Orchestras are re-affirming Western culture and values with symbolic music at this year's BBC Proms
By G.O.
POLITICS intruding on culture can be unnerving. Stalin restricted Shostakovich’s work in the name of state order. The Third Reich’s appropriation of Wagner prompted Israel to adopt an unofficial ban on his music. But music often leaves a greater legacy than diktats and propaganda. Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture”, composed after Stalin’s death, is remembered today as a towering symbol of freedom from musical dictatorship, and Israel’s unofficial ban on Wagner was cast aside by Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle orchestra in 2001. Two years earlier Mr Barenboim had set up the West-Eastern Divan orchestra—comprised principally of Israelis and Palestinians—in order to show that differences may be settled through understanding and co-operation, ideas best expressed through the collected study and performance of great music.
Music has an unusual ability to promote rapport and pleasure in the wake of catastrophe. After the lorry attack in Nice, Sakari Oramo, the conductor at the first night of the BBC Proms, a series of classical concerts, preceded his scheduled programme with a rendition of “La Marseillaise”. The scene was a moving one: the entire Albert Hall rose to its feet and met the piece’s conclusion with rapturous applause. It was reminiscent of the feeling in “Casablanca” (1942) when “La Marseillaise”, sung by all those at Rick’s club, overpowers the voices of the Nazis. There was something life-affirming about an orchestra comprised of multiple nationalities playing French music under a Finnish conductor in one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.
This was not the first time the Proms had altered the programme in the wake of catastrophe. Along with “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Adagio for Strings”, the BBC added the finale of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony—“Ode to Joy”—to their final-night celebrations after the attacks on September 11th 2001. This showed Western unity and defiance through Western high culture, a perfect piece for such a task. Nicholas Kenyon, then the director of the Proms, said that the finale was “a true mirror of the ability of music to uplift and unify”. Beethoven’s final symphony demonstrates togetherness and power through its sheer scale, combining choral with symphonic and requiring a large number of musicians. The same could be said then for pieces such as Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” but it is also Beethoven’s text that sets his titanic symphony apart. Schiller’s words epitomise unity: “Alle Menschen Werden Brüder”—all men become brothers. Frequent allusion to “Freude” and “froh”—joy and glad—inspires jubilation. Beethoven’s own words come before Schiller’s poem in the score, addressing listeners as “Freunde”—friends. The piece is aimed at all who will hear it, as opposed to one nationality alone. The music therefore rallies together people of an identity (Western) instead of a country.
Attacks have rocked America, Belgium, France and, most recently, Germany. No single national anthem can serve to rally us all. Paris and Ansbach were attacks on culture, focusing on musical events; Nice was an assault on identity, focusing on Bastille Day celebrations. Both culture and identity should therefore be used by the West in response. “Ode to Joy” should be used again to spearhead a cultural retort to Islamic State. The piece is able to encapsulate Western values, culture and identity for a simple reason: its popularity shows that the West has arguably chosen it to symbolise its society. Beethoven’s 9th is played at the Proms every year; it has been used in films from “Sister Act” to “Die Hard” and it is the official anthem of the European Union. Everybody recognises the tune. Beethoven is a giant of Western art, through his life demonstrating the power of defiance by working through deafness and on his deathbed.
On Sunday 24th July the acclaimed Russian director Vladimir Jurowski led the London Philharmonic orchestra and choir in a Proms performance (pictured) of Beethoven’s masterpiece. Had this concert been dedicated to victims of terrorism and labelled as a show of Western defiance it could have been argued that politics had intruded—the tone of the whole concert would have been altered. However, finding space for the “Ode to Joy” again at this year’s final night would be an example of culture embracing politics, as the concert would remain primarily a celebration of the culmination of over a month of music. The current political climate, particularly in Britain, is one of uncertainty and division. A piece able to inspire solidarity, assertive in its claim to be the standard-bearer for Western values, could prove timely at the last night of the proms, broadcast live on BBC One and Two.
Life-affirming music has no nationality. Yet it defines an identity of Western liberal values undeterred by terror, bringing comfort to those who hear it. If it reaches out to the threatened in politics, it may give the comfort they need. Just as Shostakovich lived to celebrate the demise of Stalin, through Beethoven we may persevere until the demise of terror.
