February 21, 2013 (Thursday)
“”Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”–Berthold Auerbach 1812-1882
I think I was in the 7th Grade when our music class went on a field trip to the Houston City Auditorium to hear the Houston Symphony Orchestra perform just for us (and hundreds of other kids from the Houston public schools). The year would have been 1944. Long since demolished to make room for Jones Hall, the City Auditorium had been built in 1910 on Texas Avenue in downtown. It had been in place for 34 years when we went to hear the music. Most of us heard a symphony orchestra for the very first time that day. We had been learning about the instruments and were instructed to pay close attention to their unique sounds. A piece specifically selected because it singles out certain instruments was “Peter and the Wolf” by Prokovief. I did not realize it at the time, but that selection was only 8 years old when we heard it. It has been around so long today (77 years) and is so very popular that I find it difficult to think of it as relatively “new,” which it was in 1944.
I attended a performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in the modern Jones Hall when I was living in Houston in recent years. The plush surroundings were nothing like the old City Auditorium which stood earlier on the very same land, and where I had seen boxing and wrestling through clouds of smoke from cigarettes and cigars smoked by most of the audience. The other giant entertainment space was the Houston Coliseum (now demolished), where I had attended rodeos and the roller derby. When left to my own choices, I must confess I chose less refined shows back then. I recently went to a marvelous concert of thrilling performances of Smetana, Sarasate and Brahms by the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra, proving my tastes have improved over the years.
Back to Prokofiev and “Peter and the Wolf.” I dearly love to hear it whenever possible. I can close my eyes and visualize all the characters. Sometimes life is a lot of fun, isn’t it?
Music speaks what cannot be expressed
Soothes the mind and gives it rest
Heals the heart and makes it whole
Flows from heaven to the soul