music continues to inspire musicians and listeners alike.
Things I learned:
From Ch 4.: Counterpoint mathematically matched harmonies - it was supposed to duplicate the "music of the spheres" or the celestial dance of the planets orchestrated by God. The supreme example of this music theory is the canon form - like Pachelbel's "Canon in D". Bach was Pachelbel's apprentice from the age of 9 to 14.
From Ch. 6: Baroque used music to illustrate lyrics. For example, music soaring higher with text that says things like "He is risen" or plunging lower with concepts like death and sorrow. The idea was to use the music to "invoke specific emotional and moral messages." (p. 85)
From Ch. 7: Due to his father's increasing abuse, Frederick attempted to run away to Paris with his best friend (and possibly gay lover) Katte. The king discovered the plot and had Frederick thrown in jail accused of treason. The king's generals and advisers managed to talk him out of executing Frederick, but instead the king forced F. to watch as Katte was beheaded. F. promptly suffered a nervous breakdown.
From Ch. 8: In Bach's time, the great debate in music was intellectual purity vs. aesthetic pleasure which matched the new moral debate of community vs. individual interest.
From Ch. 13: When Hitler came to power, he held Frederick as a hero, even having a portrait of F. over his desk. When Hitler began his Aryan crusade, he laid flowers on F's tomb and gave the mission its inaugural speech from there. The only lasting influence F. had on the world was the militaristic spirit of Germany. His Enlightenment ideology, particularly his ideas about music, were ridiculed and rejected by Romanticism, the follower of Enlightenment philosophy. Bach died shortly after his meeting with the king but his music was embraced by Romanticism and influenced many important composers (including Mozart and Beethoven) for centuries.
Synopsis: Frederick the Great was a music-loving warrior king who took pride in being on the cutting edge of Enlightenment philosophy - the idea that man's reason can solve all mysteries and religious faith has no role. Bach, a Baroque musician and devout Lutheran, was in his 60's when he was summoned to Frederick's court, and his life and philosophy were in direct opposition to the king's. Bach represented everything considered old and outdated, particularly his music style (learned counterpoint) and his faith. In his court, the king attempted to humiliate Bach by requesting he improvise a six-part fugue on an impossibly difficult theme. Bach wrote "A Musical Offering" as a victorious response.
Analysis: I loved this book. It was very interesting and entertaining. It bogged down slightly for me in the passages on intensive musical theory. The message of the book, to me, was this: both men had difficult, even traumatic, lives and both had the potential for genius if in different areas. However, Beach was securely rooted in his faith and commitment to God (as put in the book, a power to be feared more than man), while Frederick was entrenched in bitterness and self-indulgence. Arguably, nothing truly good and lasting came of Frederick's life, but Bach's music continues to inspire musicians and listeners alike.
Things I learned:
From Ch 4.: Counterpoint mathematically matched harmonies - it was supposed to duplicate the "music of the spheres" or the celestial dance of the planets orchestrated by God. The supreme example of this music theory is the canon form - like Pachelbel's "Canon in D". Bach was Pachelbel's apprentice from the age of 9 to 14.
From Ch. 6: Baroque used music to illustrate lyrics. For example, music soaring higher with text that says things like "He is risen" or plunging lower with concepts like death and sorrow. The idea was to use the music to "invoke specific emotional and moral messages." (p. 85)
From Ch. 7: Due to his father's increasing abuse, Frederick attempted to run away to Paris with his best friend (and possibly gay lover) Katte. The king discovered the plot and had Frederick thrown in jail accused of treason. The king's generals and advisers managed to talk him out of executing Frederick, but instead the king forced F. to watch as Katte was beheaded. F. promptly suffered a nervous breakdown.
From Ch. 8: In Bach's time, the great debate in music was intellectual purity vs. aesthetic pleasure which matched the new moral debate of community vs. individual interest.
From Ch. 13: When Hitler came to power, he held Frederick as a hero, even having a portrait of F. over his desk. When Hitler began his Aryan crusade, he laid flowers on F's tomb and gave the mission its inaugural speech from there. The only lasting influence F. had on the world was the militaristic spirit of Germany. His Enlightenment ideology, particularly his ideas about music, were ridiculed and rejected by Romanticism, the follower of Enlightenment philosophy. Bach died shortly after his meeting with the king but his music was embraced by Romanticism and influenced many important composers (including Mozart and Beethoven) for centuries.
mollye1836's review against another edition
5.0
This is a short but well written account of a fascinating moment in history, one of the best cultural history books I've ever read. It isn't so much about Bach and Frederick the Great meeting (their encounter, although very interesting, is brief in this book) but rather about two wildly different men and the different worlds they grew up in, so to speak: Bach, an intensely religious man devoted to his art, several years Frederick's senior; and Old Fritz, cynical, jaded even with the arts that he once loved, cunning and full of contempt for the religion of his native Prussia. Two fascinating personalities. I really recommend this. Gaines is incredibly witty and he explains music very well, at least for me, someone who hasn't studied music formally in several years. Yes, a new favorite for sure.
marilynsaul's review against another edition
1.0
Yawn. Ok, I learned a little bit about Prussia, the land of my forefathers. Yawn. Fall asleep. Awaken, try to read a little more. Ohhh, yawn!!! Obviously not my kind of book.
markgmcd's review against another edition
4.0
Gaines's book is as much about the Enlightenment conflict between faith and reason as it is about the principle characters and their meeting. Chapters 1-12 (of 13) alternate between biographies of "old Bach" and the young Prussian monarch, culminating in their meeting. The biographies succeed in leaving the reader with a decent understanding of the figures in the context of their world.
Evening in the Palace of Reason's principal flaw is that, while Gaines spends most of the book building tension between Bach's and Frederick's characters and philosophies, the account of the evening in question is brief and underwhelming.
Of interest to musicians and Bach fanatics are Gaines's analytical descriptions of several of Bach's great works, including Actus Tragicus, the Goldberg Variations, and, predictably, the Musical Offering. Gaines also describes in detail the forms of fugue and canon and argues that these forms were essential to the worldview of Bach himself.
Evening in the Palace of Reason's principal flaw is that, while Gaines spends most of the book building tension between Bach's and Frederick's characters and philosophies, the account of the evening in question is brief and underwhelming.
Of interest to musicians and Bach fanatics are Gaines's analytical descriptions of several of Bach's great works, including Actus Tragicus, the Goldberg Variations, and, predictably, the Musical Offering. Gaines also describes in detail the forms of fugue and canon and argues that these forms were essential to the worldview of Bach himself.
hildegard's review against another edition
5.0
I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. Enthusiastically recommended if you love either music or history.
martha_schwalbe's review against another edition
4.0
I learned so much from this book. I did not know that music was written as a code for many types of musical communication. The discussions regarding Bach's music as it was applied to Martin Luther was fascinating.
This is a read for people interested in music and/or history.
Ideas keep going through my mind.
This is a read for people interested in music and/or history.
Ideas keep going through my mind.
sohnesorge's review against another edition
5.0
What sounds, when describing it to friends, like the most boring book in the world, turns out to be a thoroughly engaging and entertaining look at a fairly eccentric ruler and an artist brilliant enough to understand his own staggering talent, but too much ahead of his time to be truly appreciated. In describing their encounter, the author explains the fundamental shift in philosophy between the Baroque and the Enlightenment, and the good and bad that came out of both eras. Fascinating, intelligent, and highly readable.
larryschwartz's review against another edition
4.0
Of the several books that are on the reading list for my "History of modern Germany" class this coming semester, I'm afraid that this is the book that I will most enjoy. I learned many things about JSBach's career that I did not know and I found that I had a hard time keeping Friedrich der Grosse and his batty daddy, Friedrich Wilhelm, separate in my mind. And those Lutherans and their crazy sects -- "Gevalt!" I say.