‘Rustle of Spring’: Too Powerful to Cancel
Despite the idiotic excesses of contemporary “cancel culture,” the emotional impulse behind it is nothing new. For well over a century, leaders in the arts, education and politics have suffered dire consequences for bad private behavior or outrageous public opinions.
Consider the case of a three-minute musical masterpiece that’s especially appropriate in this hopeful, fragrant season of the year, but has long been obscured by efforts to “cancel” its once-celebrated composer in the 80 years since his death.
Rustle of Spring by Christian August Sinding is an intoxicating jolt of energy for solo piano that became a worldwide hit shortly after its composition in 1896. The composer, a struggling Norwegian who had reached the age of 40 without conspicuous success, suddenly heard his little gem performed everywhere—and watched its bestselling sheet music ruthlessly pirated…Click here to read the full column at Newsweek.com.