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Showing posts from March, 2013

Beethoven: The Innovator

Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) was one of the most innovative figures in the music history. I recently finished taking a class on Beethoven at Stanford taught by a brilliant music scholar, Stephen Hinton . The class was a fascinating journey into Beethoven's nine symphonies and into his life.  Beethoven played a key role in evolution of symphonies from classical period (1760 - 1820) to Romantic period (1820 - 1918). Following are a few key innovations he was responsible for:  1. Movements : A classical period symphony has three or four movements. They are usually in the sequence of Fast -> Medium -> Dance -> Fast tempo . The three-movement classical period symphonies follow Fast -> Medium -> Fast tempo. Beethoven experimented with and popularized the following in the Romantic period:  i) Changing the order of movements. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is an example  ii) Expand the number of movements. Beethoven's Sixth Symphony is an exam

Lifespan

Human lifespan continues to rise and the lifespan of everything humans use continues to decline. Is that sustainable?

Sincere or Serious

People often confuse seriousness and sincerity.