# Western classical music By [lungan](https://paragraph.com/@lungan) ยท 2022-12-21 --- ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/6e42f8619f60727e2f5e1a2c13b860e25692d51b74b4bb608f70074aa23c42f2.png) I don't claim to be an authority on Western classical music, because I haven't studied it, I just enjoy listening to it whenever I can. I listened without a system, without learning track by track in the order of music history. I had never made such an effort, especially when I saw the journals of classical music lovers such as La La Magazine, and I felt inadequate. Fans have a lot of knowledge that I don't understand, but I always believe that I love Western classical music in my own way, for its own reasons, and don't worry about lack of knowledge. That's number one. Second, I have a fundamental belief that music is not listened to with the head, but with the heart. When we listen to it with our head, we are trying to understand the form, the structure of the work, how a theme first appears and then develops and reproduces, or the form in three paragraphs, or the form in fugue in turn in different parts, or the form in roundabout, and so on. That's the mind listening, hearing a "flowing architecture." But that's not the way I like music, that's the expert attitude. I never take the attitude of experts, because art is not for the service of experts, not the secret of the profession. Music belongs to the society, to the nation, to mankind, to the fate of mankind. Music is an expression of our perceived destiny. But today, I'm afraid that's not the way people look at music. Today's attitude toward music may miss the essence of music. Of course, music as entertainment is OK. Music comforts our mind, catharsis our emotions, and achieves a certain psychological effect. But music is not made for that. What you do with music is your business, no one else's. A cafe owner with Beethoven in the background can do this. But when I'm sitting in a cafe and I hear Beethoven, I go into a trance, and then the coffee is out of sight, and I have to rush back to listen to Beethoven. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/71a5caf4e307e7f9eecae7f9b571e45a45cc568e47b3f40a134395732a5f8bc3.png) For me, this music is like a world beckoning, it is not a foil to my conversation at the moment. Speaking of music, it is natural to mention all kinds of music, both eastern and western, ancient and modern, and contemporary. But I have always felt that western modern music is by far the highest form in the musical history of all peoples. Modern western music is usually called classic music. Man's music creation is very ancient. Lu Xun said, from the beginning of the people in the labor of "yo-yo, yo-yo" there. Music is as old as labor. Later, music began to try to speak only in its own language, no longer attached to other values, neither to religious values nor to the values of political movements, but to present itself as an event. It was Western classical music that pushed the independence of music to its peak. No matter how far Western classical music is distanced from people today, we must admit that it is a great temple of art with infinite treasures. When modern technology allows us to carry a great band and a great conductor in our pockets, this treasure trove opens up to the common man. Every time I think about this, I always have a sense of happiness. When I walk down the street, I carry the Berlin Philharmonic in my pocket, sometimes I invite Karajan, sometimes I invite Celibidak, so on this point, I want to express a sense of gratitude to modern technology, even though I often point out its alienating effects. Why is classical music such a great temple? Let me make a few brief philosophical remarks. First, music is the highest "witchcraft". When we see the word witchcraft, we will think it is a derogatory term, because science is much superior to it. We always compare science with witchcraft and say that witchcraft is a kind of ignorance. But we misunderstand the nature of witchcraft. Witchcraft is not a foolish attempt by man to make nature obey him before he is armed with science. No, witchcraft was not designed to make rain or wind, to subdue nature. After practicing witchcraft, primitive people went to work, farm or hunt. They did not think that after performing witchcraft rituals they could go home and sleep, the soil would grow out of rice, and the wild animals would be slaughtered. The fruits of the means of life must be exchanged with the sweat of labor, primitive people understand this, they do not use witchcraft to replace labor, but use witchcraft to express their sense of self-identity to the tribal community, to express the courage and enthusiasm of labor, in the words of British philosopher Collingwood, witchcraft is the emotional dynamo of life in primitive society. So let's make no mistake about witchcraft. Witchcraft is a primitive art, and art originates from witchcraft. What is the modern understanding of art? It is an object of appreciation, appreciation and amusement. But works of art were not originally for everyone to see. The earliest works of art -- cave paintings -- were hidden in caves, not for anyone to look at, but only opened when necessary to allow them to work as witchcraft. What is the purpose of witchcraft? It is the spiritual atmosphere of the primitive community. It is the magic that arouses the emotions and the will of every soul and gives meaning to the purpose of life. That is what witchcraft is for. Therefore, I say that art is in essence witchcraft. This may make you unhappy, because you may think that art is the expression of noble aesthetic taste, and has nothing to do with spirit, will and emotion. If art is used for some major socio-political movement, it is merely a tool. In fact, before great social movements could have begun, art generally began to perform its function of witchcraft, providing spiritual premises for such movements. This has always been the case throughout history. At the end of the Middle Ages in Europe, the third class tried to get on the historical stage to get rid of the feudal shackles and realize the possibility of individual free labor, and they fought for the freedom of personality. Before this struggle has begun, art has revealed the news of the movement and generally awakened a new collective unconscious. In this sense, art is equivalent to witchcraft. Today, art has become a personal matter, almost exclusively a part of private life, but it is still "witchcraft", the witchcraft that our individual minds need. We cannot be satisfied with a purely scientific and rational world, and we are not willing to be repressed in the relationship of gain and loss. We not only need to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, but also have a meaning in our life, which is expressed in the creation and acceptance of art. So, to this day, art is the magic that our individual minds need. Without "witchcraft", we have no spiritual power. When Einstein cradled the violin on his shoulder and heard its beautiful notes, he went into a state of witchcraft. There was no contradiction between this and his scientific career. He needed a force to inspire him to explore the mysteries of nature. This power came not from science itself, but from the good music he loved. Human beings have needed witchcraft since ancient times, and in the infinite future, as long as human beings exist, there will still be a need for witchcraft, that is, for art. This is my more popular interpretation of the nature of art. --- *Originally published on [lungan](https://paragraph.com/@lungan/western-classical-music)*