Petrarch/Liszt, sonnet 104. “The effect of the abbaabba octave is truly remarkable. It is actually a blend of 3 brace-rhyme quatrains, since the middle 4 verses whose sounds overlap the others and echo their patterns, impress the reader with a similar sound pattern, thus, abBAABba.” (Alex Preminger, ed., Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics) Canzone […]
Solitary Ethics
Tchaikovsky’s Symphonie Pathétique
The thematic material of this symphony’s last movement – one of the very finest symphonic slow movements – is derived in compressed form from the lyrical theme of the opening movement, and the trombone chorale that is heard near the end of the finale is itself a further reduction of the compressed material; only, in the […]
Kenneth Clark – Leonardo da Vinci
This is art historian Clark’s excellent study of Leonardo. Among his many books also is Civilization, which was subsequently turned into an excellent television series. A few points of especial consequence. In discussing the painting of the Virgin and St Anne, Clark writes Finally, [Leonardo] arrives at the solution which we know in the Paris […]
Caravaggio’s Dagger – Too Often Not A Dream : War
My book, Caravaggio’s Dagger, is structured as six Taxonomies, of which the first, “The Pyre of the Accidental Butterfly,” deals with instances of war and social disruption. “Too Often Not A Dream” is the 11th and culminating poem of that Taxonomy. The poem can be listened to here. The book can be found here. It was written between 4 June 2004 […]
Caravaggio's Dagger – Video
An introduction. The work in video presented in 70 seconds. Part One of Solitary Ethics. Available at: Amazon Chapters Indigo Iguana Books and through many other international and local online distributors.
Political Insurrection and the Symphony – Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden II:II:1
The subject of the poem “Insurrection” is the search for clarity of content in a chosen form. The forms selected are political insurrection and the orchestral symphony, both constrained by the norms of place and society. The setting is in the Hungarian forests, where the insurgents are, and the nearby Esterháza Palace, where Haydn is […]
Constellations of Desire – Return to Vancouver
. Vancouver Vancouver, BC – Edmonton, AB, 2-26 February 2015 . In the accent-heavy emigrant’s taxicab We bridge the Fraser River, at the point Where the drive train sheared, nine years ago; The electric mentality of overwhelm Preamble to this reconfiguration. . Place of loss and flight of welcome. . Here at the sea the […]
Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden I:II:1 – Nearing the Apex of Midnight
Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden, Part One, II:1 . I am wakened to stumble Into the Maritime thunderstorm Of my aging, Lightning flashing through the blinds, Falling water smashing at the house. I picture Dürer in self-portrait With paper almost too wet To sketch on. Cantata strains Of Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen Play very […]
Georg Trakl (1887-1914) – Stardust of the Crystal Angel
I have been interested in Trakl’s work for several years now, stimulated by several essays in the American literary press, the provenance of which I, alas, have forgotten.What does stay in particular is the poem De Profundis, which is both remarkable and devastating.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWiap8pmxagMichael Hamburger’s translation is this:There is a stubble field on which a black rain falls. […]
The Levendaal Canal, Leiden – Constellations of Desire I:III:1 – Aspects of Age
Levendaal, from the Kraaiers bridge near the Koene bridge Over the last many months I have read many articles and commentaries on the sadness of loss that is a part of age. Yes, it is harsh. And yes, aging is a physical deterioration, but it is not immediately an intellectual deterioration into oblivion. Oblivion will […]