[Time Travel Fantasy] Who would you see?

[PeterB]

It's not just about the music, or it being a deceased person. It's also about the experience of actually being there (in the crowd, or better yet, on stage). That's why I chose what I did ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQsM6u0a038 ... 72,000 people in the stadium, and 1.9 billion watching on TV, can't be wrong.

[DavidS]

John Bonham - mid 70s. Bonus points if his bandmates are playing with him.

[Zoidberg]

Too many genres to choose from; a lot of the Jazz lover in me wants to pick something from the late 50s/early 60s. The classical enthusiast doubles the desire to see the premiere of Beethoven and the 9th. The infamous premier of The Rite of Spring. Pink Floyd when they first "tried out" DSoTM live. To be in the audience when The Beatles were on Sullivan (and to tell John never to move to NYC, and George to quit smoking immediately). Too many Quantum Leap possibilities.

I'd still love to go to the early 50s and see a live broadcasting of The Honeymooners, or far back and see the Marx Brothers when they were still touring and working on their act. The Carol Burnette show; any show that showcased Korman & Conway -- the cleaners episode.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

Uncle Wig wrote:
Also, Django Reinhart and the Quintet of the Hot Club of France.

This might be my choice.

[Kate]

Jimi Hendrix Experience
at the Winterland ballroom in San Francisco
October, 1968.


I was there, still one of the best shows I ever saw.

Kate

[mrlynn]

cbelt3 wrote:
[quote=$tevie]
I'd go back to January 16, 1938 and see Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall, and then when people talk about "Sing, Sing, Sing" I will yawn and say, yeah I was there and it wasn't all that. Just to be obnoxious.

But just THINK of the Bootleg opportunities.. going back with a high quality mic and large capacity flash recorder.
Yes, and even more so when you consider all the time before recording was possible at all. The premier of the Beethoven 9th is just one example. Consider legendary performers, like the 19th-century Jenny Lind, of whom there are no recordings, and others before. The possibilities multiply. . .

/Mr Lynn

[Black]

Beethoven's ninth would be... interesting. Especially to hear how much the standard for a well-polished Symphony Orchestra sound may or may not have changed. But it also sounds kind of painful...

(from wikipedia)
The Ninth Symphony was premiered on 7 May 1824 in the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna, along with the overture The Consecration of the House and the first three parts of the Missa solemnis. This was the composer's first on-stage appearance in 12 years; the hall was packed. The soprano and alto parts were interpreted by two famous young singers: Henriette Sontag and Caroline Unger.

Although the performance was officially directed by Michael Umlauf, the theatre's Kapellmeister, Beethoven shared the stage with him. However, two years earlier, Umlauf had watched as the composer's attempt to conduct a dress rehearsal of his opera Fidelio ended in disaster. So this time, he instructed the singers and musicians to ignore the almost totally deaf Beethoven. At the beginning of every part, Beethoven, who sat by the stage, gave the tempos. He was turning the pages of his score and beating time for an orchestra he could not hear.

There are a number of anecdotes about the premiere of the Ninth. Based on the testimony of the participants, there are suggestions that it was under-rehearsed (there were only two full rehearsals) and rather scrappy in execution. On the other hand, the premiere was a great success. In any case, Beethoven was not to blame, as violinist Joseph Böhm recalled: "Beethoven directed the piece himself; that is, he stood before the lectern and gesticulated furiously. At times he rose, at other times he shrank to the ground, he moved as if he wanted to play all the instruments himself and sing for the whole chorus. All the musicians minded his rhythm alone while playing".

When the audience applauded—testimonies differ over whether at the end of the scherzo or the whole symphony—Beethoven was several measures off and still conducting. Because of that, the contralto Caroline Unger walked over and turned Beethoven around to accept the audience's cheers and applause. According to one witness, "the public received the musical hero with the utmost respect and sympathy, listened to his wonderful, gigantic creations with the most absorbed attention and broke out in jubilant applause, often during sections, and repeatedly at the end of them." The whole audience acclaimed him through standing ovations five times; there were handkerchiefs in the air, hats, raised hands, so that Beethoven, who could not hear the applause, could at least see the ovation gestures.

[Black]

And.... for anyone who didn't know... not applauding between movements of a musical work is a modern practice. When people do so... they may just be history buffs...