Because Beethoven deserves his own thread

This topic almost seems too creepy to post, but I feel an obligation to document this somehow ("and remember, this is for posterity, so I'll be honest").

Beethoven still heats up the girls.

I've talked to a large number of first-responders before, and they all agree that death has its own aroma. I'm not talking about the smell of a decayed, rotting corpse - that's too obvious. However, policemen, firefighters, EMT's, etc., all tell me that as soon as they arrive upon a scene where someone has died, they can smell it. They say death has its own unique aroma, and they always know when they are near a fatality.

In that same respect, hormonally charged teenagers have their own smell, too, and almost every teacher who has spent time around teenagers can identify that smell. It may not be as noticeable to parents if they are mostly only exposed to their own kids, or one or two neighborhood kids, but people who spend a lot of time around large groups of teenagers know that smell very well. It's powerful, especially when their hormones are raging. I suppose everyone is different, but the best way I can think to describe the "turned-on teenager" smell is that (to me, anyway) it reminds me vaguely of freshly baked bread. It's got a faint, but hot, yeast-y aroma, and I know it when I smell it.

Every semester, when I teach Music Appreciation, I notice that the unit on Beethoven produces that smell from my students. I go to a lot of dramatic lengths to describe Beethoven's life, pain, suffering, joys, depression, fury, etc., and then I show them how to hear those things in the music. I play dozens of selected examples of Beethoven's genius spread out over two lecture days, and I notice that every single class in every single semester gets their hormones fired up by Beethoven. I'm sure if I just dryly played something from a Beethoven Symphony, and said, "Here, listen to this and remember it," they would register no interest. But by illustrating the things that were going on in Beethoven's life when he wrote certain selections, their soul wakes up, and their sensitivity comes alive. They actually LISTEN to the music, and many of them come away with the idea that Beethoven is their favorite composer.

I often try to picture the smirk on Beethoven's face if he could learn that over 200 years later, The Moonlight Sonata is still swooning the chicks.

 

Interesting. I always thought that Beethoven's 5th made me horny because it reminded me of a rather fun roll in the hay I once had.

 

While I can't say it arouses me sexually, Ode To Joy has always been one of my favourite pieces and never fails to move me. All of Europe couldn't be wrong when they chose it as their continental anthem. Even my kids (2 teenagers and a 2o-something) absolutely love the Opera Babes version (the reason I bought what turned out to be a fantastic album of classical cuts). Maybe it does turn them on like you say, lol.

 

Smells like teen spirit?