Thought to be WiseLeningrad was under siege by the Nazi forces in the winter of 1942. Death was everywhere. Bodies left in doorways having died of cold and starvation. The despair was palpable. Musicians were brought together to form an orchestra. Some, not wanting to be bothered with what they saw as a waste of their last days on earth, only stayed for the extra rations offered. But they knew not the future impact of the music they were preparing to gift to their nation. Dmitri Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony titled ‘Leningrad,’ lifted the hearts of the war-torn citizenry of Leningrad out of cowering misery and into a spirit of resistance. The live music was played all over the city on loud speaks for all to hear – even the enemy. Spirits soared! Such is the power of music.Ten years later, an American composer, John Cage, “composed” a three-movement composition he titled: “4’33”. It was four minutes and thirty-three seconds of silence. Cage and Shostakovich were from two different worlds. Shostakovich’s Leningrad was bombed into a silence that was deliberately broken by the music of hope. Cage’s world was bored into a silence that was deliberately passed off as if it were music.If 4’33” was a joke, I wouldn’t feel as if I were giving credence to foolishness by mentioning it. But here is Mr. Cage’s own evaluation:”I didn’t wish it to appear, even to me, as something easy to do or as a joke. I wanted to mean it utterly and be able to live with it.”Mr. Cage would have been wise to have taken the advice of the following Proverb:“Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise;When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent” (Proverbs 17:28).John StaigerIf you have been blessed by this message, please feel free to: Like, Comment or Share it with your friends.
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