The wonder of classical music: what is this classical music anyway?
Part 1 of our short online course taking you into the world of classical music
Music is really mysterious: you can't see it, touch it or smell it. And it is ephemeral, because once a piece has sounded, it is gone. Yet these vibrations in the air, which is how you could technically describe music, can do so much to you. It can transport you to another world and touch you emotionally. The perfect place to enjoy classical music is the concert hall. High time to learn more about the wonder of classical music and the classical concert.
What is classical music?
You probably have an image of it, but what exactly is classical music? A definition like "Western art music from the late Middle Ages onwards" comes close, but what does it include? The possibilities are endless and therefore, within classical music, there is something for everyone. We can therefore immediately dispose of some preconceptions about classical music. One is that it is always very heavy and serious. Indeed, Bach, Shostakovich, Mahler and many others have composed some long works with a good portion of tragedy. Don't let that put you off: no piece is as beloved as Bach's Matthäus-Passion and Mahler's symphonies also draw packed halls. And what could be finer than a piece like Barber's Adagio for Strings when you're feeling a little sad? Still, the death bells and heavy chants in Shostakovich's Thirteenth Symphony can be a bit much on a sunny spring day. Fortunately, there is also plenty of lighter entertainment music. Mozart wrote quite a few pieces as musical accompaniment to festive occasions, such as Eine kleine Nachtmusik. Later composers like Gershwin certainly did not write only heavy pieces either.
(text continues below)
Classical music in everyday life
Then there is the misconception that classical music would be elitist. That may once have been true, but in recent years everything has been done to make classical music accessible to everyone. Thus, concerts take place not only in the finest concert halls, but also in the open air or in a café, for instance. There are also many mixes with other musical styles, such as a classical symphony orchestra performing tango music by Piazzolla. And above all, let's not forget film music. First of all, there are feature films that are directly about classical music, such as Amadeus about Mozart and Impromptu about Chopin. But much more often, a film is about something else and classical music provides the atmosphere. Remember that gruesome scene in Silence of the Lambs, where Hannibal Lecter suddenly grabs his guard? Certainly that wouldn't be so shocking if you hadn't, quite innocently, heard Bach's Goldberg Variations before that. And what would Out of Africa be without Mozart's Clarinet Concerto?
Also outside the film industry, classical music creeps into your life without you noticing it. The world-famous ringtone that probably also came from your very first mobile phone is a guitar melody by Francisco Tárrega. And if, as a football fan, you get in the mood when you hear the Champions League anthem, you have Handel to thank for that. Then, when a goal is scored, supporters sing Bruckner's Fifth Symphony en masse. That Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes is the conduit for this symphony does not take away from the fact that the melody was conceived by Bruckner.(text continues below pictures)
Listening with your eyes
In short: classical music is never far away, but the best thing is to actually sit down and watch musicians live. After all, you also listen with your eyes: a beautiful concert hall, musicians and instruments on stage, and the other visitors immersing themselves in the music together with you. Just need to know exactly what kind of music you want to hear. Will you go for an intimate concert by a string quartet or will it be the Main Hall with an entire symphony orchestra? Or the total experience of orchestra, singing, dancing and acting in an opera? Also useful to know: exactly which pieces will be played? If you see the 'great composers' like Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms on the programme, then you have classical music as you probably imagine it and can head for the concert hall with confidence. A lot more specialised are early music by Palestrina, for instance, or the newer music of Schoenberg and Boulez. These can be equally beautiful and exciting, but it is always a good idea to read about the concert in advance or listen to a short piece. Almost all pieces can easily be found online.
It can all be
So, the choice of concert has been made and you're about to head out the door. But what do you put on? The clothes you wear at the office, your finest suit or do you prefer the jogging trousers? Could be anything: no concert hall in the Netherlands has a dress code and the same goes for the opera. Some people like to dress up nicely for a concert, but everyday clothes will definitely not make you look out of place. Well and truly in the hall, the concert starts and after that very beautiful first movement of Debussy's String Quartet, you start clapping enthusiastically. Oops! Nobody claps along and, with some bad luck, someone looks back angrily. Don't panic: applause is simply a token of appreciation and you don't harm anyone, but often there is no clapping between the movements of a multi-part piece. That way the attention stays with the music, is the idea. Whether this is really the case remains to be seen, as people may finally cough or sit down differently and you often see the musicians relax for a moment or turn their pages. But under the motto 'better safe than sorry', it might be better to wait to clap until the piece is completely over. After the last piece, there is a good chance of a standing ovation. In the Netherlands, this is almost always the case, and why not? A practical reason for joining in is that you can't see much when the person in front of you suddenly stands up.
An experience richer
Then you leave the hall and you are an experience richer: an experience of not having to do anything for a while, of being unreachable, of simply enjoying all the beautiful sounds that come your way. Concentrated listening or quiet contemplation, just watching where your thoughts go, it's all perfectly possible on the classical sounds. In a concert hall, you are briefly in another world and you leave that world differently from the way you entered it. That is the wonder of classical music, and that is the magic of a classical concert.