Filed under: photography
April 25, 2015 • 9:54 pm Comments Off on Lacrimae Rerum
Lacrimae Rerum
Yet however much we may like
The stoic manner in which
The classical authors wrote,
Only the young and the rich
Have the nerve or the figure to strike
The lacrimae rerum note.
–from A Walk After Dark, W.H. Auden
Filed under: classical art, photography, poetry
April 19, 2015 • 8:03 am Comments Off on Earth Day 2015
Earth Day 2015
For the upcoming 45th anniversary of Earth Day.
We’ve become a culture that’s so fragmented that we’ve kind of forgotten how we fit into the world in which we live. I understand music as a way to reconnect, and to reintegrate our awareness, our listening, ourselves with the larger, older world that we inhabit.
–John Luther Adams, from an interview in The List
Filed under: environment, John Luther Adams, photography
April 15, 2015 • 1:38 pm Comments Off on Another View of Semele
Another View of Semele
The Birth of Bacchus, Giulio Pippi and Workshop
For another angle on the Semele myth treated by Handel, here’s a painting by Giulio Pippi (called Giulio Romano) and Workshop (before 1499-1546), from the Getty Museum. The painting depicts the happy outcome of poor Semele’s demise. From the Getty’s description:
Originally part of a series of mythological love stories, this panel is a comment on passion’s perils. Semele, a mortal impregnated by Jupiter (Roman king of the gods), is consumed by fire after the god’s jealous wife, Juno (queen of the gods), tricks her into looking directly at him despite his warnings. Below is the newborn Bacchus (god of wine), Semele’s son by Jupiter. As the hapless father flees clutching his thunderbolts, Juno looks on apprehensively.
Filed under: Handel, painting, photography
April 13, 2015 • 8:07 pm Comments Off on Do NOT Mess with Him
Do NOT Mess with Him
March 8, 2015 • 12:01 am Comments Off on Rough winds do shake the darling buds of … March??
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of … March??
Filed under: environment, photography
March 3, 2015 • 11:42 am Comments Off on Landschaft ohne Titel
Landschaft ohne Titel
Filed under: photography
February 22, 2015 • 7:01 pm Comments Off on “The Sun Kept Setting, Setting Still”
“The Sun Kept Setting, Setting Still”
XXV
THE SUN kept setting, setting still;
No hue of afternoon
Upon the village I perceived,—
From house to house ’t was noon.
The dusk kept dropping, dropping still;
No dew upon the grass,
But only on my forehead stopped,
And wandered in my face.
My feet kept drowsing, drowsing still,
My fingers were awake;
Yet why so little sound myself
Unto my seeming make?
How well I knew the light before!
I could not see it now.
’T is dying, I am doing; but
I ’m not afraid to know
–Emily Dickinson
Filed under: photography, poetry
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 