c/alan-watts
The largest collection of talks by Alan Watts — the British-American philosopher who made Eastern wisdom accessible through witty and profound teachings.
…music, when you listen to Ravi Shankar play or Ali Akbar. Khan, or you listen to the New York Symphony philharmonic playing Beethoven, you don't ask what does this mean? Because music means music. Music is, as st Thomas pointed out, an end in itself,…
…of mastering a traditional discipline, as for example in studying the piano with Schnabel to the point where my recordings of the Beethoven Sonatas would be indistinguishable from his. I had already done that kind of thing, and the point here is not to…
…of life and Chinese Executions. You know the most highly civilized nation in the west, the German people, who invented Brahms and Beethoven and bach and all that equally gassed a million Jews. You know who's to say the west is better than the east.…
…is frivolous. You do pay entertainment's tax. When you go to a concert by a pianist who's going to play Mozart and Beethoven Sonatas, you could hardly call that frivolous. And so there can be philosophical entertainment in the same spirit yes, and then…
…that all this is somehow therefore trivial. And I say no, look, when you go to listen to a great pianist play the Beethoven Sonatas, you are actually going to an entertainment. You pay entertainment's tax to get in, but you wouldn't say, would you that…
…at Zen in the sense of mastering a traditional discipline, as for example, in studying the piano with Schnabel, to the of the Beethoven Sonatas would be indistinguishable from his. I had already done that kind of thing, and the point here is not to boast…
…music. When you listen to Ravi Shankar play or Ali Akbar Khan or you listen to the New York Symphony philharmonic playing Beethoven you don't ask what does this mean? Because music means music. Music is, as st Thomas pointed out an end in itself,…
…of mastering a traditional discipline, as, for example, in studying the piano with Schnabel to the point where my recordings of the Beethoven Sonatas would be indistinguishable from his. I had already done that kind of thing, and the point here is not to…
…of the universe that late 18th century astronomy and other sciences were unfolding. No one would dream of attributing a composition by Beethoven to Palestrina the style. So when we saw this new vision of the style of the universe, what sort of a thing…
…people living now who are writing uh music which to many ears is dreadful, are saying but they said this about Beethoven, what you're saying about my work. And it's very fascinating to hear read one of the criticisms contemporary criticisms of Beethoven's…
…imagine it's some critic talking about some contemporary composer. And then he says: well that was uh baron Von so and so talking about Beethoven. Well you see the artist has, in our era, become aware of the history of art to a degree that was not at…
…there is no doubt when you hear the mass in b minor that it was written by bach. The style is right there and Beethoven, of course, where now a mantricist would say no no that's not good because it's too much attached to a particular personal style…
…is philosophy. But I think philosophy is like music. You go to a concert and you listen to somebody play bach or Mozart or Beethoven, and what's all that about? You know it isn't about anything except you know that's what it's about. And so in the same…
…differences between western and oriental music, because I know a very, very great musicologist who thoroughly understands the world of bach and Beethoven and is one of the greatest scholars in music I've ever run into. But when to his ear Hindu Music is…
…You have to have quite a trained ear to go and see that it is something just as profound as anything written by bach or Beethoven. But I suddenly said: you know there are moments in this music when god himself calls out for help. I don't know what I…
…happened by itself, as if it had just grown there. Now there are exceptions to this, but the exceptions prove the rule. Beethoven, in some of his sonatas, arranged the fingering to be as unnatural and difficult as possible so as to achieve the impression…
…That all this is somehow therefore trivial. And I say no, look, when you go to listen to a great pianist play the Beethoven Sonatas, you are actually going to an entertainment. You pay entertainment's tax to get in, but you wouldn't say, would you that…
…is frivolous, you do pay entertainment's tax. When you go to a concert by a pianist who's going to play Mozart and Beethoven Sonatas, you could hardly call that frivolous. And so there can be philosophical entertainment in the same spirit yes, and then…
…of the universe that late 18th century astronomy and other sciences were unfolding. No one would dream of attributing a composition by Beethoven to Palestrina the style. So when we saw this new vision of the style of the universe, what sort of a thing…