Monday, November 09, 2009

A Little Fun Fact for The Day

I've been completely annoyed with popular radio lately, and even the alternative rock station in the Detroit/Windsor area, 89X, has become rather boring and repetitive. So I've found myself turning into my father, and return to the classical station over and over again.

I like classical music for many reasons, but mostly because I grew up listening to it, so I identify the entire experience with my dad's interest in and love for classical. I'd arrive home from school and he would be blasting Bach, Mozart, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, or a number of other knowns or unknowns from the classical world, and once you hear a tune more than a few times, it becomes memorable.

ANYWAY.

I was listening to the classical station the other day, and before the DJ played a version of Beethoven's Fifth, he explained that during World War II, the BBC and many American news bulletins played the first four notes of the symphony at the start of each broadcast. Why? The four notes, played as they are composed, dot-dot-dot-dash, are Morse Code for "V." As in "Victory."

Isn't that cool?

(I thought that it was kind of fitting on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.)

2 comments:

lem said...

May I recommend Arriaga? I first heard his music at one of the Strad concerts at NMAH. It was amazing!

Heather said...

lem - I have no idea who that is. I will find out if my dad has any of that composer...