# The epitome of divine beauty and simplicity.



## macgeek2005 (Apr 1, 2006)

I'm not too familiar with Mozart's Idomeneo, but I listen to parts of it from time to time on my iPod, particularly the part where Idomeneo announces that Idamante needs to be sacrificed to appease the monster, and the ensuing "Oh Voto Tremendo!" After that, I would sometimes listen to the march that follows, but often I would just turn off the music at that point or switch to something else.

But the other day I actually listened to that march with keen ears, not just letting it slide by as "the music that comes after the good dramatic part," but actually giving it my full attention. I am now obsessed with it, and consider it an example of the greatest heights that Western culture and music ever achieved. It is an exposé of how the simplest structures in the Western tradition have a divine perfection and purity about them, and just letting the very essence of harmonic, classically structured music speak for itself can often convey a heart wrenching beauty far beyond what all the noise and fanfare of romanticism was ever able to achieve.

This little march, a trifle you could say, is a 16 bar interrupted binary, nothing more. A repeat on each eight bars, and that's it. Scored for strings and two oboes, much as Bach would have done. And sure enough, particularly in the second half of the binary, Mozart employes a substantial number of Baroque-esque trills which only add to the captivating beauty and simplicity of the work.

Of course, Mozart does not just rely on the brilliance of the classical idioms in order to create such divine beauty. His melodies are, as has often been said of Mozart, too easy for a child to play, but too difficult for an adult to fully comprehend. It also reminds of when Michael Tilson-Thomas said that Bach, Mozart and Beethoven "simply define what music is," and so you can't have them as your favorite composer.

That's what we observe here in this march. Music. Pure music. It is hard to listen to this without becoming convinced that society must have somehow been more sane and beautiful then than it is now. But that's a discussion for another day.

Here is a link to the recording from the Complete Mozart Edition. Sir Colin Davis leads the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in a brilliant and haunting rendition of this hidden masterwork.






And here is the score: http://conquest.imslp.info/files/im...Mozart_Idomeneo_K.366_Act_3_Scene_VII--XI.pdf

For an alternative recording, here is a great period performance I found on YouTube: 




In the above recording, certain lines come out clearer in places, most notably the Viola line at the beginning of the B section, followed by the rising second violin part in the third measure of the B section. The beauty is just overwhelming.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

The title of your thread doesn't specify "Western culture and music", so I was drawn in. 
"The epitome of divine beauty and simplicity"may be a Japanese garden, or the curve of a Korean maiden's neck, or several other things, but it ain't a march.


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## macgeek2005 (Apr 1, 2006)

Ukko said:


> The title of your thread doesn't specify "Western culture and music", so I was drawn in.
> "The epitome of divine beauty and simplicity"may be a Japanese garden, or the curve of a Korean maiden's neck, or several other things, but it ain't a march.


I would really appreciate it if you would take your europhobic provocations somewhere else. I was genuinely sharing my experience with this lovely little piece of music. Thank you.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Ukko said:


> The title of your thread doesn't specify "Western culture and music", so I was drawn in.
> *"The epitome of divine beauty and simplicity"*
> 
> may be a Japanese garden, or the curve of a Korean maiden's neck, or several other things, but it ain't a march.


Sorry, I don't understand... Is the word "march" that annoys you? And if replaced by "piece of music"?


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

Korean maiden here, can confirm, my neck curve is shockingly divine


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

macgeek2005 said:


> Bach, Mozart and Beethoven "simply define what music is," and so you can't have them as your favorite composer.


mh, let me think about it


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## macgeek2005 (Apr 1, 2006)

norman bates said:


> mh, let me think about it
> 
> View attachment 39828


Err........ what?


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

I'm not sure if I'm interpreting in a correct way your sentence, do you think it's absurd not to have those three as favorite composers?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

macgeek2005 said:


> Here is a link to the recording from the Complete Mozart Edition. Sir Colin Davis leads the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in a brilliant and haunting rendition of this hidden masterwork.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I for one am shocked this is Mozart. I would never have guessed, nor would I have called it a march in the martial sense of the word. It sounds far more like Handel to me, and as such is indeed divine beauty. Now, if only all Mozart could sound like this. . .


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## shangoyal (Sep 22, 2013)

I just heard the march and while it was quite good, I could not immediately appreciate everything that you feel about it. That's understandable and expected, since you are describing a singular feeling of loving the music so much, you can hardly find words to do it justice.

As for your observations on Bach, Beethoven and Mozart in general, I agree that they are definition of music.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

I'm surprised you've only picked one piece to feel this way about. He's written so much more beauty.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I would vote for the march simply because it's pithy. I really don't have all day to listen.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

I know… you're too busy posting instead.


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## Brad (Mar 27, 2014)

hpowders said:


> I would vote for the march simply because it's pithy. I really don't have all day to listen.


hmmmm now where have I heard that before...


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

GioCar said:


> Sorry, I don't understand... Is the word "march" that annoys you? And if replaced by "piece of music"?


In the phrase "the epitome of divine beauty and simplicity", 'simplicity' and 'beauty' are of equal rank. No march can be the epitome of simplicity; too many moving parts.


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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

If you love this have a listen to Ave Verum Corpus. Same Mozart, similar style, more beautiful imho, and also relatively 'pithy.'


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Brad said:


> hmmmm now where have I heard that before...


It's deja vu all over again!!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I expected to come here and read about someone's first experience of Morton Feldman's masterpiece "For Phillip Guston," but i guess I must be the only person who thinks this of that piece of music.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Ukko said:


> In the phrase "the epitome of divine beauty and simplicity", 'simplicity' and 'beauty' are of equal rank. No march can be the epitome of simplicity; too many moving parts.


I agree with this! Something which evokes stillness would be much more suited to that description....Pärt perhaps?


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> I expected to come here and read about someone's first experience of Morton Feldman's masterpiece "For Phillip Guston," but i guess I must be the only person who thinks this of that piece of music.


A number of Feldman's pieces work on me / for me in that manner. Clearly, the general drift (which is one person's personal satori and subsequent rapture only) of the thread is "other," and most all of its purpose eludes me.

I think of that exquisite and eloquent simplicity, and thoughts go to Feldman, or something like a highly refined 'classical' piece for the Guqin (Chinese: 古琴; pinyin: gǔqín) - 7-stringed zither, maybe toss in Ives' _unanswered question._

Go figure. Everyone is a world unto their self.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Ukko said:


> In the phrase "the epitome of divine beauty and simplicity", 'simplicity' and 'beauty' are of equal rank. No march can be the epitome of simplicity; too many moving parts.





ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> I agree with this! Something which evokes stillness would be much more suited to that description....Pärt perhaps?


Ok, we have MARCHES (i.e. Aida's marcia trionfale, Berlioz's marche au supplice, etc.) and "marches"...

Moreover, I wouldn't say that this little piece of music is complex at all. And I don't think that stillness=simplicity. Let's think of Ligeti and some of his micropolyphonical works...


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

GioCar said:


> Ok, we have MARCHES (i.e. Aida's marcia trionfale, Berlioz's marche au supplice, etc.) and "marches"...
> 
> Moreover, I wouldn't say that this little piece of music is complex at all. And I don't think that stillness=simplicity. Let's think of Ligeti and some of his micropolyphonical works...


I'm pretty sure the inaccurate definitions phenomenon (in this thread and others, not just in your post) was remarked on some time ago. The poster complained that so many people were assigning their own meanings to the words that they used - that the result was - yes, it was - gobblygook. (The poster may not have employed that term.)


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## macgeek2005 (Apr 1, 2006)

Of course I feel the same way about many other Mozart pieces, it's just this is the one I'm really into at the moment. The fact that it is just a 16 bar binary and that there's nothing noticeably special or complicated about it is what adds to the wonder and beauty. It's like fully appreciating a single flower before having any thoughts of designing a garden. The flower is divine because it was there and it was beautiful before humans were even around... it seems similar to me with a piece of music like this. It is content to sit in the most basic fundamental form and instrumentation, letting the very innate nature of that shine forth.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Ukko said:


> I'm pretty sure the inaccurate definitions phenomenon (in this thread and others, not just in your post) was remarked on some time ago. The poster complained that so many people were assigning their own meanings to the words that they used - that the result was - yes, it was - gobblygook. (The poster may not have employed that term.)


???

What has "the inaccurate definitions phenomenon" got to do with that piece of music?
Have you listened to it? Is it with "too many moving parts"?


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

GioCar said:


> ???
> 
> What has "the inaccurate definitions phenomenon" got to do with that piece of music?
> Have you listened to it? Is it with "too many moving parts"?


Sorry _Giocar_, we are obviously not communicating, and I have no Italian.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I am a big fan of simplicity, and I loved this march - thank you. However, it did not make me think 'that society must have somehow been more sane and beautiful then than it is now.' People behaved just as badly then as they often do now, and there was a much bigger gap between rich and poor. Manners were sometimes better, I grant you...


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Vesuvius said:


> I know… you're too busy posting instead.


I am also writing my novel on "Three Word Story."


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

hreichgott said:


> If you love this have a listen to Ave Verum Corpus. Same Mozart, similar style, more beautiful imho, and also relatively 'pithy.'


I know it well. Perhaps the title could have been abridged. By the time I get to "Corpus", I'm already getting fidgity.
The composition is very beautiful, one of Mozart's finest.
Absolutely sublime!


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Eastern Orthodoxy chants and Hovhaness came to my mind being related to this thread. Also a Japanese Garden!



macgeek2005 said:


> Err........ what?





norman bates said:


> mh, let me think about it
> 
> View attachment 39828


The irony is that he is maybe the weakest US president in the last 40 years since Nixon!


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