Return of Violence
of wolves and classical music
Not everyone was pleased by the conservationist restoration of the Gray Wolf to Yellowstone National Park. It’s easy to see why. Re-introducing the wolves upended an important established order, as it brought violence to ranchers in the surrounding area. A relatively peaceful existence for their cattle came to an end, resulting in added difficulties to the services these ranchers provided to both their immediate and the wider community.
It is understandable, then, to side with these ranchers, and to view the subsequent corrections made, such as granting them freedom to shoot trespassing wolves, as necessary adjustments to the re-introduction. But while one can certainly sympathize with the ranchers, especially early on in the restoration project, it is not necessary to do so while completely opposing the Return.
The return of wolf violence to Yellowstone re-vitalized and re-beautified the park. In the wolves’ absence, the grazing wildlife of the park, no longer needing to be on the move out of vigilance, had become stagnant, burdening the ground upon which they grazed, killing off vegetation, causing erosion around the riverbanks. This erosion in turn led to beavers fleeing, affecting the river, disrupting waterfalls and meandering streams that attract larger groupings of wildlife. Stagnation had killed off the best kind of variety, that of nature and its ordered hierarchy. In their collective violence, the wolves, both purveyors of and servants to nature’s hierarchy, had returned greater vibrancy to the environment. Indeed, might made right in an area that was in need of less establishment, more top-down order.
During the Romantic Era of classical music, two opposing schools of thought emerged. On one side you had the more conservative composers who wanted to preserve what Bach and Beethoven had established. While innovation wasn’t necessarily discouraged, remaining true to the existing form was prioritized. One proponent of this side, Johannes Brahms, clung so closely to the established form that his First Symphony was often referred to to as “Beethoven’s Tenth.” Listen to Brahms and you feel the past, long for it.
On the other side of the War of the Romantics were the future-oriented composers. They respected the work of those who came before them, but sought to innovate and improvise, “push the artwork of the future” with their music. On this side was Richard Wagner, who once claimed that in composition “the story is more important than the form.” Listen to Wagner and you can envision the future, thirst after it.
While the ranchers sought to preserve an established order, the wolves were brought in to create a new one—though also a very old one, a cycle of hierarchy and order so often evident in nature. This was also the conflict in the War of the Romantics, as the battle entailed either the preservation of the traditional form established by Bach and Beethoven, as Brahms sought to do, or to use the established form as a foundation upon which to build newer ones, creating the future with art, as was Wagner’s mission.
Though it may appear as such on the surface, this is not a battle between conservatism and progressivism. It is a struggle between two frames of order, something modern-day progressivism attempts to destroy with equality. Equality doesn’t exist in nature nor in classical music. What exists is this: the past, which has earned and deserves our respect; the present, which should be dealt with boldly and honestly; and the future, which is to emerge from both.
The established order preserves an existing hierarchy. But when that hierarchy breaks down, it forms a progressive decay, often leading to attempts at enacting egalitarianism, subsequently leading to complete desolation. Embracing the tension, on the other hand, forces the two to cease acting as a sustaining coalition for a season, and instead engage in battle. For the coalition to re-emerge, a new (though also old) hierarchy must win, sometimes violently.
The March Issue of Appeals Magazine is out! Please consider buying here.