Miscellanea

• Norman Lebrecht points out that the program for today's Presidential Inauguration is pretty light on classical music. And by "pretty light" I mean there doesn't seem to be any. Unless the choirs do some. But hey, there is James Taylor and Beyoncé. Four years ago there was Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero and Anthony McGill... At this rate in 2016 the musical artists will be Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Oh, wait, I think Lady Gaga is performing at one of the Inaugural Balls.

Sigh...

• I was in the recording studio yesterday with the performers who just premiered my Songs from the Poets on Saturday. The studio owner stuck his head in when we were finished and said "I wish pop songs were still as interesting as your songs..."
• We had a pretty good session and in a week or so I will start putting up the results after a little judicious editing. I'll talk about the songs then. But for now I will just tell you the names of the poets: Robert Graves, Li Po (also known as Li Bai), Philip Larkin, Anna Akhmatova, John Donne and Victor Hugo.
• I don't think this is how they teach it in conducting school. Joseph Olefirowicz shows us how to conduct Candide:

• Which reminds me of a funny story about a conductor. I forget who it was, but one conductor forgot to zip his fly before walking onstage. He was about to give the downbeat when the principal cellist alerted him to the problem. So, not wanting to be seen zipping up his fly by the entire orchestra, he turned 180 degrees. Forgetting that now the entire audience could see him zipping up his fly...

• Let's end with some music. I haven't heard this lovely piece in a long time.

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Miscellanea

• There is a new classical music online magazine from the UK called Sinfini Music. Unfortunately it looks like one of the more ADHD fashion magazines and uses as a motto "Cutting Through Classical" so I'm sure it will be quite successful while at the same time offering very little actual content.
• Here is an article on some research into what happens when you start to learn how to play an instrument very young as opposed to starting later. If you start before the age of seven you can actually rewire the corpus callosum for greater speed and synchronisation of the hands. This doesn't necessarily make you a better musician, but it probably means you will have a better and more reliable technique. I started very late, around age sixteen, which probably put a limit on how much virtuosity I was capable of. If you work very hard, you can still become a very good player.
• If you want an introduction to the aesthetics of music, this might be a good place to start. This may give you an idea of the approach:

Music supplies us with no definite images of nature, as painting and sculpture do, and with no ideas, as poetry does. It contains feelings, but no meanings. Music offers us no background for emotion, no objects upon which it may be directed, no story, no mise en scene. It supplies us with the feeling tones of things and events, but not with the things or events themselves. It moves wholly in a world of its own, a world of pure feeling, with no embodiment save only sound. It may express terror, but not terror over this or that; joy, but whether the joy that comes from sight of the morning or of the beloved, it cannot tell. In one brief space of time, it may arouse despair, hope, triumph–but all over nothing.Yet–and this is the central paradox of music–despite its abstractness, nay, because of this very quality, it remains the most personal and intimate of the arts. For, itself offering no images of things and events to which we may attach the feelings which it arouses, we supply our own. We fill in the impersonal form of musical feeling with the concrete emotions of our own lives; it is our strivings, our hopes and fears, which music expresses.

•  I'm preparing to do a post taking a fresh look at Schoenberg, Webern and Berg because they are historically very important. If you want a very concise introduction, you can find it here.

And now, for the traditional musical selection. Here is "Nacht" (Night) from Seven Early Songs by Alban Berg (1885 - 1935)

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700th Post!

This is the 700th post I have put up on the blog in a bit over a year and a half. I began the blog in June of 2011 and it has been a very fulfilling experience in several ways. One is that it gives me the occasion to think about music. Another is that it gives me the opportunity to share great music with others. A third is that it offers a podium to critique silly things other people say.

In future posts I am going to finish my series on Shostakovich symphonies and quartets. I will probably do some more posts on Beethoven, Bach and I have a lot to do on 19th century music.

Any readers have any suggestions for topics or posts? Please let me know.

I am delighted to note that six out of the top ten countries that read this blog are non-English speaking. I was talking to someone at the Canada Council the other day and she was astonished to hear this. But it's true. Here is the list in order of number of readers from high to low:

United States

United Kingdom

Russia

Mexico

Canada

Germany

France

Australia

Philippines

Sweden

I'm not sure why these countries in particular are drawn to the Music Salon, but notice that they are mostly ones with strong classical music traditions. And good internet access?

I'm not going to do a retrospective or put up links to a lot of posts today. I'm just going to thank you all for reading this blog and say that I hope to continue to post about music from a fresh perspective.

I was really delighted to reacquaint myself with the Rite of Spring the other day. What an amazing piece! So let's listen to a bit more Stravinsky:

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Is Music Just the Soundtrack to Your Life?

No.


Emphatically no!


You want a more detailed answer? Any music that would be a suitable soundtrack to your life is going to be as boring and undistinguished as your life. Any good music has better things to do.

I've been reading this article on the unbelievable narcissism that seems to be burgeoning more and more all the time. Trust me, Bach did not write the Art of Fugue as sonic decoration to your humdrum existence.

Sorry, but someone had to say it...

I feel barely worthy to even listen to that and sometimes I feel my head is about to explode from the sheer intricacy of it.

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Music Tied to Its Time

The turn of the year gets me thinking about time and timeliness. In an interview connected with the reunion of Cream back in 2005, Ginger Baker talked about the "gift of time" which yes, the members of Cream certainly had/have. Being on time in music means being exactly on the beat, or exactly the right amount before the beat--or after, for that matter. The problem with mechanical assistants like drum machines or autotune is that real musical expression often demands that we not hit the beat exactly--or the note exactly!

We talk a lot about music that transcends it time or the circumstances of its composition: music like Bach's Goldberg Variations or Beethoven's string quartets. But let's take some time and talk about music that is tied to its time, music that emphatically does not transcend the circumstances of its composition. Music like "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly, a psychedelic rock band from San Diego. I'm reminded of this one because it was used in an episode of House MD a few seasons back to accompany the administration of psilocybin mushrooms. Groovy! Don't miss the obligatory drum solo that occupies the middle of the song.

One thing we know for sure about the 60s is that everyone seems to have had a lot more time than we do now. Time to listen to seventeen minute songs that just meander on and on--with that big drum solo in the middle. Herman's Hermits are another group from the 60s--one of the lesser lights from the "British Invasion". This is pre-psychedelia so it's a little sillier and a lot shorter:

It is not just a lot of pop music that seems to be tied to a particular time and place--sometimes classical composers are as well--ironically, it is the ones that think of themselves as the most 'progressive' that seem to be most linked to an era. Take Harry Partch (1901 - 1974), for example. He is one of the most eccentric, individualistic composers in all of history, but his music does not seem to transcend its time. One of his many innovations was to invent entirely new systems of tuning. Once he did that, he had to invent new instruments that could play these notes. Alas, neither the instruments nor the music written for them quite took off and the only instruments capable of playing Partch's music are the ones he built, now residing in a special archive. Here is the first part of a BBC documentary on Partch that gives a bit of an introduction.

It is hard to imagine someone like Partch in the musical world of today. Another unusual figure in music history is Carlo Gesualdo of Venosa (1566 - 1613) whose biography seethes with the intrigue and violence of late-Renaissance Italy when families like the Medicis dominated the church, finance, culture and politics--and occasionally poisoned those who got in their way. Gesualdo is most famous for two things: writing passionate and very chromatic madrigals and murdering his wife and her lover when he discovered them in bed together. Here is one of those madrigals, "Moro, lasso, al mio duolo," which means, "I die, alas, from my pain".

The observation is often made that this degree of chromaticism is not seen before the late 19th century. Not really true as there are also striking chromatic passages in Orlande de Lassus and John Dowland. The idea that this foreshadows in any way the chromaticism of later times should be resisted. This music did not lead anywhere: the next stage in music history was very much towards tonal harmony--the opposite direction! No, this music is very much tied to its time. Its overheated passion suits the drama and intrigue of life in Italy in the late Renaissance.

One of the biggest musical trends in the early 19th century was the incredible rise in the popularity of the piano. This was accompanied (or stimulated by) a host of piano virtuosi, most of whom are largely forgotten today. The music of Frederic Chopin is still very popular as is that of Franz Liszt, but what about Ignaz Moscheles (1794 - 1870)?

I think we can see why this is not popular nowadays--but Moscheles was a very big name in his time.

It does make one wonder how some of the most popular music of our time is going to be regarded a hundred years from now...

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The Ten Greatest Pieces of Music?

The question mark is because, hey, it's just a guess. An informed guess. But your mileage may vary. I'm also not going to number them because to some extent these pieces are incomparables. I mean that their aesthetic virtues are so different from one another that you can't order them 1 - 10. Well, sure, you can, but the main result would just be a lot of arguments! Mind you, I suspect that a lot of these "Best of" year-end lists are created mainly to start arguments.

My purpose here is just to pull together ten pieces that I think are worth your time. If you haven't listened to them, you probably should. If you have, you should listen some more. I could probably do this every day for a month and pick a different ten pieces each day, but that doesn't make the exercise uninteresting.

•  The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky (1912/13) This is one of the great revolutionary pieces of the 20th century and one of the few that justifies the sweeping claims made for modernism in music. The sound is fresh, the rhythmic concept is new and the piece stands up even a hundred years later. Here is a clip of the whole piece.

Perhaps the most striking section is the last, the Sacrificial Dance, which uses a wide variety of different, irregular time signatures. It is interesting to compare the techniques to the Soviet theory of montage in film, used by Sergei Eisenstein who described it in this way: "montage is an idea that arises from the collision of independent thoughts" wherein "each sequential element is perceived not next to the other, but on top of the other". The effect of the metric dislocations in the Rite is a bit similar--though the Rite came first! Here is just the Sacrificial Dance:

• Das Lied von der Erde, Gustav Mahler (1908/09) This is one of the best pieces from the late-19th and early 20th century German Romantic repertoire. I used to love listening to Mahler, but nowadays the hyper-excited quality of the music tends to make me think he needed his medication adjusted. Still, there is no denying the impact of the piece. There are six songs, the texts of which are German translations by Hans Bethge of Chinese poetry. "Dark is life, dark is death" is a particularly haunting refrain from the first song.

• Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, Ludwig van Beethoven (1824) I have avoided mentioning this symphony much on the blog because it is such an iconic work it is hard to think of something new to say about it. It was the greatest challenge to succeeding composers who despaired of ever writing its equal. But for that very reason, it is a symphony that one should know. Each of the four movements is a masterpiece of the genre, but the last movement truly bursts the bounds of the classical symphony with its introduction of vocal soloists and chorus. Here is the whole symphony, all four movements:

• String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, op 110, Dmitri Shostakovich (1960) Written in only three days in July 1960, this is the most performed of all Shostakovich's quartets and possibly the finest string quartet of the 20th century. Shostakovich's musical motto: DSCH or D, E flat, C, B natural, is woven into every movement. There are also quotes from several other pieces of his music. The music is a representation of a deep personal crisis in his life. Like the American poet Theodore Roethke, Shostakovich's nervous breakdown produced some of his finest work. The causes of the breakdown are not entirely clear as he shared contradictory accounts with his closest friends. But it may have had to do with his being coerced into becoming a member of the Communist party after resisting that step for a long time. But whatever the source of the inspiration, the music speaks for itself. There are five interconnected movements.

1. Largo
2. Allegro molto
3. Allegretto
4. Largo
5. Largo

The Emerson Quartet do a particularly fine version, but it is not available in one clip. Here is the whole piece in three clips:

• Six Concerts à plusieurs instruments, usually known as the "Brandenburg Concertos", J. S. Bach (1721) These six concertos are some of the most daring written in the Baroque, as much for their imaginative combinations of instruments as for the mastery of the genre. While Vivaldi wrote countless concertos for violin and string orchestra, Bach chose a different--and unusual--combination of instruments for each of these concerti:

1. Two natural horns, three oboes, bassoon and "violino piccolo" (little violin) with string orchestra
2. Natural trumpet in F, recorder and oboe with string orchestra
3. Three violins, three violas, three cellos plus basso continuo (including harpsichord)
4. Violin and two recorders with string orchestra
5. Harpsichord, violin and flute with string orchestra
6. Two violas, two viola da gamba plus basso continuo--no violins!

Every single one of these combinations is bizarre or fanciful in the extreme! What was Bach up to? There are some interesting theories that, as the orchestra represents society in miniature, Bach is making some kind of statement here. Just what exactly, is disputed. But no matter, it may be enough to simply get to know this music for its unique diversity. There are many Baroque concertos, but none like these. Here is the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra with all six:

• Missa Papae Marcelli, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (probably composed in 1562) Perhaps the most famous example of Renaissance polyphony by one of the greatest masters. Written in six voices, but the number of voices sounding at any one time varies considerably. The fundamental principles of the Palestrina style are smoothly flowing counterpoint with dissonances restricted to weak beats and few leaps in the melodic line and when they occur they are answered with a step in the opposite direction. This smooth, flowing and controlled style is one of the great achievements in music history, but one that we in the 21st century are perhaps ill-equipped to appreciate! Here is the Kyrie from the mass:

• Il dissoluto punito, ossia il Don Giovanni, usually known as just Don Giovanni, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1787) This is not only one of the greatest operas ever written, it has also inspired commentaries by the Danish philosopher Kirkegaard, the English playwright George Bernard Shaw, the French novelist Flaubert and the German romantic writer Hoffmann. Composers as different as Liszt, Chopin and Beethoven have written variations on themes from the opera. Though Mozart classified it as an opera buffa or comic opera, it contains some quite serious themes. The Commendatore scene, towards the end, where the statue of the Commendatore comes to life and takes Don Giovanni to task is one of the most remarkable scenes ever written with its unique use of three low male voices along with trombones in the orchestra. This is at the 2 hour and 42 minute mark in this production:

• String Quartet in C# minor, op 131, Ludwig van Beethoven (1826) One of the late quartets of Beethoven and as such, one of the greatest monuments to the power of music ever written. There are seven movements:

1. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo
2. Allegro molto vivace
3. Allegro moderato — Adagio
4. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile — Più mosso — Andante moderato e lusinghiero — Adagio — Allegretto — Adagio, ma non troppo e semplice — Allegretto
5. Presto
6. Adagio quasi un poco andante
7. Allegro

One of the most touching comments ever from a composer comes from a letter Beethoven wrote in which he says about this piece that it is "less lacking in fantasy than my other music." This is like saying Mount Everest is a fairly high mountain. The opening adagio, a very unusual fugue, Wagner referred to as "the saddest thing in all music". The finale has been described as the finest finale movement ever written. And the fourth movement, a set of variations is simply astonishing--perhaps the best set of variations from the composer who was the master of varation form. This is music that, no matter how many times you hear it, you will never get to the bottom of it. The sixth movement was used in the ninth episode of "Band of Brothers". Here is that scene:

"That's not Mozart. (pause) That's Beethoven." Here is the Julliard Quartet playing the whole piece:

• Music for 18 Musicians, Steve Reich (1974/76) This is the piece that really established 'minimalism' or 'process music' as an important musical style. It returned music to consonance from the extreme dissonances of modernism. As such, I suspect that it will at some point be regarded as one of the important turning points in music history. Here is a complete live performance of the piece:

• Messe de Nostre Dame, Guillaume de Machaut (~1365) The first complete setting of the mass by a single composer and one of the greatest masterpieces of Medieval music. It is a compendium of compositional techniques of the time which include isorhythm where a rhythmic pattern repeats. Usually this rhythmic pattern is a different length than the melodic notes it is used with, so the musical result is constantly changing. One of the most interesting sections is the Gloria which is based on a plainchant from the Gloria of Mass IV, but embellished and streamlined. Here is that section:

And here is the complete mass, all the polyphonic sections composed by Machaut, with all the ancillary plainchant sections as well:

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Music for the End of the World

Today's the day! The day, according to the Mayan prophecy, that the world comes to an end. Or, perhaps, just the beginning of a new era as it wasn't actually a prophecy, but just the end of a 5125 year long calendar cycle. I remain unconcerned because I have been hearing predictions of the end of the world since the 1960s and none of them have come to pass. But still, if the world were to come to an end today, what music would you want to hear last? A guitarist friend of mine said once that he would like to die while (or just after) playing this piece:

Lovely as that is, I think I would probably prefer to die while (or just after) playing some Bach. Perhaps this:

That limits it to whatever music is available for your instrument, but since everything (almost) has been recorded, we can all listen to our favorite music while (or just before) the world comes to an end. Now I'm pretty sure that you don't want to spend your last moments listening to Ke$ha or Psy doing Gangnam style. Perhaps something a bit more profound and consoling? There are some pieces that are very appropriate, I think. Logically, the correct choice would be the Quartet for the End of Time by Messiaen:

But I think most people would prefer something by Mozart like the last movement of his last symphony, No. 41:

There are lots of possibilities by Bach. The St. Matthew Passion:

Or the Mass in B minor:

There are some good possibilities by Beethoven such as the Quartet in C# minor, op 131:

Or, more apocalyptically, the Great Fuge:

But perhaps we could go in a different direction entirely and listen to something like this, looking to end in calm rather than in storm:

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That Was a Long Break!

I think that is the longest hiatus since I started this blog! Six days without a post. There were several reasons for it, the main being that I moved houses and that always takes a lot of energy and leaves you in chaos for a few days because you can't find anything. I think that creative work--and this blog really is creative work because I am always seeking to find something new to say--demands tranquility and isolation. Just look at those places composers find to compose in that I talked about a bit in this post.

A couple of other reasons were that I didn't see anything that inspired a post. I could have written about Ravi Shankar, who just passed away. I saw him and Alla Rakha in a concert in 1967 or 68 in Vancouver. Lovely music, but I don't have much to say about it! Here is a clip where Ravi Shankar talks about the rhythmic talas of Indian music.

And here is another one where they are playing together.

Actually, there are a couple of things I could say about this music. It is unquestionably subtle and interesting. Musical categories always tend to inspire a lot of debate, but I would call this music 'classical' in that it deserves close listening attention and has stood the test of time. It is not 'folk' music, however we define that, in that it demands a great deal of musical training and ability to perform--and probably to understand. The complexities lie in the areas of melody and rhythm. Imagine trying to keep a 108 beat rhythmic cycle clear in your mind! While improvising! I would love to see how that is grouped. There was an article the other day about Dave Brubeck's (another musician who passed away this week) famous piece "Take 5" which is in the irregular time signature of 5/4. That is grouped 3 + 2 and is not so hard to get used to.

Melodically, classical Indian music is very complex because it uses scales with microtones and a lot of 'bent' notes, meaning notes you bend upwards or slide down into. The complexities in these two areas lead to an interesting consequence: this music has no harmony! Notice the 'third man' in the above clip, the tamboura player. He plays the same few open strings over and over again throughout the whole piece. This is the "tonic harmony" and it never varies. The drones underlie the whole of the music. Therefore no 'harmony' in the Western sense, because harmony for us is about changing from one chord to another. When Western composers got really interested in harmony, in the 17th and 18th centuries, they simplified both the melodic and rhythmic aspects of music. Time signatures became mostly either duple or triple and melodies were often closely related to harmonic triads. This enabled the exploration of harmonic complexity. Of course, in the 20th century, composers maximized every aspect of music with the ironic consequence that from the listener's point of view, it started sounding like an unchanging carpet of sound! In the Symphony of Three Orchestras, long sections sound as if there is an unchanging harmony throughout:

UPDATE: Forgot to mention that the Symphony of Three Orchestras is by Elliot Carter, who also recently passed away and was one of the most 'maximal' of the maximalist composers.

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Imperfection

Sorry, and all I have for you today is a lovely article on artistic imperfection by Terry Teachout. Worth reading just for his brilliantly chosen examples. I've been ferociously busy lately, but I will have some more meaty content for you over the weekend.

Now here is that symphony by William Walton that Terry mentions in the article:

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Where's that Post?

I try to put up something everyday, but sometimes I just don't have time, like yesterday, and today. This looks like a post, I know, but it's going to be more of a teaser. I just finished writing over 3000 words of program notes for a three-concert guitar festival we are putting on in January. Some of my songs are going to be premiered in one of those concerts. But it took me days to write the notes. You see, I know too much about the guitar repertoire and it is hard for me to keep the notes within reason. It's like asking Dante to jot down a few notes about sin, or Hugh Hefner to just briefly reminisce about his girlfriends. It won't be brief!!

So I'm not going to give you a real post today, no energy left, but I will sketch out what I plan to be doing in the next few days or weeks. First of all, I'm going to finish my set of posts on the Shostakovich symphonies. I've done the first five here, here, here, here and here. Next I'm going to tackle the middle five symphonies from No. 6 to No. 10. These are some of the biggest and most challenging, so will take a bit of work. I'm also going to put up my performance of one of Léo Brouwer's most successful larger works for guitar, his El decameron negro in three movements.

And of course, as opportunity presents, I will offer some aesthetic observations on the good and bad music of the day.

So, keep an eye out. Let's end with a little Bach for fiber and substance! The St. John Passion is less well-known than Bach's St. Matthew Passion or his Mass in B minor. But that's an excellent reason to listen to it! This is just part 1, about 35 minutes.

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Miscellanea: Choral Music

I've always loved the sound of a good choir. What a perfect medium! It is one that requires no expensive instruments, just a good director and some training. And what a repertoire! A thousand years of great music by all the best composers. Makes me want to rush off and write a choral piece right now.
There are even some pieces for choir and guitar--one by Castelnuovo-Tedesco as I recall. In any case, here is a touching piece for choir, a cover of a song by Tears for Fears. The idea of having the performers disappear bit by bit originated with Joseph Haydn in his "Farewell" Symphony. This is the Wuppertal Boys Choir from Germany:

Another wonderful choir video came from a few years ago when a Canadian choir suddenly appeared in a shopping mall. This one is worth putting up again:

You see, it works both ways, from many to one or from one to many.

While we are doing choral music, let's end with a piece by a composer who really is like none other. Arvo Pärt was born in Estonia in 1935 and writes music that seems truly timeless. Steve Reich commented once that "His music fulfills a deep human need that has nothing to do with fashion". Here is a piece for mixed choir from 1989: Magnificat.

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Miscellanea

Here's an interesting story from NPR about what parts of the brain are involved in musical memory. Once you read through the whole thing it is not quite as interesting as it seemed at first. It looks as if the brain science people have finally noticed what music teachers have long been calling 'motor memory'. This is the kind of memory that keeps your fingers moving to the right place even if your mind wanders. We didn't actually need to have it confirmed since we have been using all along, but thanks anyway brain science people.

***

It is extremely rare to read any original writing about harmony these days. There are several reasons for this:

1. There are more drones than interesting harmonies being written
2. Composers that do have a new take on harmony keep it a trade secret
3. This is more the age of rhythm than the age of harmony

But  I did just run across a quite original essay on harmony called European Polyphony and Low Tech Brain Hacking. Bear in mind that the essay doesn't seem to have much to do with European polyphony and never quite makes clear what "brain hacking" is and seems confused about much else. But, original, yep.

***

Let's hear a couple of African musical stars. But I promise you, no monkeys and no bananas here--these are serious musicians. On the left in the video is the Malian guitarist and singer Boubacar “KarKar” Traoré and on the right is Ali Farke Touré, also from Mali. The song is called "Diarabi".

It is amazing how much dignity and expression even very simple music can have.

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Miscellanea

Just a few links for you this morning. From Alex Ross, this bit about the German new music festival in Donaueschingen:

http://www.therestisnoise.com/2012/10/lust-auf-kultur.html

I like the second photo where it says "Music is for all! Social equality is the key..." Would anyone care to deconstruct that? Music may be for all, but only if they have ears to hear or the discipline to learn. I'm not sure exactly what is meant by social equality, but probably nothing good.

This video is really terrifying:

This is the kind of music my mother used to play. I wonder what she would think of this 'packaging'? What happens when you take a simple genre of folk music and do this to it: big production (stage, lighting, choreography, costume) and over the top performance (note the compulsive smiling and winking at the audience)?

From Norman Lebrecht comes this story:

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2012/10/just-in-berlin-to-subsidise-rock-and-pop-music.html

I liked this comment on the article:

Hey, it’s all just a matter of personal taste, right? Beethoven, Black Sabbath, Brahms, Beach Boys, Brittney, Berlioz… Who is to say that Eroica is intrinsically better than “Baby One More Time?” Besides, the rock industry is being stretched financially, as growth in the cost of cocaine is outpacing growth in sales and concert revenues.

It's stuff like this that should finally pull aside the veil and help everyone to realize that governments do not subsidize the arts out of much of a sense of duty to civilization, but out of a desire to curry favor for themselves.

After that we really need some music. In this song by Leonard Cohen, even the instrumental introduction is sardonic:

You were expecting Bach, maybe?

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