Princeton Professor Outrages the Establishment
In Berlin on Christmas Day in 1989, Leonard Bernstein conducted Ode to Freedom Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (Official Concert of the Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989. As Klaus Geitel, one of the Europe’s most respected music critics, wrote in his translated essay at LeonardBernstein.com:
The Ode “To Freedom”—as Bernstein had the soloists and chorus sing in the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony—indeed symbolized for many Germans a depth of joy they had hitherto hardly known: freedom, a gift from the gods…
Not only the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was to participate, but musicians from the most important orchestras in the world as well: from Dresden and from Leningrad, which now again bears the old, venerable name of St Petersburg, from London, New York and Paris. All were to combine to achieve the common goal of ringing the bell of emotion, of joy at this great, historical moment which Leonard Bernstein had conceived. He was truly more than a conductor; he shook people awake from the rostrum, surrendering to Beethoven’s music and yet rendering it with all his heart and soul at the same time.
I am not as young as when Bernstein performed Beethoven’s Ninth and the Berlin Wall fell. Death is stalking and has claimed friends, some whom I’ve never met, such as divinely inspired geniuses like Bernstein and Menuhin, whose magisterial performance of Bach I listen to as I write these words. Yet I would like to think that the best aspect of man’s spirit is the strongest, the spirit that motivated both concerts. I would like to think that there are millions who will thoughtfully consider and debate Professor Cohen’s perspective. I would like to have hope that those who made their voices heard and our political leaders listened to, forestalling direct military intervention in Syria—if only briefly—can be raised and heard once again.
If Gamers can have a hashtag against injustice, #GAMERGATE, if there are already hashtags Stop World War III and #liberty, I have faith there can be a hashtag #STOPTHENEWCOLDWAR. After all, post nuclear war environments are great for gaming but not for living in. Perhaps a self-organizing, leaderless global movement will form. I’d like to think the human love of life and liberty, of beauty and hope, on display on Christmas Day 1989, still lives on in the hearts of millions around the world, including Americans and Russians. Professor Cohen has made us aware of alternatives, now and in the past.
I think we have to try.
The post Princeton Professor Outrages the Establishment appeared first on LewRockwell.
Leave a Reply