Thoughts 'n' Things: Music, Art, and Classical Sculptures

Thoughts:

I was doing some "summer reading" of late.  Well, trying to anyway.  And I stumbled upon this quote.  It spoke to me, so I thought I'd share it here.

"Works of art and the work of artists did not exist in a protected vacuum; they were part of the fabric of life, and life is a mixed-up mes that gives us incredible richness and beauty and lovingkindness but also Dachau and Golgotha."

I read the above quote in  Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide by Michael Steinberg.  This appears in a passage where he is discussing Bach.  How does a devout Jew appreciate Bach?  Bach - whose Lutheranism was his entire being...  Steinberg realizes that, as a Jew, he can't chose to separate Christianity from Bach.  He chooses instead to notice the other, very human themes that appear in this music - such as Judas' betrayal and Peter's denial.

Steinberg says, "I don't believe there is a single person who has ever heard one of Bach's Passions who has not at some time committed some act of betrayal, great or small, and felt remorse for it, even lifelong remorse.  This is music addressed to all of us.  And have we not all known love, sacrifice, compassion, awe, transcendence, and the other facets of experience we encounter in the Passion story?  The great works of sacred art are not exclusive.  In that sense, too, they are transcendent."


Things:

I want to make this

(From HERE)

and these

(From HERE)

You should read this

(From HERE)