Classical Music and Humor

My mother was a classical piano player.  Every night after the supper dishes were done, she'd sit down at the piano and slam out the classics.  She was like Liberace, overly dramatic and heavy on the sustain pedal.  Every single night of my life while growing up, we listened to her play Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata".  She said it used to make me wail and cry as a baby.  Hearing "Moonlight Sonata" today still makes me want to tear my hair out.  But I did learn to love classical music and even learned to play the piano myself.  My favorites are Edvard Greig, Chopin, and Mozart in that order.

My mother also had a bizarre sense of humor.  She owned an entire collection of Spike Jones recordings, all of them on 78's.  Spike Jones spoofed classical music.  Most people today have never heard of him (unless you listened to Dr. Demento's radio show in the 1970's, who played him on a regular basis).  Spike Jones really was hilarious, especially to us little kids, who played the 78 records over and over.  I played the same records for my kids when they were little and they thought he was hilarious too.

Last night my husband and I watched a PBS special on Victor Borge, the great classical pianist and comedian who died in 2000 at the age of 91.  Both my parents loved Victor Borge and everytime he performed in Milwaukee they would go to see him.  I never went along because I was young and stupid and only interested in Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, and Led Zeppelin.  So I missed out on seeing a famous brilliant classical musician who could actually poke fun at classical music and opera and get away with it.  My loss.  Watching the PBS show really made my husband and me laugh.  Somewhere in the past real humor went down the drain.  Today everything has to be raunchy, disgusting, or pornographic to be considered funny.  But both Spike Jones and Victor Borge were damn funny.  It's too bad so few people remember them now.

Reviews

[harmattan]

I remember!
Saw VB in the flesh 3 times. Always hilarious. Probably one of the greatest clowns that ever lived, alongside WC Fields, Benny Hill and Buster Keaton.
Because clowns are always experts at something, even if it is just falling over.
Spike Jones and his band were all superb musicians, took the Micky out of popular music too, but my favourite line from him is... "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Poet and Peasant Overture........
(short pause, turn away from camara, turn back)............Good Luck!"
H
I am not scoring this because it is a beef rather than an essay.
Kind regards
H