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Tag: Venus de Milo

November 17, 2023

November / Month of the Sonata – 17

Venus de Milo on display at the Louvre

             

         Venus de Milo

 

             _______

             

about the “Hammerklavier”, I have so much

to say, I’ll try to make it clear and simple 

 

first of all, hammerklavier is the German 

word for piano, more specifically, klavier

means keyboard, hammer is a hammer,

what strikes the strings that make the 

notes sound, rather than pluck them, 

as in the harpsichord

 

by the time of the “Hammerklavier”, 1818,

the harpsichord had gone a long way, from

fortepiano to pianoforte, through to, 

eventually, our modern piano

 

with the “Hammerklavier”, Beethoven is 

into his late stage, he’s not only telling

a story but delivering a thesis, on the 

depth and range of the piano, not only

technically, structurally, but also 

metaphysically, for that time

 

listen to the adagio sostenuto, the third

movement, Beethoven transports you, 

moments after the first few notes have 

been struck, into a meditation

 

adagios had been only emotional until 

then, sentimental

 

this one’s a precursor to the adagio of 

his last piano sonata, his no. 32, so 

profound I want them to play it at my 

funeral, it’s like looking in a mirror, 

but more about that only later, maybe

 

I remember turning a corner in the 

Louvre – I’d been overwhelmed by 

the quantity of works, stopped only 

briefly before famous representations, 

the “Mona Lisa”, for instance, more 

historically interesting to me than 

aesthetically, dusty, it seemed, with 

age – and coming upon the “Venus 

de Milo”, shimmering, breathing 

apparently, see above, and being 

transfixed forever

 

that someone, centuries ago, 

millennia, could create something 

so beautiful, so transcendent, so

timeless, full of grace, who’d have 

someone, centuries later, be 

mesmerized, made me believe  

in beauty as a saving grace

 

this is what happened to me with

the “Hammerklavier”, this is what 

always happens

 

may this happen to you

 

 

incidentally, this version is the first

one I ever heard of the piece, a 

gift from, if I may be indiscreet, 

an Austrian lover, for my birthday,

way back when, the early Seventies

 

it has served me well

 

 

R ! chard

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July 30, 2018

Piano Sonata no 29 in B♭ major, opus 106 – Beethoven

Front_views_of_the_Venus_de_Milo

       Venus de Milo

            _______

here and there, an artwork has presented 
itself to me as transcendent, which is to 
say that in its presence, I quivered, 
experienced a verily cosmic transmission 
of energy, a sacred communication 

the Venus de Milo, in the Louvre, who
breathed, existed, as I turned a corner
and beheld her, imperiously presiding,
holding undying, immortal court, as a 
goddess indeed should, would, and
there profoundly did, and does, I  
suppose, still 

the “Sistine Madonna“, in the Zwinger
in Dresden, mesmerized me from a 
distance as I approached her, along  
a long row of corridors, towards a 
resplendence that was 
incontrovertible, a very epiphany, I 
still reverberate recollecting her  
incandescent majesty

Beethoven’s Opus 106, his 
“Hammerklavier”, is such a work, 
not evident perhaps before the third 
movement, the “adagio sostenuto”,
which will, I suspect, stop you dead 
in your tracks, arrest you from its 
very first mystifying moments, 
magical, miraculous   

Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” is 
the first piece of his to have moved
from being descriptive, narrative, 
to being philosophical, meditative 
in its motivation, emotions are 
evident, but evoked only in the 
context of exploring something 
grander, something metaphysical, 
you come out the other end having 
gone to church, having explored a 
spiritual environment, you exit
perhaps not absolved, but 
somehow understood, reassured, 
comforted, counted

a lot, incidentally, like Bach, note, 
plying his cantatas and oratorios, 
not to mention his introspective 
fugues, a not to be unremarked 
atavism, how grandchildren 
resemble, even imitate, however 
unconsciously, their grandparents, 
I even have such pictures

more about all of which later 


R ! chard

psst: something I found cute as I 
          brushed my teeth between 
          the movements, the 
          “Hammerklavier”  is in the 
          same key as my electric 
          toothbrush, B-flat major, a
          robust, I assure you, way 
          to greet the morning

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April 10, 2008

Raphael – The Sistine Madonna

  Raffael 051.jpg                 

                          Sistine Madonna, c.1512-1514

                                         Raphael

                                      (1483-1520)

                             _______________________

                                                                                                                                      in my search for what is beautiful, in my unending, my unyielding quest for the sublime, I’ve come upon many things that ‘ve been awesome, before the Venus de Milo I trembled, stood silent, reverent before her incandescent aura, in consternation before her shimmering grace, marvelled that time alone, I supposed, and magnificence could so irradiate, create actual energy
 
in Dresden the Sistine Madonna did the same, the only other work ever to so palpably illuminate

during the late Beethoven string quartets I cried, especially the fourteenth, but who wouldn’t, they are masterpieces
 
on first looking into Homer I confirmed indeed the promise of Keats, nearly subscribed to the gods of Olympus, would’ve converted to their convincing myths, but Proust finally remains my true religion, the reflection of all I believe, the poet aspiring to be a philosopher, the philosopher aspiring to be a poet, where Truth and Beauty inextricably intermix, interweave and inspire  

for a while I had my doubts, art, music, literature seemed seductive enough, even important, but not urgent, not necessary, there would be life without art, I rued, but hadn’t been able to pursue it further

then in a revelation someone somewhere said, without art there would be no civilization, and I regained forthwith my faith

earnestly I’ve returned to its service

                                                                                                                                     yours in art                                                                                                                                                                    richibi

 

      _______________________________

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