United States: A love of Classical music led to a 16-year old girl brutally slaughtering her mother in a ritualistic killing, the Prattle can reveal. Neighbours thought Esmie Tseng was a kid any parent would be proud of
, but her involvement in the "Classie" scene was slowly turning her from a talented honour student into a vicious murderer.
...she stabbed her mother to death with a knife in an incident that apparently took the mother and daughter through several rooms of their home.
The murder happened after Tseng's mother threatened to sell her piano, an instrument popular among Classies. Police are investigating whether Classical music's frequent use of occult and violent imagery, influenced Tseng. Such music has provoked violence in the past, such as the riot at the premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, a glorification of sexual pagan ritual.
Like many teenage Classies, Tseng kept an online journal in which she detailed her increasing hatred of her parents, along with her obsession with classical music. After the murder, neighbour Jacob Horwitz read through her site and was shocked at what he found there:
My God,Jacob Horwitz remembers thinking when he read her weblog,it's a shame that another parent didn't see this yesterday.
Of course, this tragic story wasn't covered in this mendacious manner, and reading the full details, it will become obvious that there is a lot more to it than has been written here. Had Tseng been a goth, or into rap music, the press coverage would have been somewhat different.
Killer daughter case ignites US debate—BBC News, 3rd May 2006.
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Clearly forgiveable, given the influence of classical music over her fragile little mind.
I once sat through a performance of "Turangalila" by Messiaen. certainly felt like committing extreme violence immediately after that particular experience!
:-)
Well, if you look at the obviously dangerous influence of musicians such as Ludwig van Beethoven, as shown in the film "A Clockwork Orange", no-one should be surprised at classical music provoking such outbursts of violence.
I am calling for Classical FM to be shut down, to protect our children from future tragedies.
Please, won't someone think of the children?
Brilliant post, Feòrag! One of my boys (now in his 30s) was a long-haired headbanger as a teen and the fundies around these parts were pretty outrageous. He (and we) outlasted them.
Btw, Andy, I listened to "Turangalila" a while back (in the comfort of my own living room, not in a concert hall) and I found it kind of charming. Perhaps it's because it wasn't as awful as it could have been? What a pretty pass we've come to when that's the best we can say about our classical music.
Oh well, there's hope. Look for Terry Vosbein's website. Hia newer stuff is actually charming.
Btw, I was raised by strict Classies, but I found some deprogrammers: Stan Kenton, Brian Wilson, Holland, Dozier and Holland, Teddy Randazzo....