09-26-2020, 02:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-26-2020, 02:52 PM by Eric the Green.)
Quote:This one from the Boomers is one of my absolute favorites, for its raw sound, virtuoso rock n roll musicianship and that authentic pissed off Boomer energy.
Good one, Steve.
Now, what is really the first protest song in history? I don't know, but these qualify. Beethoven's opera Fidelio (1806) was a protest song, much like those by The Who later on like Ball and Chain and Won't Get Fooled Again. A woman dresses up like a man and rescues his lover from a political prison. The prisoners struggle up towards the light.
"Fidelio" a play OPERA by Beethoven is a timeless monument to Love, Life and Liberty. A celebration of Human Rights, of the Freedom to Speak out, to Dissent, a Political Manifesto against Tyranny and Oppression, a Hymn to the Beauty and Sanctity of Marriage, an exulted affirmation of Faith in God as the ultimate Human Resource...(Leonard Bernstein)
CHORUS OF PRISONERS
Oh what joy, in the open air
Freely to breathe again!
Up here alone is life!
The dungeon is a grave.
FIRST PRISONER
We shall with all our faith
Trust in the help of God!
Hope whispers softly in my ears!
We shall be free, we shall find peace.
ALL THE OTHERS
Oh Heaven! Salvation! Happiness!
Oh Freedom! Will you be given us?
And the Leonore Overture #3 from Fidelio puts all the concern, protest and passion of the opera into razzamatazz and screaming, orchestral power. Music for our times! Performed at the Amnesty International concert by Bernstein and Bavaria orchestra.
Note how most of these songs I posted not only express protest, but aspiration for deliverance.