# National Empathy (as in music?)



## michael walsh (Sep 6, 2009)

As I surmised in an earlier thread the year 2010 is going to be the year I place Russian music and opera on the top of my 'must do' list. I am woefully unfamiliar with this genre.

I haven't the slightest idea why I have always been soul-drawn to Germany and to Russia too. This is not to say for a moment that I have the slightest antipathy towards any other nation. I wish each the very best. However in a spiritual sense they don't do anything for me; I have no sense of belonging: Why should I? 

But I have a strange sense of belonging when I set foot on German soil and though I have never been to Russia, I am constantly fascinated by its people, history, culture, vastness. I would love to set foot on its soil. Would I have that same feeling I get when I step into my home? A spiritual empathy. Are others, in a spiritual sense, drawn to other nations?


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## nickgray (Sep 28, 2008)

michael walsh said:


> Are others, in a spiritual sense, drawn to other nations?


Yep, some Russian composers do, though it's no wonder, considering that I'm a Russian myself. But generally - no, I don't really associate music with nationality (apart from obvious music, such as Ma Vlast, Hungarian pieces by Liszt or Bartok...).


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

It really depends on the country. With Russia, there's always something about it that draws me in and I can sense that it's somehow 'Russian', even though that makes no sense; German music, to me, seems to have no nationality at all. It is just music, and it works. On the other end of the spectrum, I can very much identify French music, and I feel a marked antipathy towards it...


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Sometimes I wonder if there is a genetic memory. The first time I heard Celtic music I was overwhelmingly drawn to it. I could never explain this as I generally don't care for folk music of any kind. Then a few years back my eye doctor told me I have an extra tiny blood vessel in my retina that indicates I am of Scots-Irish decent. Sure enough looking into the family tree revealed it as well. 

Also, with the exception of Beethoven, I am most drawn to composers of British Isles from John Dowland up through Vaughan-Williams and his contemporaries. In "popular" music I am most drawn to the English also. Though I am a native of the USA, I am usually ambivalent toward American music.


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