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To the punchline then: the young foreign composer was, of course, Ludwig Van Beethoven, and in that one concert he premiered his ''Symphony No. 6'' (“Pastoral”), his ''Piano Concerto No. 4'', and the aforementioned ''Choral Fantasia'', as well as playing a few choice cuts from his ''Mass in C Major''. If that wasn’t enough — and surely the premiere of the ''Pastoral'', by itself, would have been enough to make the record of humankind’s highest achievements — after the interval, the orchestra debuted the most revolutionary piece of music, bar ''none'' ever written: the ''Disco Theme to Saturday Night Fever'',<ref>I am sorry. I couldn’t resist.</ref> although then known only as ''Symphony No. 5 in C Minor''.<ref>Anyone interested in Beethoven’s symphonies — that is, in Jimi Hendrix’s words, “everybody here with hearts — ''any'' kind of hearts — and ears” — should check out Professor Robert Greenberg’s [https://robertgreenbergmusic.com/download/beethoven-symphonies/ lectures about Beethoven].</ref> | To the punchline then: the young foreign composer was, of course, Ludwig Van Beethoven, and in that one concert he premiered his ''Symphony No. 6'' (“Pastoral”), his ''Piano Concerto No. 4'', and the aforementioned ''Choral Fantasia'', as well as playing a few choice cuts from his ''Mass in C Major''. If that wasn’t enough — and surely the premiere of the ''Pastoral'', by itself, would have been enough to make the record of humankind’s highest achievements — after the interval, the orchestra debuted the most revolutionary piece of music, bar ''none'' ever written: the ''Disco Theme to Saturday Night Fever'',<ref>I am sorry. I couldn’t resist.</ref> although then known only as ''Symphony No. 5 in C Minor''.<ref>Anyone interested in Beethoven’s symphonies — that is, in Jimi Hendrix’s words, “everybody here with hearts — ''any'' kind of hearts — and ears” — should check out Professor Robert Greenberg’s [https://robertgreenbergmusic.com/download/beethoven-symphonies/ lectures about Beethoven].</ref> | ||
Okay, so, hindsight? | |||
If the [[JC]] could travel back in time for one night only, throughout all of human history, this is the night he’d choose. He’d take thermals and a cushion. ''Imagine being one of those lucky 1,500 who heard the fifth symphony for the first time in history''. There are few profound watershed in the cultural history of our civilisation, but that is surely one. But it would be imbued with such significance ''only'' because of the two hundred years of subsequent history from which we now benefit. Those lucky 1,500 probably found it quite tiresome. They may well have — most probably did — come in later life to freight that experience with more meaning than they could apprehend at the time. | |||
This is the human condition, summarised. Only ''once it has happened'' — [[past tense]] — and often, only months or years after that, can we ''possibly'' apprehend the significance of unexpected events. | |||
This is where my friend the middle manager makes his category error. Data all come from the same place: the past. When we review risks, catastrophes and step changes; when we consider [[punctuated equilibrium|punctuations to the equilibrium]], fair or foul our wisdom, our careful analyses, our sage opinions, our hot takes, our [[thought leader]]ship — ''all'' of these are [[Second-order derivative|derived]] from, predicated on, and delimited by [[data]] which, at the time the event played out, ''we did not have''. | |||
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