This piece takes you on at trip through central Siberia, from the throat-singing peoples and beautiful mountains in the south to the arctic tundra and deep shamanic traditions of the north.

This was my biggest project of 2023. I wrote this piece and an essay as my final degree project in composition, all about Siberian indigenousgroups and their music.

The essay (in Swedish) can be found here:

Just like any field of profession, the world of classical music has seen its fair share of professional rivalries. Here’s a quick look into the complicated relationships, and classical clashes that have gone down in history.

‘The War of the Romantics’ is a term popularly used by many music historians to describe the division among the prominent musicians during the late 19th century; The Conservatives and The Radical Progressives. Members of the Conservatives included Johannes Brahms, Joseph Joachim, Clara Schumann, among others, and the Progressives consisted of composers mainly from Weimar (a city in Germany) such as Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, and other members of the ‘New German School’. This feud had far-reaching effects, being German and Central European in origin, and spreading to countries like France, Italy and even Russia. The ‘war’ was carried out with compositions, words and even concert scenes, making it one of the most artistic and entertaining rivalries western history has seen.

Johannes Brahms (Left), Franz Liszt (Right)

Now, both sides looked at Beethoven as an artistic hero, and had immense admiration for him, though that’s where the similarities end. The Conservatives saw Beethoven as an incomparable peak, while the Progressives saw his work as a new beginning in the realm of classical music. The two groups openly disagreed on topics concerning traditional and new musical forms. This disagreement stemmed from the earlier debate of the use and intentions of symphonies, which were earlier meant for entertainment purposes, but were slowly including more and more social, moral and cultural ideals into the genre. Here, the Progressives believed in the motto ‘New wine requires new bottles’ in that they believed classical music naturally should evolve and blend music with narrative and pictorial ideas. The Conservatives on the other hand were averse to this idea. And that’s where the real ‘war’ began. 

One of the major events which took place was the signing of the Conservatives Manifesto against the bias of the Neue Zeitschrift Für Musik (a German music journal). This manifesto was actively canvassed and many signatories where obtained.  However, before the last few signatories were able sign the manifesto, it found its way into the editorial offices of the Berliner Musikzeitung Echo (a German Journal), from which it was leaked to the Neue Zeitschrift itself, which parodied it on May 4, 1860. Two days after this humiliation, the manifesto made its first official appearance in the Berliner Musikzeitung Echo, showcasing more than twenty more signatories. The Manifesto read:

The undersigned have long followed with regret the pursuits of a certain party, whose organ is Brendel's "Zeitschrift für Musik"                                  The above journal continually spreads the view that musicians of more serious endeavor are fundamentally in accord with the tendencies it represents, that they recognize in the compositions of the leaders of this group works of artistic value, and that altogether, the contentions for and against the so-called Music of the Future are concluded, and the dispute settled in its favour. To protest against such misinterpretation of facts is regarded as their duty by the undersigned, and they declare that, so far at least as they are concerned, the principles stated by Brendel's journal are not recognized, and that they regard the productions of the leaders and pupils of the so-called New German School, which in part simply reinforce these principles in practice and in part again enforce new and unheard-of theories, as contrary to the innermost spirit of music, strongly to be deplored and condemned.

This Manifesto catalyzed the spreading of the conflict to the German press at large. Liszt did not use words to express his comments on the issue, but simply allowed his music to speak for itself.

At the premiere of Brahms first piano concerto which was taking place in Leipzig, we see that his first orchestral piece to be played publicly was received with hisses. Reputations were at stake, and the tension was high. Musicians actively tried to embarrass their adversaries in public settings. One such example is when the Weimar school held an anniversary celebration of the Neue Zeitschrift in R. Schumann's birthplace, and did not invite members of the Conservative group (including Clara Schumann, German pianist and Robert Schumann's widow).

Even Wagner poked fun at the Conservatives in his essay ‘On Conducting’ when he portrayed the group as a ‘musical temperance society’ who are ‘awaiting a Messiah’. 

Despite the attempts to humiliate the Conservative side, the Radical Progressives were often inconsistent in their views. By 1860, Liszt himself was becoming more and more interested in church music and began embracing some conservative music ideals of the Catholic Church. He had fascination for the music of Meyerbeer who was a composer despised by both the New German School and also by Wagner (whose  essays were often anti-Meyerbeer). 

These are just a few examples of the rift in the world of western classical music, during the late eighteen hundreds, and though the actual hostilities between the two sides eventually died out, the ‘war’ was clear demarcation between what is seen as traditional and modern music. Such categories which still carry on till this day.