Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce (Stanley Weintraub, 2001)

I always liked this story, but didn't know very much about it. We rented a recent movie on the topic (mentioned here) and I thought it was very nice, but suspected it was way too dressed up for film-making purposes compared to what more likely was happening on the ground.

But after reading this book it turns out pretty much all the elements shown in the movie were based upon actual events. (The one exception was the female love interest that the film-maker threw into the story.) There were impromptu soccer games in no man's land. Burial of dead. Singing back and forth between the trenches. And yes, the Crown Prince brought a German opera star out (Kirchoff), and he did perform in the trenches. Etc.

Overall - the bottoms-up truce was not likely to stop the war as some overstate. But it clearly was a widespread phenomenon in some sectors of the line.

What a story. Flooded trenches finally froze right as Christmas arrived. The German soldiers were much more into the Christmas celebration than French or British (which the author says was consistent with how things were celebrated those days). German authorities arranged for thousands of small trees to be sent to the front. The Germans started lighting the trees and singing carols; some called across no mans land. Many Germans apparently knew at least some English, having worked in Britain before the war.

This led to meetings, gift exchanges, shared cigars and meals. The famous German pickle helmet was the most popular souvenir. There were impromptu soccer matches and group photos. Gift boxes had been received from the English royal family or the Kaiser, so there was plenty of material to barter.

This of course made the senior officers very unhappy. Censorship wasn't nearly as effective at this stage, so word quickly got out via letters home.

In some areas, each side would fire shots deliberately overhead - aiming too high - when the officers happened by. Then the fraternizing would resume. This dragged on for several days.

When you think about it - and without looking to make some kind of general antiwar statement - you had a pretty typical scenario where all these suckers were lined up trying to kill one another at the behest of the ruling classes. Some wars are pretty clearly necessary (obvious example = taking out a Hitler). In all wars, to get the suckers fired up to fight, the ruling class has to put out a bunch of propaganda. No doubt there were plenty of incidents, but the main propaganda against the Germans was the stories - often deliberately exaggerated - about abuses in occupied Belgium. The consistent reaction of the French and British participants in the "truce" was surprise that the Germans were actually normal human beings. This of course was considered a dangerous idea by the higher-ups - the suckers in the line might lose the proper zeal for killing.

An interesting observation were the differences within units of the German army - the Saxon units often expressed dislike for the ruling Prussians, as well as affinity for their Anglo-Saxon opponents.

The story just strikes me as very powerful. All the war rhetoric sounded pretty ridiculous to these folks as they stood there sharing cigars, looking at each other's family photos, and inviting each other to visit after the war. The ordinary guys on both sides of the line were farmers, tradesmen, etc. - the usual cannon fodder. Men who had a lot in common.

Anyway, after a few days they had to turn around and start killing each other again. Except for the units who were transfered away from the area due to doubts (stemming from their participation in the Christmas truce) about their reliability as killers.

Danwen Jian (Violin) Walter Cosand (Piano) (Katzen Hall, February 10, 2008)

It was a beautiful Sunday here in Phoenix, sunny and upper 70s. Patricia and I hiked in the Phoenix mountain preserve (40th street trailhead), then went to this faculty recital down at ASU.

We enjoyed it a bunch. There were four works on the program - a sonata by Schubert, two 20th century American works (Lukas Foss and Russell Bennett), and a sonata (No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108) by Brahms. The opening piece (Schubert) was the least interesting (or maybe our performers (or we audience members) were just getting warmed up). The 20th century pieces were delightful; I always have low expectations for these things and should know better by now. There were parts that were very pretty; some elements of swing or jazz; etc. And we always like Brahms it seems; his piece asked a lot of the pianist (not surprisingly).

I like watching the violinist play. It's interesting to see all the ways they can make sound come out of the violin.

Then to Roaring Fork where they feature a ridiculously cheap and good happy hour menu, plus the bartender comp'd a round. Get the green chile pork stew. What a deal.

Love, Life, Goethe (John Armstrong, 2006)

I liked this book on several levels. The author lays out a biography of (Johann Wolfgang von) Goethe; he also purports to discuss Goethe's viewpoints on various (though I wasn't sure sometimes if it was the author's viewpoints or Goethe's). And he even spent a couple pages trying to explain how to pronounce Goethe's name. Claims there is no "r" sound.

I picked this book for several reasons. First, I'm going through some biographies of artists and authors for a different take on history (per recent posts on biographies of Goya, Tolstoy, etc.) . Second, I continually run into English, French, and Russian historical materials . . . not nearly so much German (and I should be interested in that part of the world). Third, I continually run into Goethe references (or his buddy Schiller) in connection with classical music, including things we perform in Choral Union that were set to music by Beethoven or Schubert. Fourth, I occasionally see brief references to Goethe - not flattering - in connection with the Nazis (though not sure the relevance given he was dead 100 years before the party emerged).

Goethe was a contemporary of Goya. Spent time with Beethoven. Was around (though young) at the time of the American Revolution; closely followed events surrounding the French Revolution. He was around for most of the reaction to the French Revolution and Napoleon that in turn led to the revolutions of 1848 (16 years after he died).

This kind of book does help with thinking about German history. Unlike the national governments that had been in place for centuries in France and England (or the good old fashioned autocracy in Russia), this part of the world featured things like the "free city" of Frankfurt (where Goethe grew up), the tiny duchy of Weimar (where he was able to participate in civil administration in addition to providing celebrity and intellectual weight), the militarism and increasing importance of Prussia (where for example the duke of Weimar went to get involved in the military). Many small states during this period of run-up to Bismarck.

Goethe doesn't fit the stereotype of the impractical, unhappy, struggling artist. He comes across as secure, happy, practical, prosperous. He loved the classics and spent lots of time in Italy. He hit the jackpot as a commercial success in his early 20s with "The Sorrows of Young Werther." His most famous work is "The Damnation of Faust," though I understand it is pretty difficult reading. Anyway, "Werther" made him famous throughout Europe and assured his financial and celebrity status for the rest of his life - though it seems he did far, far more than rest on his laurels.

Goethe is thought of as one of the last generalists - he sought to make a contribution in multiple fields, including a treatise on color and optics where he (thoughtfully but unsuccessfully) challenged Newton As this author describes it, the various branches of science were deepening so rapidly that no one even tried to contribute in multiple areas (as had been common earlier, think Descartes).

Goethe met all kinds of interesting folks - partly because he was a heavyweight that had gained celebrity early in life, and then ended up living into his early 80s. Had an interesting encounter with Napoleon. Spent time with Beethoven, including a famous scene, though probably allegorical, where he bowed to royalty but Beethoven didn't remove his cap. Best buddies with Schiller. Etc. (This kind of book helps set different historical events and figures in context, knit them together; useful.)

I keep seeing references to the "Sturm and Drang" movement. Goethe and Schiller were associated with this, though both moved away. Goethe's hit novel (Werther) is considered an early spark for the movement (though this author thinks Goethe's message was that Werther was on the wrong track). Sturm and Drang is described here. I think of it as a stormy, passionate, notion of an individual soul or consciousness that runs deeper than intellect . . . you start to see the action/reaction movements in history, as these folks were reacting to the rationalism - and overbroad claims of what it could achieve - led by folks like Voltaire in the 18th century.

Goethe and Schiller moved away from this, but the trend was building with elements appearing in Romanticism, Neitzsche, Wagner . . . into the nationalism that became so important in 20th century (and was foolishly fed by folks like Woodrow Wilson); and yes, even to Hitler. (None of this of course traveled in a straight line.) Goethe would have run away from anything resembling Nazism; he emphasized looking for practical happiness, never slavish devotion to causes or ideologies.

In fact the basic outlook as described is very close to how I think on any number of topics . . . you could read this and get a pretty good window on my thought process in many areas.

Read at the gym.