Music As Partisan Propaganda

找到多年前發表在「英文中國郵報」的評論，當時，文建會（現在的文化部）主辦「二二八音樂會」，指揮家瓦薩里領軍幾個二線樂團戶外演出貝九「快樂頌」，由向陽以台語填詞，這種音樂大拜拜可能無人記得，但向陽立大功，後來入主國藝會。

As the audience was making its way down the aisle at a piano recital, I overheard a couple in front of me chat about the program, and noticed that they confused Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" with his "Pastoral Sonata"! It is hardly their fault. Program notes in Taiwan ordinarily change and twist the story of the music to make them interesting. Music lovers have been conditioned to a point of view that the plot, the meaning and the compositional background of the music has little to do with the appreciation of it.

Conductor Tamas Vasary's performance on the 28th of February of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony "Ode to Joy" became one more example of this pitiful situation.

The text of "Ode to Joy," originally written by Friedrich von Schiller, expressed the belief that all men can become brothers, but it was changed from the universal brotherhood to "Ode to Taiwan" in Vasary's concert. In 1989, when this symphony was performed to celebrate the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, Leonard Bernstein said he had felt authorized by the power of the moment to substitute one word "Freiheit" for "Freude." The historical foundation of this subtle change goes back to a novel published in 1838. I wonder by what power Vasary is authorized to change the entire text! Perhaps, universal brotherhood is too difficult for this small island?

As sociologist Theodor Adorno pointed out, "Ode to Joy" is a work destroyed through social usage. Taiwan is certainly not alone in making propagandist interpretation of this monumental work. During the 1960s and the 70s, the People's Republic of China viewed the folk-like "Joy" theme as musical representation of "people's fight against capitalism."

Political interpretations only undermine our true ability to present, or to receive a great work such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. There have been performances of the Ninth known, not for musical, but for extramusical reasons. Wendy Carlos' electronic version for the film "A Clockwork Orange" is one of them. Willingly or unwillingly, Vasary will soon add one along this line.