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fabforgottennobility: Endless Layers  |  mpr526

fabforgottennobility:

Endless Layers  |  mpr526

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Photo

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leadingtone: BrahmsGesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates), Op....

leadingtone:

Brahms
Gesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates), Op. 89

Monteverdi Choir/Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

"You have certainly conjured up passionate desperation," Brahms' friend Theodor Billroth wrote to him after receiving a copy of the score to Gesang der Parzen; the composer had joked to Billroth, a prominent surgeon, that he should find the music interesting since both men shared a professional interest in scissors and string.

This "Song of the Fates" takes its text from Goethe's drama Iphigenie auf Tauris, appropriate source material for Brahms' final and probably least-known choral-orchestral work. The sensitive and dramatic text setting is remarkable even for a choral master of Brahms' caliber, and may suggest something of what a Brahms opera might have been. The poem addresses the power held literally and figuratively over the heads of men by the gods, as well as their heavenly self-absorption and indifference—concepts the composer treats with a bold ingeniousness that seems far more heartfelt than contrived. 

Gesang der Parzen is not frequently performed because of its brevity relative to the large forces required, an unfortunate quality it shares with Brahms' other choral-orchestral works excepting of course Ein deutsches Requiem. But it will certainly reward a careful hearing or two, and a review of the text may be helpful.

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go"

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go"

- Oscar Wilde

Photo

New York 1939 - filmed in color

New York 1939 - filmed in color

littleteashi: You should have heard by now from the news and at...

littleteashi:

You should have heard by now from the news and at twitter about recently what is happening in my country… 

Diana Krall, It's wonderfull - Live in Paris

Diana Krall, It's wonderfull - Live in Paris

"Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are 'It might have been.'"

"Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are 'It might have been.'"

- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Cat's Cradle (via aquaticwonder)

laos-dothedu: Jenny Holzer my goddess

laos-dothedu:

Jenny Holzer my goddess

Le Sacre du Printemps - recreatedParis, May 29th 1913. The Rite...

Le Sacre du Printemps - recreated
Paris, May 29th 1913. The Rite of Spring had a disastrous opening night. After five minutes, the first giggling became audible. Than came the mumbling and the whistling. Parts of the audience started shouting and booing at each other. Somewhere in the middle, Stravinsky had fled from the theatre.
But much more than Stravinsky's music, it was Vaslav Nijinsky's choreography and Diaghilev's Ballets Russes that had shocked the audience. It was modern dance overtaking ballet.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Le sacre du printemps (1913). Recreation of the original Nijinsky choreography with Valery Gergiev conducting

notorious-art: Bridge of the Immortals, Yellow Mountain,...

notorious-art:

Bridge of the Immortals, Yellow Mountain, China.

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bluepueblo: Moonrise, Northern Ireland photo via morgan

bluepueblo:

Moonrise, Northern Ireland

photo via morgan

"Worry gives small things a big shadow."

"Worry gives small things a big shadow."

- Swedish Proverb (via greaterthanexpected)

condenasttraveler: The 100th Annual Chelsea Flower Show | The...

condenasttraveler:

The 100th Annual Chelsea Flower Show | The Lupin display in the Great Pavilion

fleurs-maladives: Dead Man Soundtrack, Neil Young "The ancient...

fleurs-maladives:

Dead Man Soundtrack, Neil Young

"The ancient tradition that the world will be consumed in fire at the end of 6,000 years is true, as I've heard in hell.  The whole creation will be consumed, and appear infinite, and holy, where as it now appears finite and corrupt.  This will come to pass by an improvement of sensual enjoyment.  (…) If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. 
For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks in his cavern."

William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

"Have more than you show, speak less than you know"

"Have more than you show, speak less than you know"

- William Shakespeare, King Lear

medievalvisions: The Viking Ship "Icelander", Njarðvík.

medievalvisions:

The Viking Ship "Icelander", Njarðvík.