jerryk on Nostr: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is truly the poet-philosopher of music, at least as much ...

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov is truly the poet-philosopher of music, at least as much literary, psychological and philosophical, as musical genius. So much so, that his opera based on the Pushkin stage play "Mozart and Salieri", probably formed at least as much the inspiration for the fabulously successful twentieth century adaptation, "Amadeus", as the Pushkin original. Rimsky-Korsakov saw the need to interweave music and text ineluctably and inextricably to achieve a true understanding of the characters and their interactions. We can see this throughout his incredibly evocative music, works that have obviously achieved international fame, and survived the test of time -- everyone with any acquaintance with music knows "Flight of the Bumblebee", and "Scheherazade", for example. He developed techniques of orchestration which created a true grammar and syntax of literary expression for musical use, and described them in great, almost scientific detail.

And, what is the significance of all of this for the ordinary human being? Other than providing entertainment, amusement, distraction, and being a trainer and educator of others doing the same thing? Well, you know, it's really very hard to tell! Anything that attracts our attention probably has some novelty to it, and anything that is novel, or new, may be a potential tool we can use at some time in the future. Of course, just being amused or distracted can be helpful at times. But, beyond that, most people acknowledge and recognize that human curiosity is fundamental to human survival and progress, and animals are very curious as well. Finding out about new things is an essential tool to acquiring information necessary for survival purposes.

But, how could Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" have had any practical consequences, whatsoever? Well, you know, the mechanics of bumblebees in flight are very sophisticated indeed. And, engineers and scientists study them closely, to learn what they can from them, to help in practical understanding of flight systems in aircraft. For a long time now, engineers and scientists, and future engineers and scientists have been listening to that score of "Flight of the Bumblebee", and, because it is strikingly accurate, it has most certainly got them thinking about things. It has made them curious, and, it has made them think. It has given them ideas.

How important was that? Very difficult to say. We really have no clear means at this time to know exactly what is important in this world, and why, with a high degree of precision. However, we do have the sense that the more we know and understand, and the better we understand it, the more ability we have to understand and deal with the world around us. And, composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov did make some significant contributions here, did he not?

#psychology #neuroscience #psychoanalysis #informationprocessing #cognition #perception #philosophy #metaphysics #amadeus #pushkin #russianliterature #russianmusic #russiancomposers #philosophyoflanguage #philosophyofart
#semantics #linguistics #philosophyofhistory #curiosity #philosophyofscience