Organizing Beauty

THE ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR raises the baton, her other hand raised in sync, the magic wand of perfect rhythm, and gently sweeps through a flowing motion, bringing order and perfect beauty to a hundred musicians. The highly organized majestic noise begins...It was not always this way. three hundred years ago the conductor held a seven foot long heaven thick wooden staff, and over sized cane, and kept time by banging it rhythmically on the floor, thumping, thumping. One renowned composer- conductor - composers often conduct their own music in performances, then, and now - banged the huge baton down on his own foot, contracted gangrene, and, in an era of primitive medicine, died. Eventually, frequent foot bruising prompted a new technique, one based on sight, rather than sound. The list of great composers who died much too soon lengthened over the centuries. Mozart, Schubert, Gershwin, Hendrix Many of them died from self inflicted lifestyle choices, many did not. I recall my father expressing outrage that George Gershwin's surgeon had botched his heart operation. In fact, Gershwin died of an inoperable brain tumor. Centuries ago, orchestra members dressed in brightly colored, gaudy uniforms, like modern marching band uniforms, and the audience was not expected to sit placidly on its hands, and applaud at only the proper times, politely. They were a rowdier bunch, eating and drinking during performances, making noise. Every orchestral member had his or her music lighted up with a candle located near the music, in a candle holder. Presumably there was plenty of water nearby... Franz Joseph Hayden got tired of people goings to sleep during his concert, so he inserted a particularly loud brass blast into a quiet string section, waking everybody up. Hayden, like most classical composers, lived from the patronage of a wealthy noblemen, and he and his orchestra performed at court much of the year, and went home for a summer break. One summer the archduke kept them in session long into the hot weather, and they grew tired, ready to go home and be with their families. Hayden wrote his famous "farewell symphony", in which, near the end, one musician at at time stand up, blows out the candle, and walks quietly off stage, carrying his instrument and sheet music. Finally, only a single violin player remains, onstage, and finishes the symphony with a solo. Hayden and Mozart, good friends, went to a coffee house, and listened as the string quartet played one of Hayden's compositions. Nobody recognized them, although they were celebrities, in the days before photography. Hayden, a prankster, summoned the waiter, and complained bitterly about the bad music being played. the server objected, saying that the piece was by the great composer, Franz Joseph Hayden. Hayden still insisted that the music was garbage, Mozart agreed, and the two got up and stormed out of the coffee shop, and doubled over in laughter outside in the street.