Bohemianism

I grew up in a musical family and my grandfather was a professional musician.  While surrounded with musical instruments and daily talk about that earthly art of communication, I early on developed a love for string instruments, especially the Oud and the violin. Classical and popular “lament, prayer and celebration” on violin’s cords touched my soul as a child, and still do. The sounds of Bohemia, Armenia, Romania and Hungary seem to find their way into my understanding of the violin and its language.

So, it was no surprise that I was looking forward to a symphonic concert when Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major, opus 61 started it and which ended with Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in G Major. Perhaps more importantly, the soloist for Beethoven’s violin concerto was Pinchas Zuckerman.  I had never seen him play in person but consider the Duet for Two Violins (Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zuckerman) as one of the most beautiful recordings of our century.

After the concert, when the audience was slowing its heartbeat from Zuckerman’s performance, there was discussion about Mahler’s “bohemianism” compared to Beethoven’s “germanisism”.  I was intrigued by the various opinions, but especially by the difference in the understanding of what bohemian means.  For me a bohemian is an epicurean who worships the present and feels constrained by too many prescriptive rules of behavior. For many discussing Mahler’s work however, bohemianism was the precursor to America’s hippies and beatniks in the 1960s! Folks who rejected social order, were non-productive, and… took infrequent showers!

When I asked if they knew where Bohemia was, no one except one knew, and he exclaimed “Wasn’t that gypsy land somewhere in Europe?”

… This morning, I looked through my pictures wondering if I can find traces of bohemianism.

This one I took while watching Lago Como from the hills of Bellagio. It was the “Power of Now” as E. Tolle had wrote about; it was J.J Rousseau celebrating nature with no restraints.

Then I came across this shot I took in Buda, Hungary. Yes, Bohemia was part of the Hungarian-Austrian Empire, but on that rainy Sunday, I found nothing bohemian in that makeshift market. It was somber, cold, and even the few flowers they were selling seemed colourless.

Compare this to the view I had of a quiet street in Siena, Italy. It was a sunny day, and the street was full of Lilac trees’ exhale. The medieval structures harbored many Bed & Breakfast establishments. Can one live the present in unconventional ways there?

And now this uninviting “hotel” in a small town in Northern Maine, USA…. Will they understand what bohemianism can offer?

And since both Beethoven and Mahler created their best works in Vienna, here is a street moment from that city of music and art. 

… I do feel the bohemian lifestyle in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto; I do shut my eyes when listening to Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.  But at no time during these sensual and spiritual voyages upon the cords of a violin I see hippies and beatniks and their refusal to adhere to basic hygiene and social order….

September 21, 2014

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2014