Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Rossini Revisited


Today as I was coming back into work, I had the pickup radio on Radio Kansas, the public station out of Hutchinson.  I didn’t pay much attention to what was playing in the first few seconds, but a sliver of the classical piece that was on caught my ear after a minute or so.  Rossini’s “William Tell Overture” was playing, and was in about the middle of the piece.  I immediately turned the volume up to max and set in to enjoy the piece all the way in to work.
The Cincinnati Orchestra didn’t disappoint.  The work stirs up more than just musical emotions in those of us old enough to remember old radio and TV shows.  As you may well know, the final movement of the work is the theme of the old Lone Ranger shows.  And when I hear the overture, I think of that relationship and all that goes with it.
In 2006, I had a similar experience with the overture and wrote a blog post about it.  I’m repeating that post here, as I cannot say it better than what I did 13 years ago when we lived in Topeka.  Here is that post.
When in the pickup going somewhere, I usually am tuned to a public radio station.  In this area, it’s KPR from the Kansas University campus.  I can also receive Radio Kansas out of Hutchinson, as they have a transmitter in the Manhattan area.  Public radio is so much better than the drivel of 100 commercial stations all vying for my ear.  Does that mean I’m getting old?
I was coming back from a “pastoral” visit today and was tuned to KPR.  They started the Overture to William Tell by Rossini.  As I listened, I saw that I would arrive home before it was over, so I pulled into a parking lot in a public park, under some shade, and listened to the rest of the overture.
I know that much guffawing, many jokes, and a lot of fun has been poked at the overture, as it is the basis for a lot of the old cartoon background music, and was the theme song of the old series, “The Lone Ranger.”  But as I listened to it…all of it…I sort of came to a different point of view.
Yes, I recall the cartoons and the TV shows (I’m not old enough for a lot of radio).  I know the Ranger was an extraordinary shot, always shooting the gun out of the bad guy’s hand, but never wounding him.  I know that he always managed to rescue Tonto as well as the people in distress (often children), and that he never wanted thanks for his work.
But I was also drawn back in my mind to a simpler time both in my life and in the life of our society; when it seems right was right and wrong was wrong; when decency and morality meant something other than as fodder for ridicule; when heroes were indeed heroes, worthy of emulation; when funny was funny, when entertainment was just that, and when times were more innocent.
I’m grateful to Rossini for his composition.

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