What do the following four musical pieces have in common?
1. "String Quartet in C major ("Emperor"), No. 3, 2nd Movement", and
2. the pre-WWI Austrian National Anthem, and
3. the Christian hymns such as,"Word of God, Across the Sea" or
4. "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken"
Numbers 2, 3, and 4 are based the first piece. It, in turn, was written by Franz Josef Haydn.
Today, 31 March, is Haydn's 273rd birthday.
Mrs. Schiavo, may you rest in His peace this day. In God's house forevermore, your dwelling place shall be. Amen.
25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God
(Job 19:25-26 KJV)
Unless one is an old fogey, or a student of Big Band (C'est moi!), very few would know or bat an eye that today, 29 March, is American composer Albert Von Tilzer's 127th birthday. Some of the music he wrote have embedded in our cultural consciousness, and we don't even know it.
Don't be surprised if you have heard of at least one or both of these Von Tilzer songs: I'll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time; Take Me Out to the Ball Game
If you have heard of neither, then you are in luck. I have posted the "...Apple Blossom Time" on Lenvoi's Musical Moment web site.
Be warned. This song is "really" old (recorded in 1956) and sounds mushy to the Zits generation. It may not be your bottle of jolt (as oppose to your grandpa's cup of Joe). Perhaps you might want to invite your older loved ones to listen along and do some bonding all the while.
fly not through the mad waters of despair
batter not your wings in the torrent of fear
plunge not for life and death through the foam of abandonment
he is risen.
tá súil agam go bhfuil tú go maith.
She: You've read what I wrote. What say you is the state of my mind?
He: The New York state of mind kind?
She: Be serious.
He: Your writing is cathartic. It is a form of therapy, whether you know it or not. Others compose, paint, dance, and so forth. All these emotional expressions help us manage the real and perceived absurdity of living, or the madness of life, if you will. I do it too.
She: My romance, or the lack of it, is pitiful. Sometimes I think I am going mad.
He: If being in love or thinking about being in love is not madness, then very few things are.
She: I have been in love, all too brief.
He: St. Augustine would say otherwise.
She: St. Augustine?
He: Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.
She: Ah.
He: To have loved is preferred over living like the fool on the hill.
She: Hah! The Beatles.
He: Though this be madness, yet there is method in your ways. We use the ‘mad’ word a lot today. Anyway, stay the course. You are doing fine.
She: And I thought you are occupied elsewhere to talk with me.
He: You know where to find me. A parting word. Whoever he is, may he, when he sees your face in his heart, there is room for none. No other but you. Cool?
She: Cool.
The six determinants of Christ's resurrection:
1. puts everything in ETERNAL perspective
2. puts everything in the FUTURE tense
3. equips His own to CONNECT with God
4. equips His own to HANDLE LIFE'S TRAGEDIES
5. equips His own to FACE DEATH
6. gives His own a NEW SENSE OF PURPOSE
'For I know that my Redeemer liveth (Job 19:25), and 'The sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in His wings.' (Malachi 4:2)
All verses are taken from the King James Version (KJV).
1. Luke 23:34 KJV - Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
2. Luke 23:43 KJV - Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
3. John 19:26-27 KJV - Woman, behold thy son! ... Behold thy mother!
4. Mark 15:34 KJV and Matthew 27:46 KJV - My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? (Psalm 22:1 KJV)
5. John 19:28 KJV - I thirst.
6. John 19:30 KJV- It is finished.
7. Luke 23:46 KJV - Father, into Thy hands I commend my Spirit. (Psalm 31:5 KJV)
A blogger posed this question: what is "knowledge". It was more of a rhetorical question. Perhaps the author just wanted to noted this question for later reflection. My two-cents' worth of comments is as follows:
Your referenced definition for a 'correct and objective' reflection of systemic knowledge of things' is fuzzy and meaningless. It doesn't explain what constitues "learn and inquire".
To "learn and inquire" requires thoughts and things. Without thoughts, there will be no connection to things. Without things, there will be no reality. Therefore, knowledge (learning + inquery)=thoughts and things.
In other words, knowledge is a union of thoughts and things. And the two are no longer distinct in the mind. Here is the rub, however.
What is your reality? What is my reality? If your reality is different than mine, then knowledge is subjective.
Another question is this: is knowledge wisdom?
You have opened up a can of philosophical worms by asking what is "learn and inquire"...
An excerpt from Chapter 8 of Lloyd C. Douglas's The Robe (1942):
'Lucretius concedes that all life is difficult, but becoming less so as men grow out of savagery to civilization.' Demetrius tried to make this observation sound optimistic. Marcellus chuckled bitterly.
'"As men grow out of savagery," eh? What makes him think men are growing out of savagery?' He made an impatient gesture, throwing the idea away with a toss of his hand. 'Lucretius knew very little about what was going on in the world. Lived like a mole in a burrow. Lived on his own fat like a bear in winter. Went wrong in his head at forty, and died. "Growing out of savagery"? Nonsense! Nothing that ever went on in the jungle can compare with the bestiality of our life to-day!' Marcellus's voice had mounted from a monologic mutter to a high-tensioned harangue. '"Growing out of savagery"!' he shouted. 'You know better than that! You were out there!'
Demetrius nodded soberly.
'It was very sad,' he said, 'but I think you have reproached yourself too much, sir. You had no alternative.'
Marcellus had retreated into his accustomed lethargy, but he suddenly roused, clenching his fists.
'That's a lie, Demetrius, and you know it! There was an alternative! I could have set the Galilean free! I had enough of those tough fellows from Minoa with me to have dispersed that mob!'
****
Is there a redeemed Marcellus in our mist, who will arouse in him a very lion to save Mrs. Schiavo from the civilized savagery?
His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
-- Isaiah 53:9 (NASB)
This verse from the 53 chapter of the Book of Isaiah, written over 500 years ago before Christ's time, is the most explicit and complete exposition of the substitutionary suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Three years before his crucifixation, Jesus' said these words to Nicodemus (John 3:14-15): "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life."
Edvard Grieg composed two elegiac melodies which, in my opinion, go hand-and-glove with a classic melancholic Chinese "Spring" poem.
The Grieg composition is the "Two Elegiac Melodies, Op. 34: The Wounded Heart, and Last Spring."
My crude translation of the Tang Dynasty poet, Li Bai's (李白) 春思. is as follows:
Thoughts of Spring (Li Bai)
(Where you are) in the northern plains, the lush verdant grass flourishes.
The mulberry boughs are laden with the fruit (at home).
My beloved husband, when the homeward thought beckons you,
It is also time for this languished heart to die
Oh, gentle spring breeze, you and I are strangers.
What cause have you to intrude through these gossamer curtains (while I am in repose)?
Original text:
春思(李白)
燕草如碧絲
秦桑低綠枝
當君懷歸日
是妾斷腸時
春風不相識
何事入羅幃
"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." (Romans 12:19, KJV)
I have created a RSS feed for my music website. If you are interested at all, just create a Live Bookmark in either or both of the Firefox browser and the Thunderbird Email/news aggregator. When the music changes, you will be notified by the feed. Use either the XML or RSS URL feed below.
The XML URL Feed is:
http://members.bigvalley.net/deltasunrise/lenvoimusic.xml
or
Click and open the "L'Envoi's Music XML" icon located on the side-bar, and get the URL feed at the dialog box. Paste it into your news aggregator.
Firefox users may not be able to see the URL when the "L'Envoi's Music RSS" icon is clicked. It has to do with Firefox and unspecified MIME type and all that jazz. *grin*. Just copy and paste the URL feed link below into your news aggregator.
http://members.bigvalley.net/deltasunrise/lenvoimusic.rss
If all else fails, just go to Lenvoi's Musical Moment directly, bookmark or save it as a favorite.
Thanks to my PC go-to-guy, Shawn, here is his tip on how to supercharge your Firefox for faster loading the web pages while surfing:
Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:
network.http.pipelining
network.http.proxy.pipelining
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
network.http.max-connections
network.http.max-connections-per-server
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server
Alter the entries as follows:
Set network.http.pipelining to "true" (default=false)
Set network.http.proxy.pipelining to "true" (default=false)
Set network.http.max-connections to 32 (default=24)
Set network.http.max-connections-per-server to 8 (default=8)
Set network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server to 8 (default=8)
Set network.http.pipelining.maxrequests to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once. (default=4)
Lastly, right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer.
Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0".
This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it recieves.
Restart your browser and enjoy.
One more thing: Foxfire 1.0.2, and Thunderbird 1.0.2 are now available.
I wrote this note to a saddened mother, whose adopted daughter left home today.
When Amanda Jane becomes a mother one day, she will know about your abiding love for her.
A mother's love is unconditional and is deep as an abyss. Your love for her is not a question of whether she deserved it. It is always there for the giving.
It is Palm Sunday. Because of Jesus' finished work on the cross, we can be assured of God's abiding love. His grace is sufficient. Look to Him for strength.
This Palm Sunday is also the vernal equinox. The end of winter and the beginning of spring. There is an appropriate metaphor for the convergence of Palm Sunday and the vernal equinox on this day.
This Sunday marks the passing of dark winter, and the Passion week of Christ. This day also denotes a fruitful spring to come, and it points to His glorious resurrection and everlasting life of spring eternal
"The LORD your God is in your midst,
A victorious warrior
He will exult over you with joy,
He will be quiet in His love,
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy." (Zephaniah 3:17, NASB)
"Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD" (John 12:13, NASB)
Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere) arranging
a window, into which people look (while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here) and
changing everything carefully
spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
carefully to
and from moving New and
Old things, while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there) and
without breaking anything.
- e.e. cummings
Ever since my upgrading the Windows XP to SP2, my IE has gotten clunkier. Case in point, the Windows Media Player no longer streamload asx sound files on-line. What non-sense. Let's not even mention the pop-up ads that snuck through the ad blocker.
I've test driven the Firefox browser and am sold on it. By no mean Firefox is "perfect". It is far better then IE when all things browser innovations are considered.
I don't have to be bothered by pop-up ads anymore while surfing the Net with tabbed browsing; and I can listen to Rush Limbaugh's asx files online.
A happy St. Patrick's Day to all. And for this special day, I have an Irish Bluegrass tune posted at Lenvoi's Musical Moment (side-bar). Irish jig, anyone?
Irish, the comment function is misbehavin' tonight. I replied to your message in the Be Still... post, but it is not visible. To read the comment, one has to click on the COMMENT link to read the comments in the pop-up windows. In fact, my comments got posted twice. Very strange.
I think the Blogger.com lad who mans the comment function, has gotten an early start with the celebrating "spirit" on St. Paddy's Day.
Now, where did I put those Killakee hard shoes?
For what it is worth, Julius Caesar's cronies conspired and stabbed him to death on this day in 44 B.C. Caesar was quite famous in his times and to this day.
There is a surgical procedure, an abdominal incision, for the delivery of a baby named after this Roman emperor's legendary birth; the Caesaren-Section.
One way or another, Julius Caesar was on the cutting edge of history.
Also borne on this day was Harry James. A Big Band trumpeter and orchestra leader.
Dear Irish:
It is comforting to learn you have arrived safely at your new abode, while it is only temporary. Still, God does provide.
I have digitized two verses of the "Be Still My Soul" hymn (Jean Sibelius' Finlandia). Listen and reflect on it during a quiet time. Here are the two verses of the hymn.
Be Still My Soul
Verse 1
Be still, my soul! the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul! thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Verse 2
Be still, my soul! thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul! the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Dá fhada an lá tagann an tráthnóna. Déan caoin an beo na domhan seo.
Rath Dé ort!
It was the moment I'd waited all evening, to be alone with her.
'I saw you and you Dad at the Institue this afternoon, Paula. You kept saying "your life is ruined". You shouldn't feel that way Paula. You are a beautiful, successful woman. Why - I'd marry you in a flash, but you probably wouldn't want to marry a pot-washer. When I saw you so upset, Paula, because of Davies, I was seething with anger. I could have strangled him with my rubber-gloved hands or drowned him in greasy suds. And I think your father could have too. I definetely wouldn't have let Davies leave the Institute alive today. There is no way I was going to let him continue to spoil your life. Paula - if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll always be an ear you can call on...'
That was my most important line as a one of the suspects in tonight's Dinner and a Murder Mystery party. My character role was a pot washer at a culinary institute where the Great Chef has just been murdered. Paula was the Chef's mistress.
I was going to sing ad-lib "Hey, Paula" to the woman who played Paula . It would not be out of character for the pot scrubber to sing. We could have sung the duet as Paul and Paula. Given my stage name was George, however, the duet would be stretching it.
Romeo & Juliet (1968)
Shakespeare decreed they must wed. So they did. Romeo married Juliet on 11 March 1302. Alas, there was no happy ending in this tale of young married love. The couple died - each in a painful way - for each other.
In contrast, I read of a blog few days ago in which the blogger described the romance of a young couple. The couple went against the wishes of the girl's parents, spent four years in secret trysts.
Bracing the elements they met and spent times in unsheltered places at night (sleeping on the streets and under the bridges). Perhaps this girl had bade the boy a thousand times good night or good morning each time they parted. Surely, there was no other name under heaven smelled as sweet as his. Alas, the boy left her eventually and married someone else.
Nino Rota wrote the score to the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli film 'Romeo and Juliet'.
I am trying something new here. The credit for this venture goes to the proprieter of The Chestnut Club.
Go to the side-bar and click on the link to listen to the mp3. The audio quality may not do the recording justice. It should suffice for the purpose at hand. The music changes when it is time.
There will be no heavy metal nor rap music. For better or for worst, you will get an earful.
He: Your stint with your god-parents is almost up.
Irish: It's nearly that time.
He: Are you looking forward to going home?
Irish: I can hardly wait. But I am both excited and anxious about the future.
He: God wants us not to be a prisoner of our circumstances. I like you to read Psalm 16. Meditate and pray on verses 5 and 6. Then pray this psalm as one of your prayers. David's supplication to God is an example and encourgement to all of us. David has the right perspective in that our future and inheritance are secured in God.
Irish: I still remember what you said to me on another occasion. You said, 'God always hangs on to me. The question is will I hang on to God.'
He: Yes. He hangs on to all of us. We'd rather like hanging on to the 'Woe is me' attitude and get distressed. Let me know when you are safely arrived at home. It's rather late where you are now at this hour. Oíche mhaith agus codladh sámh.
Irish: We'll speak again. Slán go fóill.
Psalm 16 (NIV)
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the LORD , "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing."
3 As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One (or your faithful one) see decay.
11 You have made (or you will make) known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci (Pre-Raphaelite, Frank Cowper, 1878-1958)
The knight:
1) died for love
2) died, because she was drop-dead gorgeous
3) fell under her spell
4) All of the above
Actually, Cowper's painting was inspired by a John Keats' poem of same.
La Belle Dame Sans Merci
(John Keats, 1795-1821)
O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms!
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel’s granary is full,
And the harvest’s done.
I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look’d at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said—
“I love thee true.”
She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sigh’d fill sore,
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four.
And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dream’d—Ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dream’d
On the cold hill’s side.
I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried—“La Belle Dame sans Merci
Hath thee in thrall!”
I saw their starved lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke and found me here,
On the cold hill’s side.
And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither’d from the lake,
And no birds sing.
The Iraqi jet, an advanced Russian MiG-25 Foxbat, was found buried in the sand after an informant tipped off U.S. troops.
The MiG was dug out of a massive sand dune near the Al Taqqadum airfield by U.S. Air Force recovery teams. The MiG was reportedly one of over two dozen Iraqi jets buried in the sand, like hidden treasure, waiting to be recovered at a later date.
Contrary to what some in the major media have reported, not all the jets found were from the Gulf War era. The Russian-made MiG-25 Foxbat beiing recovered by U.S. Air Force troops in the photos is an advanced reconnaissance version never before seen in the West, and is equipped with sophisticated electronic warfare devices. The U.S. Air Force recovery teams had to use large earth-moving equipment to uncover the MiG, which is over 70 feet long and weights nearly 25 tons.
The Foxbat is known to be one of Iraq's top jet fighters. The advanced electronic reconnaissance version found by the U.S. Air Force is currently in service with the Russian air force. The MiG is capapble of flying at speeds of over 2,000 miles an hour, or three times the speed of sound, and at altitudes of over 75,000 feet.
The recovery of the advanced MiG fighter is considered to be an intelligence coup by the U.S. Air Force. The Foxbat may also equipped with advanced Russian-and-French made electronics that were sold to Iraq during the 1990s in violation of a U.N. ban on arms sales to Baghdad. The discovery of the buried Iraqi jet fighters illustrates the problem faced by U.S. inspection teams searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction. Iraq is larger in size than California, and the massive deserts south and west of Baghdad were used by Saddam Hussein to hide weapons during the first Gulf war.
While there are rumors of Iraqi chemical and biological weapons being shipped to nearby Syria, the weapons may very well still remain inside Iraq buried under the vast desert wastelands.
Some critics of the Bush administrations have claimed there the inability of U.S. forces to uncover weapons of mass destruction is proof that the president misled the nation into the war with Iraq. However, in recent days the critics have fallen silent as word quietly leaked from Iraq that major discoveries have already been made and are not being documented completely.
MiG-25 Foxbat 1.4
MiG-25 Foxbat 2.4
MiG-25 Foxbat 3.4
MiG-25 Foxbat 4.4
A Peach Orchard in Bloom
兩 岸 桃 花 夾 古 津
坐 看 紅 樹 不 知 遠
Peach blossoms are in full bloom in area orchards north of town this week. Here is a photo of some peach trees soaking up the sunshine and casting their reflections into a canal.
March 4 marks Antonio Vivaldi's 326 birthday. Igor Stravinsky once said of Vivaldi as 'a dull fellow who could compose the same form so many times over'. I don't know about that.
Igor's music either makes me listless or puts me to sleep. On the other hand, the "Red Priest" Vivaldi music is fresh, zesty, and full of orchestral color and clarity.
Few years ago when I first heard the Welsh composer Karl Jenkins' Palladio Suite*, my knee-jerk impression was it sounded 'so Vivaldi'. I don't mean to impugn Jenkins. Far from it. It is just that Vivaldi is a classical musician of high order. His music is for all seasons.
* It was Andrea Palladio's architectural style that inspired Jenkins' to write this composition. The first movement of the Palladio Suite was used in a deBeers 'A Diamond is Forever' commercial.
A hectic confluence of security and public safety matters surfaced last week at the agency. Things have quiet down somewhat since, but the concerns linger.
Since 9/11 the Fourth Generation Warfare has arrived. It is alive and growing.
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