MUSIC AND MARS
Tunes That Rallied Nations
"FATE KNOCKS AT THE DOOR" The germ of Beethoven's Fifth ("V") Symphony
R. GOEBBELS knows very well what importance to attach to music as a method of propaganda. Night after night German radio feeds its listeners on martial airs. And very splendid many of them are, too, it must be admitted. Huge choirs singing, great orchestras and bands play-ing-there is the stir of marching feet in such music to inspire the least musical. Music, in fact, like all the arts, must take off its hat in wartime and go in step with the spirit of the hour. Dr. Goebbels was by no means the first to understand the importance of making a musical noise to act on the home front the counterpart of the guns gding off along the frontiers. A feature, called "Tunes that Rallied Nations," to be broadcast from 2YA at
3 p.m. on Sunday, August 31, will discuss music and its effect on different peoples in wars and revolutions between Henry V.’s victory at Agincourt in 1415 and the present day. Famous Examples It is suggested that the song which makes the most appeal at she moment seems to be "There'll Always Be An England." But the appeal here must be more sentimental than musically exciting, unless the correct tempo is very carefully observed, and listeners may find among the other examples to be given music which, in itself, is more thrilling. The Marseillaise, for example, the Rakoczy March, and "Masaniello." From Verdi’s operas will come selections which, no less than some of the more famous songs, had their effect on the temper of peoples in their times. "John Brown’s Body" and "Tipperary" will be cited as examples of the popular wartime song.
It’s a far cry from the words of the old Agincourt song: Our King went forth to Normandy In Pride and Grace and Chivalry to It’s a long way to Tipperary | It's a long way to goand a far cry from Verdi to " John Brown’s Body," but recent events have created an even more unusual accident of popular idealism-Beethoyen has got in the news! The opening motive of his Fifth Symphony, three short notes and one long, have been revived as a counterpart of the Morse signal for five, or V, this coinciding with the spread of the "V for Victory" campaign inside as well as outside Beethoven’s own Germany. Music has built barricades, stormed citadels, overthrown despotisms. Next Sunday’s programme will attempt to show listeners why that should be,
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 114, 29 August 1941, Page 10
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423MUSIC AND MARS New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 114, 29 August 1941, Page 10
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