Does anyone really enjoy classical music?

Question

I like when I hear it in movies for like 30 seconds. I've tried so hard to enjoy it. Beethoven - 9th Symphony is like a hour long... with no lyrics, it is soooooo boring. A couple minutes of it are cool but then 58 minutes of it are just boring.

I think EVERYONE that says they like it are pretending. I don't think anyone actually can listen to the full hour and enjoy it...

Answer 1

I enjoy it quite a lot.

You just need more time li get into it. Classical music is extremely expressive, even though it doesn't have lyrics (although, some works do, opera, for example, and many pieces composed for choir).



Lyric less music is in no way boring, it's actually extremely expressive and narrative. It conveys emotion and impression through cheer sound.



Maybe it simply happened that you didn't like the pieces you heard, you have a short attention span, or that you simply don't find classical music to be your cup of tea. Nothing wrong in any of that, but I can assure you that people are not pretending when they say they like classical music. (some may be smug about it, though)

Answer 2

Like any music, classical music is a selective genre. Some people may listen to it for hours without stopping, while others simply die of boredom from the lack of words or whatnot. I personally am in that first group, especially when I am studying for exams or doing homework. I play the violin in an orchestra, so I have since learned to appreciate classical music more, although I became bored out of my mind when I listened to it at a younger age. So to answer your question, I do enjoy it, quite a bit actually. I have deleted many of my other songs because I cannot appreciate the work of say "Justin Bieber" after listening to a Cello Suite from Bach or a Senata from Mozart. There is simply no comparison. An orchestral piece we are doing in orchestra is Danse Macabre Op. 40. It, unlike many mellower songs that may bore people, is captivating and I think you may enjoy it even though you do not enjoy classical music.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ytpqcJ1IfoA

Happy listening!

Answer 3

You are completely wrong. Thousands of people pay great sums of money to support symphonies and attend concerts. Why would they do so if they didn't enjoy it? Personally, I dont think you would enjoy reading a book without pictures any more than listening to classical music with no words!

Answer 4

I love Beethoven's 9th symphony I have heard only a part of it not it's entirety, but, I think I would still enjoy it. I have quite a bit of his works, not all of course, but his symphonies mostly. I never tire of listening to classical music. It the only music I listen to besides some others singers I like.

Answer 5

Everybody has different tastes, but yes, there are tons of us out here who love Classical music. I have at least 24 hours worth on my iPod alone. And just to put things in context, I'm ranch hand, a working cowboy, and I can't listen to an hour's worth of Top 40 Country. Give me Mozart over Nashville any day!

Answer 6

Yes, some of it; and a lot of it bores me as well. I have favorite pieces by each composer and they are often gorgeous, relaxing, sometimes melancholic, and very expressive. What I easily tire of are pieces that thunder and boom too much (sometimes literally, with cannon effects!), which sound to me like they were originally written for pompous kings contemplating or celebrating an attack or war. Too much fanfare in this type of music annoys me. Also, I tend to prefer music that has rhythm and a beat. Nevertheless, if one listens to Beethoven or Tchaikovsky or Debussy, etc. it can be awesome but you have to be still and actually listen. Classical music does have its rewards if you give it a chance.

Answer 7

You are completely wrong. Thousands of people pay great sums of money to support symphonies and attend concerts. Why would they do so if they didn't enjoy it? Personally, I dont think you would enjoy reading a book without pictures any more than listening to classical music with no words!

Answer 8

Well, you're wrong. You don't have to enjoy any kind of music - that's your choice. But why would people go to concerts if they didn't like it? Aside from symphonies, classical music has shorter forms, such as sonatas, etudes, dances, sarabands, etc. Chamber music of two to seven instruments also tends to be under 20 minutes in length.

Answer 9

For me, I would say that too. It is almost universally considered one of Beethoven's greatest works, and many consider it one of the greatest compositions in the western musical canon.The symphony was the first example of a major composer using voices in a symphony (thus making it a choral symphony). The words are sung during the final movement by four vocal soloists and a chorus. They were taken from the "Ode to Joy", a poem written by Friedrich Schiller in 1785 and revised in 1803, with additions made by the composer. Today, it stands as one of the most played symphonies in the world.



In 2001, Beethoven's autograph score of the Ninth Symphony, held by the Berlin State Library, was added to the United Nations Memory of the World Programme Heritage list, becoming the first musical score so honored.

Answer 10

Many people like it enough to make it the main focus of their lives. Many others legitimately enjoy it, including me. I tend to prefer classical music since the Romantic period, however, especially contemporary. I also prefer symphonies and solo or small group works over operas.



Now, since I don't particularly like opera, should I decide that no one really does and they're all "pretending"? Similarly, I have friends who are nearly obsessive about comic books, a couple who are fascinated with certain animals, others who love James Cameron films and relatives who are obsessed with certain vehicles. Since I don't share these interests nor in some cases even understand the appeal of them, should I declare them invalid and artificial? I believe that would be extraordinarily narrow-minded.



How about your hobbies, passions, the things that seem to speak to you, wash off the dust of everyday life and feel like they give you a glimpse of something meaningful? How would you feel if someone else who didn't understand declared them boring and said you must be pretending? I'll venture that the feeling would bite ungulates.

Answer 11

yah, we really do enjoy it. not pretending.

movies are often twice as long, so i don't see how an hour is a big deal...



and its not like its just one thing for an hour.

like if i listen to a whole pop album, its gonna be a similar length to a symphony. and like an album a classical piece is not just one song for a whole hour. there's different movements and different themes within each movement.



personally, i don't care that much about lyrics in pop tunes anyway, i listen to plenty of stuff in languages i don't speak. i guess in rap i care about the words more... but even then, i still often care more about the delivery than the words themselves, unless they are really powerful words.



uh... just gotta tell you tho...

you happened to pick the one symphony that does have lyrics!

beethoven 9 is one of the only symphonies with a chorus added to the orchestra, so there are totally lyrics in it.

but if you turned it off after a few minutes, you wouldn't have gotten to that part ;)

heres just the 4th mvt, jump to 7:00 or so, the singers come in at 7:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChygZLpJDNE



...but if you skip that you miss that he hinted at it in the cello entrance, between quotes of the other 3 mvts...

its actually the long form structural elements that we find interesting in this stuff.

Answer 12

Yes. No one would want to torture themselves pretending that they enjoy something they don't like. I had to do this a few times, especially during my best friend's birthday party that was in a club. A few hours of crappy electronic music and I had to pretend I liked it or I would look as if someone forced me to go there. I can't imagine anyone doing this for years with music they don't actually like.



I always enjoyed classical music, I never had to pretend. Unless it's a composer that I don't like, don't make me listen to Chopin. You should listen to Edvard Grieg's "Trolltog" (March of the Trolls), it's classical music and it's the theme music of that "question".

Answer 13

Haha. Classical music is brilliant and extremely diverse. I'm not always in the mood for it and there are genres I steer clear of but I have to say, I love it!

Answer 14

Most of those people who spend lots of money to go to lots of concerts do it because they really enjoy it. And, by the way, Beethoven's 9th symphony DOES have lyrics. You must have walked out before the end, probably to go sit through some deadly boring endless stupid superhero movie.

Answer 15

I absolutely love classical music. My favourite pianist is Bach and my favourite song is prelude 1 in C major BWV 846





https://youtu.be/W3vhQL9vROQ



And Goldberg Variations Aria



https://youtu.be/Gv94m_S3QDo



The songs sound the same but they're not



I think it really depends on the person. I play piano and I thoroughly enjoy it, but even bore I played piano, I still loved classical music

Answer 16

for me, i would say that too... it is almost universally considered one of beethoven's awesomeest works, and numerous consider it one of the awesomeest compositions in the western musical canon...the symphony was the first example of a major composer using voices in a symphony (thus making it a choral symphony)... the words are sung during the final movement by four vocal soloists and a chorus... they were taken from the "ode to joy", a poem written by friedrich schiller in 1785 and revised in 1803, with additions made by the composer... today, it stands as one of the most played symphonies in the world...



in 2001, beethoven's autograph score of the ninth symphony, held by the berlin state library, was added to the united nations memory of the world programme heritage list, becoming the first musical score so honored...

Answer 17

I bet you have listened to long stretches of classical music and have no idea that you have - from Ace Ventura to Zoolander - check out http://www.naxos.com/musicinmovies.asp Many movies both older and new have complete scores in classical or classical style music. The fact remains, that the more educated and cultured a person is, the more they listen to classical music,

Answer 18

You have to have a lot more attention to appreciate it, and most who do are musically trained. Try modern classical artists like Lindsey Stirling and maybe you'll like her material.

Answer 19

Yes, it's really the only kind of music I listen to. I don't have a short attention span so I can happily sit through Mahler's 8th and enjoy every minute.

Answer 20

Betcha there are long movies that you sit thru - no problem - and would send some of US out of the room in minutes. Bet you can sit thru concerts of pop stars that make many of us projectile vomit. Yes, classical music takes FAR more attention (which I guess you do not have) and also education (ditto) to really grasp what is going on, on a deeper level. But there is a lot of classical music that is just beautiful - where do you think most MOVIE SCORES come from - as you admit? They are using classical techniques that were popular over a hundred years ago! So if YOU are not able to sit thru a longer work- then try listening to shorter things, or excerpts. There are classical radio or internet stations that play excerpt or *hits* only - that will probably be fine for you. But for many of us,listening to THREE minutes of Katy Perry or some mumbling and angry rapper is not what WE prefer, either. We each have our own taste - and I would bet that there are kids in your school who PRETEND To like certain singers and rappers, just to APPEAR COOL - when really, meh . . .Do not say that we are *pretending* to like classical music - because as adults - why would we bother?

Answer 21

I think EVERYONE that says they are bored by it are pretending. They are actually deeply touched and thrilled by such profound music, but keep it a secret lest they appear uncool or gay. (Even going so far as to pretend they didn't hear the lyrics in the last movement of Beethoven's 9th.)

Answer 22

Yes. Doctors, physicians, scientists, tennis players, black people in Arizona,sculptors,violinists,painters,music teachers and botanists.

Answer 23

Of course, people actually enjoy classical music. Yahoo Answers has an entire section devoted to it. They could have easily lump it in with "Other".



Just as you probably know people who love foods and flavors you can't stand, each person has their own tastes. Even among lovers of classical music, there are definite likes and dislikes. No one has to waste time listening to music they don't enjoy, unless of course it's somehow related to school or work.



Listen to the kind of music you want! However, your comment that classical music has no lyrics shows that you know little about classical music. There are PLENTY of classical works that have lyrics. There is classical music, like operas, that have entire storylines. There is also SHORT works, both instrument and vocal, for those who prefer not to sit through an hour or more of a longer work.



I like to listen to complete symphonies, but when I'm driving to and from work in my car with the classical station on , where I may not be in the car for more than 15 minutes, I might not get through an entire work before I arrive at my destination. It doesn't mean I won't listen to snippets of whatever I can hear (and the station also plays single movements, a couple of choruses or arias, or shorter works as well). If I find something intriguing that I haven't heard before, I can always find a complete recording to listen to when I have the time and inclination.



As it is, since I am personally someone who enjoys SINGING, I tend to gravitate toward vocal music more than instrumental. Again--PREFERENCE. It's not that one kind is better than another. By the way, there are individual classical SONGS out there, that may only be as long as a pop song. Besides arias taken from operas or oratorios, there are actually classical songs NOT from operas that may either be in a collection or cycle or similarly themed songs (but can be performed individually), or songs simply written as stand-alone pieces.



For example, the Gounod-Bach version of "Ave Maria" where the French composer Charles Gounod wrote an independent melody over an existing instrumental work by J.S. Bach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vawnfrv7n7I&ab_channel=Jairdan



Here is a setting of a well-loved children's bedtime story by contemporary composer Eric Whitacre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlusMNfteY0&ab_channel=albiram



This is a longer song--an example of Romantic era German lieder. It tells a chilling story of a late night ride through the woods. A man and his son is on horseback (listen to how the piano imitates the sound of horsehooves), trying to get home, and the boy sees and hears the seductive but frightening Erl-King (a kind of evil fairy) and his kin. The father sees only mist and hears only the wind, and by the time he realizes something is amiss, and urges the horse to go faster, their escape from the wood comes too late--"n seinen Armen das Kind war tot" (In his arms, the child was dead). The singer must change the tone of his or her voice to portray four "characters"--narrator, father, son, and the Erlking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuG7Y6wiPL8&ab_channel=doxa89



Other classical songs that are among MY personal favorite (to listen to, to sing). Hopefully, you don't fall asleep. These are all kind of slow.

Nacht und Träume (Night and Dreams)--Franz Schubert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TnK7tPTwHE

"Linden Lea" Ralph Vaughan Williams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGLCGqJ3Hho

"When I Have Sung My Songs to You" Ernest Charles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRSM66dBA8A&ab_channel=Onegin65



Here is something that is ONLY voices--no instruments at all. And no autotune. The reverb comes from the cathedral where the choir is being recorded.

. The Spheres - Ola Gjeilo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lxtv8BrGEo&ab_channel=sha8nama





And to wake you up--"Zadok the Priest" G.F. Handel (still used for British coronations today)--crank up your volume, and hang on!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiXgOQ9_-RI&ab_channel=1finch2finch

Answer 24

Darn it, I've been found out.

Answer 25

yes my favourite is beethoven 9th symphony and i also like chopin

Answer 26

lol it not meant to be listened to jsut like you listen to other music, you listen to classical music while you are doing something else, it is in the background and it help you relax, if the main thing you are doing is listening to music, then of course you can't listen to it for an hour.

Answer 27

Everyone is different and likes different things.

Answer 28

I'm not lying. You just don't get it.

Answer 29

No lyrics - imagine that!