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6/13/2025, 4:45:56 AM
>A friend recalled that in August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War, he vented his spleen on Germany and German music:
>‘Ouf,’ he said with disgust, ‘those people drink whether they are thirsty or not! Everything with them is ‘en gros’. A theme must be long, regardless of its contents or value; the longer the better. Then another interminable episode and then another endless theme. Then, after sixteen quarts of beer, they begin a development so long, so long, that there is scarcely room in this house to hold it. Take, for instance, the symphonies of Mahler (which he, of course, pronounced Mal-air), with its thousand voices and whips, submarines and whatnot... Or Monsieur Strauss, who is clever in that he knows how to write nothingness itself... Well, my friend, with it all, their noise does not sound any louder than the finale to Beethoven’s Fifth, produced by a small orchestra with only the addition of a contrafagott!’
>‘Ouf,’ he said with disgust, ‘those people drink whether they are thirsty or not! Everything with them is ‘en gros’. A theme must be long, regardless of its contents or value; the longer the better. Then another interminable episode and then another endless theme. Then, after sixteen quarts of beer, they begin a development so long, so long, that there is scarcely room in this house to hold it. Take, for instance, the symphonies of Mahler (which he, of course, pronounced Mal-air), with its thousand voices and whips, submarines and whatnot... Or Monsieur Strauss, who is clever in that he knows how to write nothingness itself... Well, my friend, with it all, their noise does not sound any louder than the finale to Beethoven’s Fifth, produced by a small orchestra with only the addition of a contrafagott!’
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