> On Thu, 26 Oct 2006, Michael Pollak wrote:
>
>> Speaking of the 9th, what about that weird Turkish march that interrupts
>> the Ode to Joy? Zizek claims it's an ironic self-deconstruction of the
>> text's hymn to universal brotherhood.
>
> God, that's so wrong it makes me wonder if he's even listening.
I suddenly think I know where he might have gotten this idea -- it could be be because he wasn't following along in the score. At first I thought, How could anyone not hear that the Turkish March was the Ode to Joy tune? But now suddenly I realize that actually it's *so* much like the Ode to Joy that maybe if I was listening without a score (which of course is normally the case -- I only took one out to check this question), I might think this couldn't be the Turkish March -- that the Turkish march is the fugue that comes after. And then you'd be perfectly within your rights in calling it weird in the sense of hugely complex and virtuostic as compared with this bell-clear melody of the Ode.
But if you're following in the score, you can't make this mistake. It says "Turkish March" right where the Ode to Joy takes on a march rhythm. So their connection is unmissable.
Michael