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October 7, 2024 10 mins

In this absolutely melodic edition of The Armstrong & Getty One More Thing podcast, Jack & Joe talk about Beethoven's odd obsession!   

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You realize if you go see a symphony play Beethoven's fifth,
you're watching a Beethoven cover band. Right, it's one more thing.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
I'm one more thing.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
I've always liked that show, I know. But before we
get to Beethoven, Katie, you mentioned you watched the Menendez
brother series. Is that anything.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
I have not finished it yet. I've gotten through the
first three episodes. Is it pretty good? It's yeah, it's
really good. It it starts to get really sexual though.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Well that's so, I don't remember what we knew at
the time and what we just found out recently. But
the reason that evil Giscone in la is talking about,
you know, looking at this new evidence, and some of
the original lawyers think the Menendez brothers should get out,
and Gascone I think said today that they could be
out in time for the holidays. It's I need to

(00:56):
take a look at this series. I mean, it was,
you know, is a story that got lot of America's attention.
I mean, the horrible idea of you know, your kids
killing you like that in such a violent way, right,
But now the new information is there was so much
horrible sex abuse coming from.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Dad, Yeah, coming from dad and there were a couple
of scenes that I've seen so far where the brothers
get really graphic and are explaining what exactly happened to
them on multiple occasions.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Wow, And that'd be something if they get out after
decades of being in prison and we decide, eh.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Hey, if the kids aren't around it, I would say,
big time watch it.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Okay. Yeah, And I know a number of people who've
gotten pulled into it and really enjoyed it. Okay. So
over the weekend I got into Beethoven pretty heavy. This
book that I had started reading a couple of years ago,
I got back into an audio form about Beethoven's Ninth.
The name of the book is the Ninth, and it's
about what a lot of critics consider the greatest symphony

(01:54):
ever written. Whether that is true or not, I don't
know from Beethoven. And it's about the life and times,
and it's really just about what it was, what it's
like in the world in eighteen twenty four, and what
Beethoven was like and Vienna was like in all this
different sort of stuff. But here's one part that I
wanted to pass along that I thought was pretty entertaining.

(02:15):
This is a made up conversation by the author, but
it's made up, but it's pieced together ideas from various
accounts that other people I mean, so it's pieced together
from real stuff, other people saying this is the way
Beethoven talked, and he just put together these different fragments
into what could have been one thing that would be

(02:35):
pretty close to accurate.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
And then coming up after that what has become my
favorite show business story of all time involving Ludvig Vaughn.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Fantastic and the fact that he was deaf is really interesting.
That he composed so many of these great symphonies deaf
is just mind boggling. And it talks in the book
about how when the first episode of the Ninth I mean,
he's up there on stage, somebody else is conducting it
because he can't hear, and he's there on stage kind
of watching things, and he has no idea how it's

(03:06):
going because he can't hear, and he doesn't know if
it's being played well. And then he didn't know at
the end if people liked it or not. And the
person with him made him turn around so we could
see that people were clapping because other as he didn't
have any idea, isn't that wild?

Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Anyway, here's Beethoven and it includes the term Astrians. So
he's in Austria, Vienna, Austria where they perform it for
the first time, and he wrote it and he has
no respect for the people of Austria, and he calls
him astrians as in like a holes. It's a play
on words, you know, right, well, it's a good one.

(03:40):
And his friend Schindler, who's also a composer. But of
no note, Really, where's that ass Schindler. I can't find
my black frock coat. Maybe he knows where it is.
It seems I'm doomed to be surrounded by cretans and thieves,
unworthy of breathing the same air that I breathe. I'm hungry,
but I don't want to eat anything now. My nerves

(04:01):
are in such a state or I won't be able
to control my bowels during the performance.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
I've had days like that.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
This damned concert. If it only it brings in enough
money to keep my head above water for the next
few months. I can't bear this constant, eternal scrounging for money.
I who have given so much to people I shouldn't
have let myself be persuaded to give this symphony's performance here.
These horrible astrians are we Reverend Admires and Disciples or

(04:29):
whatever it was these shitheads wrote about me. He can't
trust any of them. Someone probably remembered that all my
other symphonies were performed here, and that's why they convinced me.
And he goes on and on like that. He's always
constantly worried about shitting himself. He hates he hates everybody
in the audience. He thinks they're so beneath him that
they don't even deserve to have his music. He's constantly

(04:52):
are yes, he's constantly broke and angry about that, and
he's mean to everybody. Oh, and he lives in filth.
His apartment is just full of filth, old food, and
dirty clothes, and it's just It was an interesting look
at Beethoven, since I only really knew him as the
you know, the marble bust sitting on a piano.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
Yeah, you know, I've read a fair amount about Beethoven
through the years. I am a great fan of his music.
Jack asked me, Oh, I'll finish the thought before we
go off on that tangent. But yes, he is a towering,
creative genius. I've known a few, no, not as towering,

(05:38):
but creative geniuses, and they're all weird as hell. It
just comes with the turf. So the idea that he
was an angry.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
Bitter, superior, shitting.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Son of a bitch is not that surprising. Yeah, I mean,
what's it like to have a brain that could compose?
I mean people talk about the symphonies or the quartets.
My favorite Beetholl I love the symphonies, but is probably
the piano trios that have piano, violin and cello. They're exquisite.
You asked me during the show, what's a good place

(06:14):
to start with Beethoven? I love the sixth Symphony, which
we talked about Depastoralo, the pastoral Symphony. It's brilliant and
full of all sorts of hummable melodies. But the piano
trios are just amazing.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Anyway, So he's headed off to the concert the first
performance of the ninth and if.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
You want to know the ultimate recording, it's an Ashkenazi
farroh and is it yo yo man cello. It might
be anyway, it's wonderful, look for it.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
So they're headed over to the theater for the performance,
and is a nephew who he adopted as his own son.
Karl is with him, and Carl, you keep an eye
on the people taking the money. They're all fiebes. Well,
let's go play for these beggars, slaves and clods. I
soar above them as my music source, above my contemporaries.
We exist on different planes. And then he says, is

(07:03):
he's headed out the door for the crowd, lack for confidence.
As he's hitting out the door for the crowd that
he hates, he quotes somebody against stupidity. Even the gods
fight in vain. All right, let's go wow, wow, hey,
hey he did.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
That's one of your freedom loving quoted that there they
right there, against stupidity, even the gods fight in vain.
So true.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
That's hilarious.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
Vladimir Ashkenazi, It'sak Pelman and Lynn Harrell. It's the ultimate
piano trios. Anyway, that's a hilarious thing to say and
so true.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
It's funny though, because classical music just in general is
seen as so well classy. Yeah, cerebral, cerebral, classy, dignified,
pinky in the air, you know that sort of thing
he's called people's shitheads and and astrians, and you're all
a bunch of beggars and idiots. I guess I'll go
play my music. But why am I so poor? This sucks?

Speaker 3 (08:01):
You don't appreciate me. I don't have the time nor
interest actually track this down. But what's the origin of
the phrase love the art, not the artist. What's the
you know, vintage of it could have been when somebody
ran into Baitthoven, right, they're like, hey, the fifth is amazing,
but god, what a prick dude, it's completely nuts.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
Or yeah, people going to visit him and he's laying
there on his couch and there's like crusts of bread
around and old soup rotting in a bowl and he's filling.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Oh and then he gets like visiting my son in college.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, exactly. Then, and he's fifty three at this point,
so he's like, you know, fully into a life. He's
toward the end of his life. Actually, he gets up
off the couch. There's a bunch of people there to
talk to him about the symphony. Later that day, he
gets up off the couch and gets undressed to change
into the clothes he's gonna wear completely naked just while
he's talking to them.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
And shits himself. Oh that's the worst part. Oh okay.
So here's my favorite, my new favorite show business story
involving Beethoven. So it's eighteen nineteen. He's approached by this
music publisher who wanted to work with him, but Beethoven
didn't like him, and he was suspicious of him. But

(09:15):
I'll just read you the sentence. Eighteen nineteen. Beethoven was
first approached by the publisher Morriet Schleschinger, who won the
suspicious composer around while visiting him by procuring for him
a plate of roast veal. So he just show us
up and says, I know you don't like me, but
here's some veal. Beethoven's like, yeah, you're not so bad.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
What Wow? I should myself. I should myself. I should myself.
Huch byself, I should myself, I should myself.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
You myself?

Speaker 1 (09:50):
He should his helth he should himself?

Speaker 3 (09:55):
Oh boy, unfortunate. Well do next time we discussed Amadeus
how he was a genius.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Bud of bedwetter.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
Mots are whatever.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
Whatever.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
Alright, Well, I guess that's it. Name a hit
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Jack Armstrong

Jack Armstrong

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