Not Pilgrims But Puritans
Not Black But Navy
Not Bach But Telemann
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The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy
Muffy Aldrich
Muffy Aldrich, Editor of Salt Water New England: The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy, and a 12th Generation New Englander. Since 2010.
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I listen to Boston classical radio WCRB in my car as I'm driving around, and when a Telemann piece comes on, it's a good omen to me, maybe even a blessing.
ReplyDeleteNot Telemann but Corelli.
ReplyDeleteNot Corelli but Vivaldi.
DeleteNah, Vivaldi is way too mainstream.
DeleteI do not agree at all. Maybe mainstream people listen to his music, but it is the most simple sophisticated music. Uncle of mine played in the Oxford University chamber Orchestra I fell in love with Vivaldi then. It is the most beautiful sensitive music.
DeleteI found this blog about a year ago, and have been enjoying the lovely photos and interesting reflections since -- thank you!
ReplyDeleteI understand Pilgrims/Puritans and black/navy, but the Bach/Telemann one baffles me.
This is the first time I have commented on a blog post -- ever. But I'm a classical musician and music teacher, and I've been puzzling over this post all morning. Failing to come up with a satisfying answer, I'm breaking my own "rule" and asking the community to explain the preference for Telemann over Bach.
Thanks again!
I am not an expert, either on classical music or on being preppy. But I think that Telemann might make better background music for a party because Bach attracts attention too well. If I were going to a concert, I'd pick Bach.
DeleteIt baffled me as well. Perhaps it was a way of telegraphing a broader familiarity with the baroque (intellectual snobbery), but I find most Bach (and Vivaldi and Handel, even Corelli) more fun than most Telemann. The diversity of Bach is simply staggering.
DeleteThe preferences in other eras are interesting, too. Mozart or Haydn, Ravel or Debussy, Cage or Glass, Davis or Coltrane, Beatles or Stones? My answer is all of it, please.
I have been watching Brokenwood Mysteries and am still not there on C&W, but my appreciation for rap is growing.
Rap has dominated popular music for decades. There is little appreciation for it among those who grew up with true “diversity” in music. An AM radio station in the mid-60’s might air four or five tunes before going to a car dealer commercial. Think about it; The Beatles, might be followed by Simon and Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, Martha and the Vandellas, and The Beach Boys, last but not least. Yes, streaming and what have you changes everything. But, if radio had survived as the force it was back in the day, would rap dominate for so long? The popular music of the masses has been stagnant since the 90’s. To say nothing of the rap “lyrics,” it is a very slippery slope from The Righteous Brothers to Cardi B, alas.
DeleteAnonymous, what you say is true, and the ways of 1960s radio went well beyond what you describe. In those days, many AM stations played different types of music at different times of day. If you kept the radio on all day, you'd get a mix of the Beatles, Percy Faith, Floyd Cramer, Dean Martin, and Sammy Kaye, with maybe some gospel in the early morning. When my dad was starting out in radio in a small Southern town in the late '40s, he as the new guy got stuck with the undesirable jobs like signing on at 5:00 a.m. and the "race music" shift early in the afternoon. I'm not sure what the previous and subsequent shifts involved, but being Dad was sort of like being in the middle of a reverse Oreo: dark filling with white wafers.
DeleteToday’s “lyrics” will never be sung by children 50 years from now. Can you imagine? Where have you gone, Robert Hunter… “Reach out your hand if your cup be empty. If your cup is full may it be again. Let it be known there is a fountain that was not made by the hand of man.”
DeleteTruly, if kindness and consideration are SWNE principles, these words belong in it's canon.
DeleteMaybe it is as simple as the author prefers Teleman.
DeleteMaybe a li'l 'tongue-in-cheek*?
DeleteIn the Preppy Handbook: "Have dust, not dirt"
Bob Dylan speaking of Robert Hunter, “he’s the only one I ever worked with, when he wanted to make a change I let him make it, no questions asked. Because of who he is.”
DeleteRobert Hunter wrote the lyrics for a lot of The Grateful Dead's songs. The Grateful Dead used to have quite a following in certain preppy circles although there was nothing preppy about the band itself.
DeleteTelemann and Bach both wrote beautiful flute sonatas, which I could actually play about forty years ago. On a daily basis, though, I listen to more Bach, especially his cantatas, than anything else.
ReplyDeleteBach's "Sheep May Safely Graze" (part of his 1713 Hunt Cantata) is the ultimate in calming and reassuring music.
DeleteI cannot argue with the above. I will simply add, Not Power, But Sail.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Hoist the main and cast off the mooring and let the peaceful noise of water gurgling along the lee rail sooth your soul.
DeleteI miss your posts on the "do's and don'ts" of Preppy. They were fun! --Holly
ReplyDeleteI llke how there's just no disagreement about the first two... The Telemann, yeah, Tafelmusik definitely came before Preppy! Bach can be a bit much, unless it's Anna Magdalena or something. Scarlatti and Boccherini, they also have the spirit. Of the more recents, I might nominate Mendelssohn, living the good life and rolling with it.
ReplyDeleteClever.
ReplyDeleteBridge not Pinochle.
ReplyDeleteTelemann over Bach is surely in jest. Otherwise it’s simply wrong. The ambiguity of the post is fun though. (While we’re at it, the Puritanical ethic and influence is distinct and has much to command our thanks, but the pilgrims were no slouches.- esp compared to the barbarism of, say, everything since.)
ReplyDeleteAnd the radio station of record is WMNR in (most of) CT. Better than CRB, NHPR, or any of the Maine stations. Well worth a listen for this crowd, the weekend programming in particular.
Here, here! Well spoken Muffy! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteWMNR is very good. With streaming one can now listen to almost any radio station. We live in Conn’s northwest corner. Radio reception is pitiful. So we stream. Basically we use an old ipad as a radio. If you are so inclined check out WWOZ “New Orleans Music for the Universe,” excellent. WHAY “Free Range Radio” out of McCreary County Kentucky will transport you into a world very unlikely frequented by readers of this blog. Tune in for Swap & Shop (buy sell and trade) “looking for chickens that lay green eggs… have some old car batteries for sale…”etc.. Listen early morning or afternoon and through the rest of the day. They play a lot of unexpected cover tunes. Just avoid 9a-12noon unless you have a thing for Kentucky sports.
ReplyDelete