Jonathan O'Neill’s Reviews > Lexicon of Musical Invective: Critical Assaults on Composers Since Beethoven's Time > Status Update
Jonathan O'Neill
is starting
I wasn't intending to read this right away and I'll probably still just dip my toes for a bit while I finish some other books but this from the sample excerpts was just too good to ignore:
"The Finale of [of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony] is to me for the most part dull and ugly.... Oh, the pages of stupid and hopelessly vulgar music! The unspeakable cheapness of the chief tune, 'Freude, Freude'!"
:D :D
— Jul 26, 2025 02:29AM
"The Finale of [of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony] is to me for the most part dull and ugly.... Oh, the pages of stupid and hopelessly vulgar music! The unspeakable cheapness of the chief tune, 'Freude, Freude'!"
:D :D
20 likes · Like flag
Jonathan’s Previous Updates
Jonathan O'Neill
is 82% done
I do not believe that a single composition of Wagner will survive him.
- Moritz Hauptmann
— Jan 26, 2026 08:28PM
- Moritz Hauptmann
Jonathan O'Neill
is 73% done
The Rite of Spring
Who wrote this fiendish Rite of Spring,
What right had he to write the thing,
Against our helpless ears to fling
It's crash, clash, cling, clang, bing, bang, bing?
And then to call it Rite of Spring,
The season when on joyous wing
The birds melodious carols sing
And harmony's in everything!
He who could write the Rite of Spring,
If I be right, by right should swing!
— Jan 25, 2026 09:53PM
Who wrote this fiendish Rite of Spring,
What right had he to write the thing,
Against our helpless ears to fling
It's crash, clash, cling, clang, bing, bang, bing?
And then to call it Rite of Spring,
The season when on joyous wing
The birds melodious carols sing
And harmony's in everything!
He who could write the Rite of Spring,
If I be right, by right should swing!
Jonathan O'Neill
is on page 196 of 336
It is not every family which has double fugues for breakfast, but this Strauss family is a peculiar one. If sinfonia domestica were a true autobiographical sketch, we fancy that the wife would be portrayed on trombones and tubas while the husband would be pictured on the second violin.
Wow! Try saying that about Will Smith's wife, buddy! 😬
— Jan 25, 2026 03:54AM
Wow! Try saying that about Will Smith's wife, buddy! 😬
Jonathan O'Neill
is on page 168 of 336
20 pages of Schoenberg related invective feels like an awfully toxic thing to read before bed but, alas, that's what I've done. With regard to dedicated pages he gets over the line, by a tight margin, against the likes of Debussy and Strauss and is "defeated" only by the man we all love to hate, Herr Richard Wagner!
— Jan 20, 2026 03:59AM
Jonathan O'Neill
is on page 137 of 336
[Rachmaninoff] writes pieces full of the old astounding musical dislocation...
There was a day, perhaps, when such work served. But another day has succeeded to it. And so, Rachmaninoff comes amongst us like a very charming and amiable ghost.
- Paul Rosenfield on the 2nd piano concerto
You can't win with these critics. You're either too ahead of your time or you're a dusty old fossil. No in-between.
— Jan 17, 2026 02:07PM
There was a day, perhaps, when such work served. But another day has succeeded to it. And so, Rachmaninoff comes amongst us like a very charming and amiable ghost.
- Paul Rosenfield on the 2nd piano concerto
You can't win with these critics. You're either too ahead of your time or you're a dusty old fossil. No in-between.
Jonathan O'Neill
is on page 129 of 336
Leonid Sabanayev wrote a scathing review of Prokofiev's Scythian Suite in 'News of the Season', Moscow, December 25, 1916 only to find, all too late, that the performance was actually cancelled and Prokofiev's Suite was never performed.... Awkward! 😆
— Sep 14, 2025 05:07AM
Jonathan O'Neill
is on page 73 of 336
I played over the music of that scoundrel Brahms. What a giftless bastard! It annoys me that this self-inflated mediocrity is hailed as a genius. Why, in comparison with him, Raff is a giant, not to speak of Rubinstein, who is after all a live and important human being, while Brahms is chaotic and absolutely empty dried-up stuff.
Tchaikovsky's Diary, 1886
😲 Pyotr, you slimy devil!! 😁
— Aug 14, 2025 04:55AM
Tchaikovsky's Diary, 1886
😲 Pyotr, you slimy devil!! 😁
Jonathan O'Neill
is on page 57 of 336
Berlioz, musically speaking, is a lunatic; a classical composer only in Paris, the great city of quacks. His music is simply and undisguisedly nonsense. He is a kind of Orchestral Liszt, than which I could name nothing more intensely disagreeable.
Shots fired! A few innocents caught in the cross-fire too! :D
— Aug 05, 2025 05:13AM
Shots fired! A few innocents caught in the cross-fire too! :D
Jonathan O'Neill
is on page 27 of 336
"... Bestial cries are heard: neighing horses, the squeal of a brass pig, crying jackasses, amorous quacks of a monstrous toad... Listening to this screaming music (a jazz band concert) for a minute or two, one conjures up an orchestra of madmen, sexual maniacs, led by a man-stallion beating time with an enormous phallos"
- Maxim Gorky
— Aug 03, 2025 05:45AM
- Maxim Gorky
Comments Showing 1-14 of 14 (14 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Jonathan
(new)
-
rated it 4 stars
Jul 26, 2025 02:30AM
- Philip Hale, eminent American music critic
reply
|
flag
I seem to remember that one, Jonathan. Didn't he say the Ode to Joy reminded him of Yankee Doodle? (Forgive me if I'm mistaken. It's more than 40 years since I read the book, but this critic's trashing of Beethoven's Ninth is unforgettable.)
"Max Reger is the composer whose name is the same backwards and forwards and, paradoxically, his music evinces the same effect".
What? I've woken up to this?The last movement of the B9 is dull and ugly?
How can that be?
Who is this critic? Give me a name and address and I'll post them a cake of soap so they can wash out such silliness from their mouth!
SIGNED
Enraged B9 loyal fan.
Gary wrote: "I seem to remember that one, Jonathan. Didn't he say the Ode to Joy reminded him of Yankee Doodle? (Forgive me if I'm mistaken. It's more than 40 years since I read the book, but this critic's tras..."😂 I'm not sure about that, Gary, I only took this from an excerpt on the back of the book. I've only made it through the foreword so far but if he did say that... Sensational stuff! 😁
P.S. Congratulations on a relationship with Classical music that exceeds my time on this Earth! 😲
Elentarri wrote: "😱"Shocking stuff hey, El! 😆
Julio wrote: ""Max Reger is the composer whose name is the same backwards and forwards and, paradoxically, his music evinces the same effect"."😂 I had to flick through the book to see if that was included and, indeed, it is! I like the beginning of that critique actually:
"[Reger's Quartet, op.109]... looks like music, it sounds like music, it might even taste like music; yet it remains, stubbornly, not music."
Thanks for that Julio. It's funny that as I flick through the book in advance, I notice that most of the composers with the largest amount of criticism are those that we now consider the most groundbreaking. Bringing truth to what I presume will be discussed in the Prelude here, titled 'Non-Acceptance of the Unfamiliar'. We've all been guilty of this to some degree, I'm sure, but when you're a professional critic it can really come back to bite you in a big way! 😆
Colin wrote: "What? I've woken up to this?The last movement of the B9 is dull and ugly?
How can that be?
Who is this critic? Give me a name and address and I'll post them a cake of soap so they can wash out suc..."
😁 I did name and shame, Col! The critic who is responsible for this filth has been named in the first comment (GR character limit wouldn't allow me to place it in the update 🙄).
Save some of that anger for future updates, my friend, there'll be a lot more where this came from! 😂
Funny, I just put the piece on to make sure it was still as brilliant as I remember and... Yep! Nothing's changed! 😁 Actually, I think it sounds better than ever! 😍🎵🎶
Jonathan wrote: "Gary wrote: "I seem to remember that one, Jonathan. Didn't he say the Ode to Joy reminded him of Yankee Doodle? (Forgive me if I'm mistaken. It's more than 40 years since I read the book, but this ..."Thanks, Jonathan. Frankly, I'm not certain about the "Yankee Doodle" reference, i.e. that it's from Hale's obnoxious review. It might be from another, earlier review of the 9th. I looked for my old copy of Slonimsky's book, but I couldn't find it. It might be in the back of one of my over-stuffed bookshelves or packed away in a box. Anyway, I think you'll enjoy the read. 😊
Jonathan wrote: "Funny, I just put the piece on to make sure it was still as brilliant as I remember and... Yep! Nothing's changed! 😁 Actually, I think it sounds better than ever! 😍🎵🎶"You've restored my hope for the world!
CB
Gary wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Gary wrote: "I seem to remember that one, Jonathan. Didn't he say the Ode to Joy reminded him of Yankee Doodle? (Forgive me if I'm mistaken. It's more than 40 years since I read th..."Thanks Gary. The fact that the "Prelude" was written by none other than Peter Schickele, the "founder" of the great masterpieces of PDQ Bach 😁 is a damn good omen!
Colin wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Funny, I just put the piece on to make sure it was still as brilliant as I remember and... Yep! Nothing's changed! 😁 Actually, I think it sounds better than ever! 😍🎵🎶"You've rest..."
I should've patted myself on the back and called it a day 10hrs ago, Col! That's no small feat, restoring a man's hope! 😆
