Ponchielli: Dance of the Hours

You may not be familiar with the name Amilcare Ponchielli (31 August 1834 – 16 January 1886). Even if you are an opera fan, you may only be familiar with his most famous work – La Gioconda. This was adapted from a play by Victor Hugo by the librettist Arrigo Boito (Mefistofele).

It was thought, back in the day, that operas needed to have a ballet and the ballet (“Dance of the Hours” – morning, day, evening) came at the end of the third act of La Gioconda. It’s probably the best known piece of the opera. The first video is the ballet in all its 9+-minute glory.

Ah, but it doesn’t end there. In 1940 Walt Disney used it in the famous animated film Fantasia, replete with dancing ostriches, hippos, elephants, and alligators. Spike Jones used part of it in 1949 for the backdrop of Doodles Weaver “calling” the Indianapolis 500. And best of all Allen Sherman wrote the parody “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah.” Videos two and three are Spike Jones and Allen Sherman, respectively. 

Whether it’s Disney or Bugs Bunny or a variety of other singers and songwriters, classical music has provided interpreters with beautiful ballads and hilarious humor and introduced people to the great composers who came up with the tunes. We can appreciate all the different forms that the music takes.

St. Monica - a Mother's Love

What’s a Christian mother to do when her son lives a profligate life, has children out of wedlock, is lazy, and holds heretical religious views. Pray, pray, and pray some more.

Monica’s two younger children entered the religious life, but her oldest son Augustine was a problem. His book Confessions describes in detail how he misspent his youth and how he resisted his mother’s urgings to repent and convert. Convert he did and became one of the great leaders of the early Church. This in part must be because his mother stormed the gates of Heaven with her prayers and pleas. She was nothing if not persistent and patient.

Monica was born in what is now Algeria in 332 A.D. and at a young age was married to a pagan named Patricius who was a Roman official in her hometown. Monica was a Christian from birth and her piety and good works annoyed Patricius and his mother who lived with them. However, violent as his temper was, he respected Monica and did not physically abuse her. He did often commit adultery and this caused Monica great pain. They had three children who survived infancy. Patricius refused to let Monica have them baptized. He finally agreed when Augustine fell ill, but then changed his mind when the boy recovered. Augustine was 17 and studying rhetoric in Carthage when his father died. Fortunately, with her patience and prayers, Monica had convinced Patricius and her cantankerous mother-in-law to convert a year before he died.

When Augustine returned home his relationship with his mother was strained because he had taken up Manichaeism (a heresy that all flesh is evil). However, she had a vision that he would live to return to the faith and thus she reconciled with him and prayed and fasted for him. At age 29 Augustine decided to go to Rome to teach rhetoric. Monica wanted to go, but Augustine eluded her and took off without her. She followed but by the time she reached Rome, she discovered he had departed for Milan. She caught up with him there. 

In Milan Augustine met the bishop Ambrose. He began to take instruction from him and at Easter 387 Augustine was finally baptized. As he and Monica were travelling to Africa, she became ill and died. She was buried at Ostia, but in 1430 Pope Martin V ordered that her relics be brought to Rome and deposited in a chapel at the Basilica di Sant’Agostino (Saint Augustine). 

St. Monica’s feast day is August 27, with her son’s feast day the next day. Not surprisingly, St. Monica is the patron saint of conversion, wives and mothers. Her prayers for her son brought us one of the Church’s greatest saints, proving once again that God listens and can bring the best out of terrible situations. St. Monica, pray for us.

Leonard Bernstein, Teacher Extraordinaire

Leonard Bernstein (25 August 1918 – 14 October 1990) was many things: pianist, conductor, composer, champion of other American composers, mentor, philanthropist, author, and, most importantly in my opinion, educator. As impressive as all his other roles and accomplishments were, he influenced a whole generation of children and taught them how to appreciate – to love – music.

His first television lecture on classical music was in 1954 on the arts and humanities program Omnibus (hosted by Alastair Cooke). Using the Symphony of the Air to demonstrate musical passages Bernstein discussed Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. This was the first of ten lectures on various aspects of music such as jazz, modern music, and the art of conducting. We are fortunate to have these in our DVD library.

Two weeks after being named Music Director for the New York Philharmonic in 1958 Bernstein conducted his first Young People’s Concert. He would conduct 53 concerts over the course of fourteen years, even after he stepped down as Music Director. The programs were based on music the Philharmonic would be performing that season, with Bernstein writing the scripts for the shows. His ability to explain complex musical concepts while never dumbing-down the information made these shows as interesting for adults as they were for children. There is a DVD/Blu-ray set of 52 concerts now available. (On our DVD wish list.)

In 1972 Bernstein became the Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University (his alma mater). Part of the requirement was that he deliver six public lectures, which he did in the fall of 1973. The lecture was given live and then it was recreated in the studio for release to television (in 1976). These are also on DVD (which we have). Although sometimes I can’t remember what I had for dinner last night, I clearly remember that in 1978 I had to work on a Saturday to help catch up on some work at the insurance company where I was employed and I was fortunate enough to hear one of these lectures being broadcast on our local classical radio station. I was staggered at the high level of the subject matter being presented and the fact that I could understand it. That was due much more to Maestro Bernstein’s talent than my abilities.

Here is a 12 minute clip of a Young People’s Concert from 1964 entitled “What Is Melody?” The whole program is also on YouTube, as are many other shows. Try them out. You’ll be entertained as well educated.

 

Ray Bradbury - Happy 101!

Yesterday would have been Ray Bradbury’s 101st birthday. It somehow would have been appropriate for one of the masters of fantasy had he made it that long. Alas, he died nine years ago (22 August 1920 – 5 June 2012).

Often called a science fiction writer, Bradbury rather thought of himself as a writer of fantasy. He said, “First of all, I don’t write science fiction. I’ve only done one science fiction book and that’s Fahrenheit 451, based on reality. Science fiction is a depiction of the real. Fantasy is a depiction of the unreal. So Martian Chronicles is not science fiction, it’s fantasy. It couldn’t happen, you see? That’s the reason it’s going to be around a long time – because it’s a Greek myth, and myths have staying power.”

Bradbury wrote novels, short stories (over 600), plays, and film scripts. Many of his short stories were adapted for radio and television, including Suspense, Lights Out, CBS Television Workshop, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Twilight Zone. He was the host of The Ray Bradbury Theater, which adapted 65 of his stories. He even wrote plays and acted in them in a number of different theater companies.

How did he have such a huge output? From a young age he wrote every day. Every day. He read every day too. He once said that “Libraries raised me.” Not having the money to go to college during the Depression he spent three days a week at the library for ten years. He read everything from science fiction to classic novels to poetry. This may be where he developed his lyrical style.

One of my favorite Bradbury books is Fahrenheit 451, a story of a world where media is all-invasive, individual thought is crushed, and books are burned as subversive. It’s as relevant now as it was when it was written in 1953. In a 1994 interview Bradbury was asked how the story holds up. He answered, “It works even better because we have political correctness now. Political correctness is the real enemy these days…It’s thought control and freedom of speech control.”

Like Edgar Allan Poe and Raymond Chandler, Ray Bradbury transcends a particular genre. They are just good writers. To be educated, or to become a good writer, read good writers of many genres. This will teach you more than any writing or literature class can. In our own library we have copies of Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, I Sing the Body Electric, The October Country, The Illustrated Man, and The Machineries of Joy. Until we find more in our used book hunts.

Shakespeare's Sonnets: XIII

None of us can control completely the length of our lives or what will happen in them. The poet seems to be urging us (especially the young man from previous sonnets) to make hay while the sun shines. Again, he suggests marriage and family as a way of carrying on. The young man had a father, let his son say the same thing.

Sonnet XIII

O! that you were yourself; but, love, you are

No longer yours, than you yourself here live:

Against this coming end you should prepare,

And your sweet semblance to some other give:

So should that beauty which you hold in lease

Find no determination; then you were

Yourself again, after yourself’s decease,

When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear.

Who lets so fair a house fall to decay,

Which husbandry in honour might uphold,

Against the stormy gusts of winter’s day

And barren rage of death’s eternal cold?

                O! none but unthrifts. Dear my love, you know,

                You had a father: let your son say so.

 

The Scarlett Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne had his own post on his birthday, July 4. Now we look closer at his first published book The Scarlett Letter. I first read the book years and years ago and, finding it in a thrift store recently, thought it was time to read it again. 

The story brings together a disgraced woman, her lover and father of her child, and her husband.  Hester Prynne has recently given birth to a daughter Pearl and is forced to stand on the gallows for three hours to accept the scorn and contempt of her goodly Puritan neighbors. She is also condemned for the rest of her life to be shunned and to wear a scarlet “A” on her breast. She refuses to reveal who her lover was and he, a much-beloved clergyman, is unwilling to reveal himself, fearing the loss of his position and the admiration of his congregation. Thought dead in a shipwreck, her husband has changed his name and has taken up medicine. He treats the child and warns Hester not to reveal who he is or he will discover the name of her lover and ruin him.

While Hester accepts her restrictions in society because of her sin and lives in a small cottage making a living with her needlework, Dimmesdale the clergyman and Chillingworth the doctor rent rooms in the same house so that the doctor can look after his “patient”, who is already exhibiting physical symptoms because of the guilt he carries. Because of the revenge Chillingworth is consumed with, he too begins to fail physically and mentally. Hester, seeing what is happening to the men, finally decides to tell Dimmesdale who Chillingworth is and to be careful of him. She convinces Dimmesdale that they should leave Salem and go away together where they can live a free life with their daughter. She books passage on a ship but subsequently discovers Chillingworth has found them out and is also going.

Reverend Dimmesdale delivers a speech at the Election Day festivities but as the participants are leaving the meeting house, Dimmesdale, barely able to walk, sees Hester on the scaffold and goes to her, collapsing in her arms. He reveals that he has been carrying the “A” on himself too. He acknowledges Pearl and Hester and then dies.

The three characters all keep secrets and refuse to confess their sins. All this time, Hester has borne the shame of wearing the “A” and has worked to help the poor and sick in the town, thinking of this as penance. She has been alienated from society and from God and has convinced herself that her earthly sins will not keep her – or Dimmesdale – from getting to Heaven. Forgiveness can be gained, not from oneself, but from God, but there first has to be true contrition. 

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Yesterday was the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is so important in the Catholic Church that it is a Holy Day of Obligation when it falls on any day other than Sunday. 

The assumption means that when the Blessed Virgin’s life on earth was finished, she was taken up into Heaven body and soul. Did she actually die? Well, we’re not completely sure. Death as we experience it can be painful and possibly sudden, a consequence of original sin, not to mention our own sins. Since Mary was born without sin (Immaculate Conception) and without the stain of original sin, would she have merited death? Jesus certainly experienced physical death. Why wouldn’t His mother, albeit more peacefully? Some say that the Apostles witnessed her “falling asleep” and assumption, although there is no mention of it in the Bible. In fact, after Jesus from the Cross puts her in the care of St. John, the only other mention of her is being with the Apostles on Pentecost. We rely on Tradition and history to glean any other clues.

Pope Pius XII declared in 1950 the dogma that the Blessed Virgin, “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” This says nothing about how and if she died, just that her life was complete. One thing that I’ve noted is that any time a martyr or a revered Christian died back in the day, others would try to gather everything possible from the person, a lock of hair, a piece of clothing, a fragment of bone. These relics are in Churches throughout the world and are venerated as reminders of what a saintly life will bring us to. No first-class relics of the Blessed Virgin exist, except for some locks of hair, since she was assumed into Heaven body and soul. (Garments are extant.)

Why should we believe in the Assumption? Just because a Pope declared it dogma? Where’s the proof, the evidence? My proof is faith. Faith in Jesus. He loved His mother so much that He provided that she would be born and live a life without sin. Why would He make her see corruption or experience Purgatory? She had nothing to atone for. She was ready for Heaven her whole life. What a welcome that must have been. Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us. 

Happy Birthday Alfred Hitchcock

It always amuses me when Alfred Hitchcock’s birthday – August 13 – lands on a Friday. It’s so appropriate somehow, part of that wry humor he used in his films. Although he’s not around to celebrate his 122nd birthday, his body of work is and is still as popular now as in its time.

Starting with silent films in the twenties in England and Germany, he released films right up until 1976, with a stopover in the late 50s – early 60s for his television anthologies Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. That iconic line drawing of him at the beginning of each show was done by Hitchcock himself. He directed several of the episodes and his daughter Pat appeared in 10 shows.

Early in his career he was already known as the “Master of Suspense.” His early films The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) are considered classics of the 20th century among British films. By 1939 David O. Selznick had convinced Hitchcock to come to Hollywood. Rebecca (1940) won the Academy Award for best picture. Hitchcock was nominated for best director for this and four subsequent films, but never won.

Although he was a tough person to work for, especially for women, actors and actresses often said that he got performances out of them they didn’t think they were capable of. Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Edmund Gwenn each performed in four films. Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly were in three each. Tippi Hedren, Vera Miles, and Hume Cronyn each made two films. Among these movies were Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch a Thief, North by Northwest, Rope, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, Foreign Correspondent, The Trouble with Harry, Spellbound, Under Capricorn, Dial M for Murder, Lifeboat, The Birds, and probably his best known picture Psycho. And this is only about a third of his output.

These are all great films but I think one of my favorites is The Trouble with Harry, probably because it has more whimsy than horror. The quirky cast of characters each thinks he or she was the one who killed Harry and his body is buried and dug up, moved around, and finally put back where it was found to avoid throwing suspicion on any of them. I won’t give away the ending. The movie stars Edmund Gwenn (Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street), John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, and Jerry Mathers (not as the Beav). It is the film debut of Shirley MacLaine. Also making his film debut with Alfred Hitchcock is the great composer Bernard Herrmann. They would go on to collaborate for twelve years. If you scare easily, this might be the best place to start with Hitchcock.

 

St Jane Frances de Chantal

Tomorrow (August 12) is the feast day of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal. I must confess that I was introduced to this saint only recently. One of the selections for our book club this year is Wisdom from the Lives and Letters of St Francis de Sales and St Jane de Chantal. St Francis de Sales I’d heard of – Introduction to the Devout Life. But who was St Jane?

A quick look at a list of Saints Feast Days on the catholic.org website shows that her feast day is August 12, moved from December 12 by John Paul II to make room for the Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In any event, it is a good thing to have kept a feast day for this good and holy woman.

Married at age 20, she was a widow by age 28. Her husband died in a hunting accident and although he forgave the man who shot him before he died, it took Jane some time before she could. She took a vow of chastity and she and her children divided their time between her father’s home and her father-in-law’s home. It was on one of these trips to her father’s that she met Francis de Sales who became a close friend and her spiritual director. 

Jane founded the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, accepting women with a religious vocation who were not accepted at other convents because of their age or health. She was criticized for this but explained “What do you want me to do? I like sick people myself; I'm on their side.” Having tended to the sick and poor in the area of her home when her husband was alive, it was no surprise that she would have an affinity to these poor women. In the first eight years of the order, the sisters spent a good deal of time on public outreach, but opposition arose to women in public ministry and St Francis de Sales had to turn it into a cloistered community.

After St Francis de Sales death, Vincent de Paul became St Jane’s spiritual director. By the time she died at age 69 in 1641 there were 86 convents in the Order of the Visitation. She was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in 1751 and canonized by Clement XIII in 1767. She is the patron saint of widows, forgotten people, and people with in-law problems. I’m really looking forward to reading the book and hopefully growing in holiness from their wisdom. St Jane Frances de Chantal, pray for us.

Sara Teasdale

I was introduced to the poetry of Sara Teasdale (8 August 1884 – 29 January 1933) in 1967 by an odd source – the album One Nation Underground by the “psychedelic folk” group Pearls Before Swine. The leader of the group Tom Rapp set her poem “I Shall Not Care” to music and the rest is history. I was a fan of Teasdale’s from then on. 

Many other composers set her poems to music, so lyrical and musical are her lines and words. Ray Bradbury was influenced by her poem “There Will Come Soft Rains” and it was featured in his short story of the same name.

Originally from St Louis, she was part of a group of young women writers and artists who published a monthly magazine called The Potter’s Wheel. Her first volume of poetry Sonnets to Duse and Other Poems was published in 1907. This was followed in 1911 by Helen of Troy and Other Poems. Rivers to the Sea came out in 1915. It was a bestseller and was reprinted several times. Love Songs (1917) won in 1918 what would be called the Pulitzer Prize a few years later. This volume was followed by Flame and Shadow (1920), Dark of the Moon (1926), and Stars To-night (1930). Her last book Strange Victory was published in 1933, the year of her death.

Teasdale wrote many poems about autumn and its melancholy feel, the waning of summer and the oncoming harshness of winter. The end of summer brings “The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence” and she describes winter as “snow-hushed and heartless.” Finally, at the end of life comes rest with its “crystal of peace.” There was little rest in Teasdale’s life. Perhaps she found her peace in the next.

The first two poems I’ll copy here for you are from Rivers to the Sea and the third is from Strange Victory. Enjoy!

I Shall Not Care

 

When I am dead and over me bright April

Shakes out her rain-drenched hair,

Tho’ you should lean above me broken-hearted,

I shall not care.

 

I shall have peace, as leafy trees are peaceful

When rain bends down the bough,

And I shall be more silent and cold-hearted

Than you are now.

 

 

Indian Summer

 

Lyric night of the lingering Indian summer,

Shadowy fields that are scentless but full of singing,

Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects,

                Ceaseless, insistent.

 

The grasshopper’s horn, and far off, high in the maples

The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence,

Under a moon waning and worn and broken,

                Tired with summer.

 

Let me remember you, voices of little insects,

Weeds in the moonlight, fields that are tangled with asters,

Let me remember you, soon will the winter be on us,

                Snow-hushed and heartless.

 

Over my soul murmur your mute benediction

While I gaze, oh fields that rest after harvest,

As those who part look long in the eyes they lean to,

                Lest they forget them.

 

 

“There Will Be Rest”

 

There will be rest, and sure stars shining

Over the roof-tops crowned with snow,

A reign of rest, serene forgetting,

The music of stillness holy and low.

 

I will make this world of my devising

Out of a dream in my lonely mind,

I shall find the crystal of peace, - above me

Stars I shall find.

 

Jesus Sends Out the Disciples

Jesus’s words are timeless. What He says to the disciples in Matthew 10 as He sends them off to preach the Gospel are useful for us today as we go out in the world battling our foes.

16 – 23: Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes.

26 – 28: So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

38 – 39: and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

Whether you are persecuted by politicians or Church hierarchy, corporations or scientists, clinging to Jesus to the end will be your salvation. Jesus stands for love, truth, justice, and mercy. Will we stand with Him or give in to the minions of the Prince of Darkness? The time to decide is now.

Reading the Old Testament

Having just finished reading the complete Old Testament for the fifth or sixth time, I’m starting with the New Testament again. (I throw the Old in after every third or fourth reading of the New). The joy of beginning the New Testament is palpable, like wandering around in a forest and suddenly coming out into a sunny glade. The promise has been fulfilled and even though there may be dark times ahead the awe of being with Christ is overwhelming.

To understand the New Testament more fully, it is necessary to read the Old. Here is where we see the beginning of life and comprehend how much God loves us. We learn of the history of His chosen people and who obeys and who doesn’t. We get to know the kings and judges and prophets and learn who we want to follow and who we don’t. We watch as those who obey God and cry out to Him are protected in battle. We see the consequences of dispersion when the people sin and are unrepentant. We begin to see the hints of what the New Covenant will bring. As we cross the border we see how perfectly the promise of the old becomes the fulfillment of the new. The followers of Christ are now the Chosen People.

The Old Testament describes in detail the many practices of temple worship – what is expected of the high priest and the form of sacrifice. Jesus at the Last Supper and in His crucifixion demonstrate the duties of high priest and the ultimate sacrifice. Reading about these practices in the Old Testament and seeing how they are brought to fruition by Jesus, one can envision the priest of today saying Mass, clothed in specific robes and performing certain rituals such as hand-washing, blessings, and especially the Consecration of the bread and wine so that they become the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ Himself.

How does one get through the Old Testament (or even the New Testament) you might ask. The same way you eat an elephant – one bite at a time. Or in this case two Chapters a day. Probably the equivalent of one page and perhaps 10 – 15 minutes. The enrichment of your spiritual life and your relationship with God will be immeasurable. 

St Alphonsus Liguori

Yesterday (August 1) was the feast day of St Alphonsus Liguori. Founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (the Redemptorists) he was a moral theologian, prolific writer, doctor of the Church and bishop. The Redemptorists were a group of priests who lived in common and carried on missionary work in the rural areas and slums of cities of Italy. They also fought the errors of Jansenism, which preached excessive moral rigorism. St. Alphonsus said, “the penitents should be treated as souls to be saved rather than as criminals to be punished.”

St. Alphonsus’s life, like most saints, was not without its deep troubles. He suffered physical pains from rheumatism and by the end of his life could only drink through a straw so bent over from the affliction was he. He also was troubled by excessive guilt over the smallest issues relating to sin. However, he was a gifted writer and preacher, converting many with his sermons and books. He published nine editions of Moral Theology during his lifetime. You may be most familiar with his The Way of the Cross, used in many Churches during Lent to pray the Stations of the Cross.

He died in 1787, was beatified in 1816 and canonized in 1839. Pope Pius IX declared him a doctor of the Church in 1871. St Alphonsus followed Christ’s teachings and His sufferings during his life and was rewarded with the beatific vision for eternity. Perhaps St Alphonsus’s teachings and writings will help us follow in the same path. St. Alphonsus, pray for us.