Monthly Archives: December 2012

Blog Awards Night

30 Sunday Dec 2012

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vevey-1905

Les Bacchantes d’Ernest Biéler, Fête des Vignerons (Wine growers’ Celebration)

Ernest Biéler (31 July 1863 in Rolle, Switzerland– 25 June 1948 in Lausanne)

Blog of the Year Award 1 star jpeg

This year, I was nominated for two awards.  On 4 December 2012, Carolynpageabc nominated me for a one star Blog of the Year.  Had I been truly competent, I would have shared my good fortune by displaying that I was a nominee in my sidebar and by nominating WordPress colleagues for an award.  I have yet to learn how to insert pictures and information in a sidebar.

Dear Carolyn, I thank you most sincerely for enjoying my posts.  I feel honored.

To be very honest, it would have been difficult for me to choose one post as the best because WordPress has extraordinary bloggers some of whom are now friends.  However, allow me to praise you, Carolyn, for the post hiding behing the following link:

http://abcofspiritalk.wordpress.com/

one-lovely-blog-award1On 22 September 2012, George B. also had the kindness of nominating me for a Lovely Blog Award.  I was very touched.  One does not expect awards.  As soon as I have learned how to decorate my sidebar, I will indicate that I had the pleasure of being nominated, simply nominated.

This was a difficult year.  It seems everything that could go wrong went wrong.  But you did not fail me.

http://euzicasa.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/one-lovely-blog-awards-another-award-this-time-from-alilcm/

I wish to thank George B. and Carolyn for nominating me and would like to congratulate the winners.

Related articles

Swiss-born Ernest Biéler was an eclectic artist.  He studied at the Académie Julian in Paris and won a silver medal at the Exposition Universelle de Paris in 1900.  He co-founded the École de Savièse with Rafael Ritz and Édouard Vallet.

Beethoven: Romance for Violin No. 1 In G Major, Op. 40

Ernest Bieler (1863 - 1948)m© Micheline Walker
30 December 2012
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The National Rifle Association: Unrestrained Individualism

29 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by in United States

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A fictional pistol duel between Eugene Onegin and Vladimir Lensky
A fictional pistol duel between Eugene Onegin and Vladimir Lensky*

*Vladimir Lensky is a fictional character in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky‘s opera Eugene Onegin.  The story is based on a verse novel by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin.

Photo credit: Wikipedia

—ooo—

They have done it again.  This time it was in Rochester, NY.  Two volunteer firemen were killed and two seriously injured.

I gathered the following information from CBCNews: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/12/24/firefighters-shot-rochester.html (24 December 2012 and 25 December 2012).

The dead are:

  • Lt. Michael Chiapperini, of Webster police and West Webster Fire Department.
  • Tomasz Kaczowka, a volunteer with the fire department.

The injured firefighters in intensive care were named as:

  • Joseph Hofsetter.
  • Theodore Scardino.

As for the shooter, he has been identified as William Spengler.  He had spent seventeen (17) years in prison for manslaughter.  On 18 July 1980, William Spengler beat his grandmother to death with a hammer and was convicted of murder in 1981.  Released in 1998, William Spengler did not have the right to own a firearm, as is the case with all convicted murderers.  However, Mr Spengler had a gun and, after killing and injuring his victims, he committed suicide, as did Mr Lanza.

Reason vs Self-Interest

This may sound simplistic, but William Spengler killed not only because he had a propensity to violence, if such was the case, but because he had access to a firearm.  As I wrote in my blog, dated 18 December, no one can shoot someone else without a firearm.  Had Mr Spengler not been in possession of a firearm he could not have ambushed firefighters, killed two of them, injured two more and committed suicide.  This must end and it can end.

However, the four million and a half members of the National Rifle Association stand in the way of reason because Washington lets petty self-interest — what else — dictate its policies.  In other words, the government itself — and the government is the people — gives the nation the questionable “right” to bear arms, thereby allowing massacres.

Francisco de Goya, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razón produce monstruos), c. 1797

Francisco de Goya, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (El sueño de la razón produce monstruos), c. 1797

The “Armed Brigade:” Cowboys and Indians

I believe the logic of members of the NRA is thwarted.  In their opinion, schools should be protected by what I am calling an “armed brigade.”  The remedy the National Rifle Association, the NRA, has proposed would make the situation worse.  In fact, it is not a remedy, but a symptom pointing to a deeply ingrained atavism.  Members of the NRA still live in a by-gone age when settlers in the Wild West were killing their way to the Pacific Ocean, doing so legally.  Imagine what would happen if the school’s “armed brigade” started to shoot at a potential killer.  It could be a shootout in perfect “cowboys and Indians” fashion.

We are not actors and actresses in a movie; this is real life.  In real life, we do our best not to have shootouts.  I have heard grieving or frightened citizens say that they now want a firearm.  I can understand their feelings.  Many rape victims also want a weapon.  Yet letting individuals carry a weapon keeps alive the classic confrontation of Western movies.  Remember the scenes where two men faced each other and the fastest “gun,” shooting from the hip, killed “the bad guy.”  These were duels à l’Américaine, but duels nevertheless, minus a Codex Duello.

Pushkin killed in a duel, dead at 37

When writer Alexander Pushkin (6 June 1799 – 10 February 1837; aged 37) was fatally wounded duelling with Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d’Anthès, duels were illegal in Russia.  Georges d’Anthès was therefore incarcerated in the Peter and Paul Fortress, but he was soon pardoned and returned to France.  The point I want to make is that, in 1837, duels were illegal in Russia.  In fact, they had been illegal in many countries beginning in the 17th century because of the staggering number of victims.  Similarly, if an American citizen now has a firearm and fights against an individual bearing arms, it is also a duel and one person dies, if not both.  There are victims.

Consequently, the bearing arms for self-protection solution and the “armed brigade” solution are both recipes for disaster.  When President Obama addressed the people of Newtown, he stated that during his Presidency, four massacres had occurred, the saddest of which was the Newtown tragedy — children died — and another killing occurred on Christmas Eve.  In these instances, firearms were not used for self-protection.  All were attacks by armed individuals.  I hope Washington will rally behind the President who wishes to put into place bolder gun-control legislation.

Individualism and Collectivism

Putting firearms in the hands of individuals is extremely dangerous.  It is as though a nation let citizens take the law into their own hands.  We cannot take the law into our own hands.  If citizens did take the law into their own hands, it would be a serious breach of the social contract, or a breach of a covenant.  In fact, it would be unbridled individualism and near complete denial of collectivism, i. e. collective rights and duties.

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog on Thomas Hobbes (5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke.  It addressed the social contract.  People get together, surrender some “freedom” — such as bearing arms — and live in safety.  This does not preclude the appropriate measure of individualism, but it creates a balance between individualism and collectivism.  In other words, people can still put a little picket fence around their house and lock their doors — I don’t — but the other side of the picket fence is someone else’s property.  Note that in my example, both homeowners, individuals, are respecting a law, a covenant, so that order is maintained.

We have red lights, stop signs, speed limits, construction codes, fire safety codes, etc.  It’s called the rule of law.

—ooo—

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky  (7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893)
Eugene Onegin 
 
The Death of Tecumseh

The Death of Tecumseh

  
© Micheline Walker
19 December 2012
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A Christmas Offering, cont’d: Hymns to Mary

27 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in Art, Feasts, Marian Hymnology

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Le Nouveau-né, by Georges de la Tour

Le Nouveau-né (The Newborn), by Georges de La Tour (1593-1652)

Georges de La Tour (13 March 1593 – 30 January 1652)

—ooo—

Last year, on Christmas day, I wrote the following post:

A Christmas Offering: Hymns to Mary

We were at Notre-Dame de Paris (NDP), listening to Marian hymns, but Notre-Dame no longer provides the internet with recordings of its liturgical music. However, we have the music it used to provide.

Basic Marian Hymnology: Notre-Dame de Paris

To put it in a nutshell, Marian music consists of approximately 32 hymns (general term), the most important of which are the four antiphons listed below.  At Notre-Dame de Paris, where we are nevertheless traveling, four other Marian hymns are sung daily, one of which is a canticle (cantique in French) or song of praise: the Magnificat.  When Mary heard that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant, she sang the Magnificat.  Elizabeth’s child was John the Baptist.

The other Marian hymns sung at Notre-Dame are the Hail Mary or Ave Maria, the Angelus and the Ave Maris Stella.  The Angelus is explained at NDP, but not performed.  Every hymn is translated into English.

—ooo—

Antiphons

An antiphon is a call and respond song.  It resembles a refrain.  That is an over-simplification, but a first step.

Canticles

A canticle is a song of praise such as the Nunc Dimittis.

Marian Hymnology

As stated above, altogether, there are approximately 32 Marian hymns, including the four Antiphons.  However, to these we must add the works of composers who have written oratorios, cantatas, motets and have also set Marian texts to other musical forms.  These may contain music composed for Christmas, the birth of Christ, where Mary is a central character.  To my knowledge, there is no oratorio honoring the Virgin, except segments of larger works.  Examples are J. S. Bach‘s Magnificat (from the Chrismas Oratorio) and parts of Händel’s Messiah.

Beyond Notre-Dame’s Daily Marian Hymns

The Oratorio

Given the Catholic Church’s devotion to Mary Mother of God, large musical works are likely to incorporate music to the Virgin.  Oratorios are among large compositions and could be described as long cantatas.  However, they resemble operas.  Oratorios require an orchestra and a choir.  Moreover, they may contain solos or, at times, multi-voice compositions that are not sung by the choir, but by four soloists.

At one point in the history of music, polyphony included more than the four voices we are accustomed to: soprano, alto, tenor, bass or SATB.  We are not discussing such works, many of which are madrigals.  We will focus instead on famous Oratorios associated with the birth, life and death of Christ and usually performed during the Christmas season or at Easter.

The Cantata

A cantata (from the Latin cantare: to sing) is a shorter and less complex work than the oratorio.  It dates back to the early 1600s, which are the years the first operas were composed.  Originally, only one person sang the cantata; it was monophonic.  In this regard, it resembled early madrigals.  But as the madrigal evolved into a multi-voice composition or polyphony, so did cantatas.  We tend to associate cantatas with J. S. Bach who composed approximately 200, one of which, number 142, is entitled the Christmas Cantata: “Uns ist ein Kind geboren” (Unto us a Child is born) is a lovely cantata.

Tampereen Kamarimusiikkiseura (Tampere Chamber Music Society) (Finland)


The Motet

According to late 13th-century theorist Johannes de Grocheio (c. 1255 – c. 1320) motets are “not intended for the vulgar who do not understand its finer points and derive no pleasure from hearing it: it is meant for educated people and those who look for refinement in art.”

J.S. Bach – Christmas Oratorio BWV 248
 

 20047-594
© Micheline Walker
27 December 2012
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A Merry Christmas to All

24 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Feasts, Sharing

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ARCANGELO DI JACOPO DEL SELLAIOItalian painter, Florentine school (b. 1477/78, Firenze, d. 1530, Firenze)

ARCANGELO DI JACOPO DEL SELLAIO
Italian painter, Florentine school (b. 1477/78, Firenze, d. 1530, Firenze)

Photo credit: Web Gallery of Art

I have just returned from a short stay at a friend’s house, but I had left my computer behind.  Fortunately, there is still time to send Christmas greetings to all of you, my very dear readers.

Make the day as joyous as possible.

Merry Christmas

composer: Arcangelo Corelli (17 February 1653 – 8 January 1713)
piece: Christmas Concerto, op.6 n.8
performers: Berliner Philharmoniker
conductor: Herbert von Karajan 
 
annuncia
© Micheline Walker
24 December 2012
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Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

21 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by in Art, Illuminated Manuscripts

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519PX-~1—  Les Très Riches Heures de Jean de France, Duc de Berry: January

Jean de France and the Limbourg brothers

Jean Ier de France, Duc de Berry (Jean de Berry; 30 November 1340 – 15 March 1416) was an avid collector of psalters, breviaries (brief books of liturgical rites), missals, Books of Hours, books honouring saints (hagiography), Bibles, and other objets d’art.

However, if the Duc de Berry’s name still lingers in our memory, it is because he commissioned Books of Hours from the Limbourg brothers or Gebroeders van Limburg: Herman, Pol and Johan (fl. 1385 – 1416), the most famous of which is Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. The Limbourg brothers also contributed miniatures to a

Nigmegen

Nigmegen

Les Très Riches Heures (1412 – 1416)

We will concentrate on the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, commissioned by Jean Ier de France in 1410 and currently housed at the Musée Condé, in Chantilly, France. All three Limbourg brothers, Herman, Pol (Paul) and Johan (Jean), born in Nijmegen, now in Gelderland, in the Netherlands, worked on Jean de France’s famous Très Riches Heures, but all three died in 1416, aged 28 to 31, probably of the plague, which, in all likelihood, also took the life of their patron, the Duc de Berry.

Photo credit: Wikipedia (all images)
(Please click on each picture to enlarge it.)

387PX-~2360PX-~1371PX-~2374PX-~1

Completing the Manuscript

The Limbourg brothers had nearly completed their assignment before their death, but not quite. Later in the fifteenth century, an anonymous artist worked on the manuscript. It would appear this anonymous artist was Barthélemy d’Eyck, or van Eyck (FR) (c. 1420 – after 1470), called the Master of the Shadows. If indeed Barthélemy d’Eyck, or van Eyck (FR), worked on the Très Riches Heures, he did so after 1444.[i] His extremely generous patron was René d’Anjou (16 January 1409 – 10 July 1480).

However, completion of the manuscript is attributed to Jean Colombe (b. Bourges c. 1430; d. c. 1493) who was commissioned to complete Jean de France’s book by Charles Ier, Duc de Savoie. He worked between 1485 and 1489. The Très Riches Heures was imitated by Flemish artists in the 16th century and then disappeared for three centuries until it was found by Spinola of Genoa and later bought, in 1856, by the Condé Museum in Chantilly, France, where it is held.[ii]

LES_TR~1371px-Les_Très_Riches_Heures_du_duc_de_Berry_juin369PX-~1366PX-~1

The Très Riches Heures: a Calendar

However, Jean de France, duc de Berry’s Très Riches Heures differs from other Books of Hours because of the prominence of its calendar, a lay calendar. Each month of the year is depicted on a full page and these depictions constitute a remarkable record of the monthly labour of men and women, from shearing lamb to cutting wood and the brothers depicted them in minute details and astonishing accuracy. In the background, of each monthly, page we can see one of Jean de France’s many castles and hôtels. For instance, the image inserted at the top of this post shows the Château de Vincennes. In the front, dogs are eating a boar. The Limburg brothers

were among the first illuminators to render specific landscape scenes (such as the environs and appearance of their patron’s castles) with great accuracy and sensitivity.[iii]

361PX-~1360PX-~1355PX-~1349PX-~1

The Limbourg Brothers: Biographical notes

The Limbourg brothers were born to artistic parents. Their grandfather had lived in Limburg, hence their name. But he had moved to Nigmegen. His son Arnold (1355-1360 – 1395-1399) was a wood-carver. Their mother, Mchtel Maelwael (Malouel) belonged to a family of heraldic painters. However, the most prominent artist in the brothers’ family was their uncle Jean Malouel, or Jan Maelwael in Dutch, who was court painter for Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. It should be noted that between 1032 and 1477, Burgundy was an enlarged Duchy of Burgundy, also called the Franco-Flemish lands.

As for the brothers themselves, Herman and Johan were sent to Paris to learn the craft of goldsmithing and upon the death of Philip the Bold, in 1604, they were hired by his brother, Jean de France. They worked in a style called International Gothic. As Jean de France, Duc de Berry’s artists, the Limbourg brothers were first assigned a long project, a Book of Hours entitled Belles Heures du Duc de Berry, containing 158 miniatures, currently housed in the Cloisters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.

Jean de France was obviously very pleased with his Belles Heures du Duc de Berry. He showered the Limbourg brothers with gifts, the most substantial being a very large house for Paul in Bourges, France, where the three brothers resided. Johan seems to have combined a career as goldsmith and painter, at least temporarily, but he was definitely one of the three miniaturists who worked on the miniatures comprised in Jean de France’s Très Riches Heures, commissioned in 1410 or 1411. There have been attempts to attribute certain pages to a particular brother, but uncertainty lingers. I should think that Wikipedia’s list is probably mostly accurate.[iv]

A Wider Symbolism

You will notice that Les Très Riches Heures contains paintings above which there is a semicircle, the folio for each month shows the twelve Zodiac signs, the ecclesiastical lunar calendar as well as heraldic emblems and other relevant elements. Many Books of Hours are also characterized by the mille-fleurs motif borrowed from Oriental rugs brought to Europe by returning Crusaders. In Books of Hours, artists drew from elements preceding Christianity as well as Christian ones, not to mention personal elements. “Their range includes coats of arms, initials, monograms, mottoes, and personal emblems, which are used singly or in all combinations possible.”[v]

Artistic Elements

Painted in gouache on parchment (vellum), the Tr[è]s Riches Heures includes
416 pages, 131 of which have large miniatures, while many more are decorated
with border illustrations or large historiated initials, as well as 300 ornamented capital letters [also called “historiated” letters].”[vi]

As for the colors, fine pigments were used and blended by the brothers themselves into a form of gouache and, at times, they crushed lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone into a “liant,” a binding agent. They also used gold leaf. It was a delicate process done step by step on a relatively small piece of vellum (vélin), the skin of a calf (veau).

Conclusion

The Limburg brothers and Jean de France died before the age of thirty. Yet, their legacy is an exceptional depiction of their life and times. I am certain Jean de France marvelled at the consummate artistry of the Limburg brothers. They worked at a moment in history when perspective had not yet entered their world, except simple linear perspective.[vii] Yet their folios show the degree of dimensionality that could be achieved in the Burgundian 15th century. Therefore, their art has its own finality and it is love for what it is.

I especially like the serenity of the folios constituting the twelve months of the Calendar. The Labours of the Months do not seem an imposition but the natural activity of simple human beings reaping food and comfort from a rich land and hoping in an age were an epidemic could be devastating. Their faces and gestures do not show fear. On the contrary, they show faith. They are working so that months will grow into seasons and seasons into years that will return until they enter peacefully into the timelessness of life eternal.

fleur3

  • To view the pages corresponding to each month of the year, click on Très Riches Heures.
  • N.B. Several illuminations painted for Berry’s Book of Hours inspired some of the backdrops to sets used by Laurence Olivier in his film of Shakespeare’s play Henry V which he made in 1944 on the eve of the Normandy invasion.
  • Also very informative is the WebMuseum, Paris or the Web Gallery of Art

Sources

______________________________

[i] See the Barthélemy van Eyck entry in Wikipedia.  EN
[ii] See the “Très Riches Heures” entry in Wikipedia.
“Très Riches Heures” entry  in Wikipedia. 
[iii] “Limbourg brothers”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 13 Dec. 2012 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1475265/Limbourg-brothers>.
[iv] See the “Très Riches Heures” entry in Wikipedia & Les Très Riches Heures
[v]  “Book of Hours”. http://www.medievalbooksofhours.com/advancedtutorial/tutorial_advanced_boh.html
[vi] “Très Riches Heures”.
http://www.visual-art-cork.com/famous-paintings/tres-riches-heures-duc-de-berry.htm
[vii] “High Point of Courtly International Gothic”. 
 
© Micheline Walker
21 December 2012
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Replaces post published on 17 November 2011.
The second video features the Ensemble Planeta.
 
 

Folio_26r_-_The_Annunciation

Musing on the US Constitution and other Documents

18 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by in United States

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Trumbull's Declaration of Independence depicts committee presenting draft Declaration of Independence to Congress. Adams at center has hand on hip.
Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence depicts committee presenting draft Declaration of Independence to Congress. Adams at center has hand on hip.
John Trumbull (June 6, 1756 – November 10, 1843)
Photo credit: Wikipedia

* * *

Dear Friends,

You may ignore what comes after the Great Seal.  It’s the list of documents I examined.

Yesterday, the 17th, I browsed through information concerning the United States.  I needed to know more about the Declaration of Independence ( 6 July 1776), the United States Constitution (created on 17 September 1787, ratified on 21 June 1788) and the United States Bill of Rights, passed on 25 September 1789, ratified on 15 December 1791.

It was a slightly limited search as I need to keep my foot up and lie down frequently.  What I have discovered is that the Second Amendment is obsolete, not to say vestigial.  It belongs to an age when the United States did not have the protection it has acquired since 1788.  In my opinion, it should be revised or removed.

There are certain elements contained in documents such as the United States Constitution and the US Bill of Rights[i] that become obsolete or are eventually considered inappropriate.  That is perfectly normal.  In fact, the United States Constitution (June 21,1788) has been amended seventeen additional times (for a total of 27 amendments).  Times change.  For instance, we have left the age of the horse and buggy.

Here is the text of the Second Amendment.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Given that the United States has its various Law Enforcement Agencies, its Armed Forces, its National Guards and, perhaps, other policing agencies I am not aware of, it does not need to allow people to own and carry firearms.

I don’t have to remind anyone that the US Military found and killed Osama bin Laden. That event is fresh in our memory.

I also remember the story of the poor gentleman, kidnapped in a boat, being saved by a marksman or sharpshooter.  You perhaps remember the details.  President Obama did not dally.  He authorized measures that would free this man.

So the Second Amendment is like a fossil as are parts of the Bill of Rights (see footnote [i]).  The Bill of Rights constitutes the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution.  It therefore includes the Second Amendment.  It was authored by James Madison (16 March 1751 – 28 June 1836), the fourth President of the United States.

Moreover, the United States Declaration of Independence guaranties certain rights:

Under the Declaration of Independence, drafted by Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826), Americans have:

Moreover, the United States is under the protection of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (UDHR)

I most certainly would not recommend a revolution.  But it would be my opinion that, because of the National Rifle Association‘s successful advocacy of the right to bear arms, the United States all but put a firearm in the hands of shooter Adam Lanza.

Members of the NRA will have to accept that the Constitution of the United States no longer justifies ownership by a civilian of a firearm.  The Second Amendment has become a lame amendment that allows aberrant behavior.  It made it possible for Adam Lanza, a civilian, to gun down twenty children and six adults, not to mention the murder of his mother and his suicide.

As I wrote on the 15th, the National Rifle Association (NRA) is therefore complicit in all the mass killings that have taken place in the last twenty years or so.  However, on second thought, I must qualify my statement because the system itself, Washington, has shamelessly given in to the NRA’s advocacy of the “right” to bear arms.  In other words, it is legal for civilians to own and carry firearms even though there is no need for them to do so and despite the fact that they now imperil innocent lives.  I am already hearing myself say: when and where will a massacre happen again?

In short, last Friday, Adam Lanza gunned down 20 children and 6 adults not just because Adam Lanza broke down, but because he broke down and had a powerful firearm.  And if he had a powerful firearm, it is because the system, i.e. the nation, is letting itself be ruled, not by reason, but by the NRA.  So the nation allowed an egregious violation of the basic tenet of its own Declaration of Independence: the right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

President Obama is right.  The nation must change.  But there is a difficulty.  Does the nation want to change?  I believe Americans are divided on the issue of gun ownership, but that a growing number of US citizens will now want change.  Last Friday’s massacre was heart-breaking.  Children died.  Therefore, I hope sincerely that those who want change will carry the day.  Quite frankly, if I were an American mother, I would be tempted to keep my child home until it is illegal for civilians to buy and carry firearms and all firearms have been confiscated.

This idealized depiction of (left to right) Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration (Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1900) was widely reprinted.

This idealized depiction of (left to right) Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson working on the Declaration (Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1900) was widely reprinted.

Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 – April 17, 1790) a Founding Father
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826), 2nd President of the United States
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826), a Founding Father and the 3rd President of the United States
 
US Great Sea;

US Great Seal

 _________________________
 
The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)
 

Wikipedia tells me that the

“Declaration of Independence justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution. Having served its original purpose in announcing independence, the text of the Declaration was initially ignored after the American Revolution. Since then, it has come to be considered a major statement on human rights, particularly its second sentence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

From the Declaration of Independence

1. Natural and Legal Rights

“Natural rights are rights not contingent upon the laws, customs, or beliefs of any particular culture or government, and therefore universal and inalienable. In contrast, legal rights are those bestowed onto a person by the law of a particular political and legal system, and therefore relative to specific cultures and governments.” (Natural and Legal Rights, Wikipedia)

2. Human Rights

Human rights are commonly understood as “inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being.” (Human Rights, Wikipedia)

3. The Right to Revolution

“In political philosophy, the right of revolution (or right of rebellion) is the right or duty, variously stated throughout history, of the people of a nation to overthrow a government that acts against their common interests. Belief in this right extends back to ancient China, and it has been used throughout history to justify various rebellions, including the American Revolution and the French Revolution.”  (The Right to Revolution, Wikipedia)

From the Declaration of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), (10 December 1948, United Nations).

Article 1 (UDHR)

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.  They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

From the Constitution of the United States

The Constitution of the United States (full text)
The United States Constitution (Wikipedia entry)
 

The Second Amendment:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

The Bill of Rights before revisions

“Originally, the Bill of Rights implicitly legally protected only white men, excluding American Indians, people considered to be “black” (now described as African-Americans), and women. These exclusions were not explicit in the Bill of Rights’ text, but were well understood and applied.” (United States Bill of Rights, Wikipedia)

[i] Please read the above quotation.

* * *

© Micheline Walker
December 18th, 2012
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A Few Comments on the Newtown Massacre

15 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by in Art, Sharing

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Nicolaas Rubens, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1625-26
Nicolaas Rubens, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1625-26

Photo credit:  Peter Paul Rubens 

There was a time in history when parents lost many children.  Well-to-do individuals  often protected themselves by having their children sent to a wet-nurse and having them raised in homes where they were sometimes loved, but often neglected.  Yet, if their child died, these parents nevertheless grieved.

Times have changed.  A child may develop a disease that threatens his or her life, but we now expect our children to survive illnesses and when they leave for school in the morning, we also expect them to return home and tell about the day’s activities.

Losing a child is the worst of pain.  I saw my father break down when one of my brothers died.  He was sitting between two of his medical doctor friends who took him to another room.  But as of that moment, he never again allowed himself to love a child.  My sister also lost a child: a five-year old.  The death of her daughter broke not only her heart, but also her fragile health.

Nicolaas Rubens, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1621

Nicolaas Rubens, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1621

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon at the hospital being treated for an infected foot.  So I did not learn about the tragedy until supper time when I turned on the television to watch the news.  I heard myself say: not again!  There are details I do not know, but when I turned off the television, twenty children and seven adults, including Mrs Lanza, were dead.  The last thing I saw were people standing vigil in front of the White House.

I heard President Obama’s speech at least three times, and I believe he set the tone.  He was visibly saddened by the tragedy, saddened to the point of wiping off a few tears.  He is a father and he is also a sensitive and compassionate person.  Flags were at half-mast and Americans were keeping vigil, as was the world.

* * *

For the time being we are grieving, but afterwards, we must protest or call ourselves cowards.  These massacres must end and it is within our power to make changes that would reduce the death toll significantly.  It should, for one thing, be illegal to own and carry firearms.  There are many Republicans in Congress, but whether a member of Congress is a Republican or a Democrat is irrelevant when children die.  Many if not most are parents or grandparents.  They know that what happened to twenty children in Newtown yesterday could happen to their children or grandchildren.  So every one must act and act now.

It seems to me that the oft-amended American Constitution could be revised yet again so that it cannot be used to allow civilians access to firearms.  I am not saying that we can prevent all murders, but I am saying that if people cannot own and carry firearms they cannot shoot innocent children or anyone else.

I do not like pointing a guilty finger, but it would be my opinion that the National Rifle Association was complicit, albeit passively, in yesterday’s tragedy as well as earlier tragedies.  If yesterday’s shooter had not had access to a firearm, the people of Newtown, Connecticut would have been spared the worst imaginable loss, the loss of a child, and their children could have grown into adults and enjoyed life.  That right was taken away from them.

* * *

We have gone back to Thomas Hobbes (5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679), John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778), but their ideology is also that of millions of individuals who live in the United States of America and want this madness to end.  Owning and carrying firearms constitutes the “freedom we surrender” to live in safety.  In other words, safety dictates that we not own and carry firearms.      

I feel immense sorrow for the bereaved mothers and fathers of Newtown, but I also feel very angry because ultimately the system failed these families.  Before I close, allow me to praise the courageous teachers and other individuals who put their lives at risk to save little ones.  They acted selflessly and some paid the ultimate price.

Yesterday, children died and they died needlessly.  Take away those horrible guns.

composer: J. S. Bach (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750)
piece: “Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr,” BWV 639
pianist: Tatiana Petrovna Nikolayeva (4 May 1924 – 22 November 1993)

  
Nicolaas-Rubens-1625-26-large
© Micheline Walker
December 15th, 2012
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A Note on Vermeer

13 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in Art

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Vermeer

21wjug2

— Woman with a Water Jug, 1660-62

However, there is one thing I noticed about Vermeer that seems particularly interesting.  The background of his interiors borrows from the main color in the garment people are wearing.  This process creates a degree of continuity to his paintings.  However, here, the white hat and cape are major factors in the manner Vermeer shapes the canvas and gives the whole painting the pale or bright area it requires.

527px-Jan_Vermeer_van_Delft_006

— A Lady Drinking and a Gentleman, c. 1658

In this painting the red of the dress colors some of the floor tiles.  Yet, the white wall is suddenly blue.  The way Vermeer allows the light to touch here and there brightens up the painting considerably.

19woman— Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (detail), 1657

This painting is nearly monochromatic, but that is because it is a detail.  The detail looks like a gold and black painting.  The darkened wall makes the girl’s face stand out.  This is a common technique, but would that more of us could do this so well.

© Micheline Walker
December 13th, 2012
WordPress
 
composer: Georg PhillippTelemann (1681-1767)
piece: Cantata “Seele, lerne dich erkennen” for soprano, recorder, and basso continuo TWV1:1258
performers: Ensemble Caprice
soprano: Monika Mauch
director: Matthias Maute

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“Genre” Painting : Johannes Vermeer

10 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by in Art

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Young Woman with a Water Jug, 1660-1662
Young Woman with a Water Jug, 1660-1662 [i] 

“Genre Painting”

When I first introduced to “genre” painting, the word “genre” intrigued me and it still does.  Theoretically, “genre” paintings depict people going about their everyday activity.  Such a definition suggests a very broad range of paintings.  For instance Hendrick Avercamp (January 27, 1585 (bapt.) – May 15, 1634 (buried)), who painted winter lanscapes, is also a “genre” artist in as much as his paintings show people going about their daily chores or skating, or playing golf on ice.

The Dutch Golden Age: Vermeer’s Interiors

However, we can narrow down the field to people going about their daily tasks indoors and in courtyards rather than outdoors, which leads us back to the Dutch Golden Age and, in particular, to the art of Johannes Vermeer (1632, Delft – December 1675, Delft).[i]  Vermeer’s “Girl with the Pearl Earring,” a 1665 portrait, is now a favorite.  Yet, Vermeer, a Dutch Golden Age painter, who lived in Delft, specialized in everyday interior scenes and his paintings of domestic scenes are now considered the standard reference.

Hendrick Avercamp may still qualify as a genre painter and the same is true of the Limbourg brothers, the miniaturists who illuminated Jean de France, duc de Berry’s Très Riches Heures (1412-1416), one of the most extraordinary “Books of Hours.”  These paintings feature individuals performing everyday activity or, in the case of Jean de France’s Très Riches Heures, seasonal activities,

Diversity in “Genre” Painting

Yet within the narrower field of interiors, there is diversity.  One of Vermeer’s better-known paintings is “The Procuress,” c. 1656, a brothel scene in which Vermeer himself is probably portrayed (first person to the left).  “Genre” works may also depict merrymakers in taverns.  The “Procuress” is a legitimate genre painting, as are the paintings of drunken deer drinkers.  But such paintings may not be purchased by a bourgeois housewife who would prefer to look at an interior resembling her own or one she would like to live in, which is not an insignificant factor.

The Procuress, by Johannes Vermeer

The Procuress, by Johannes Vermeer, 1656

“The Procuress” is a relatively early work.  In fact, by 1656, Vermeer was beginning to paint the luminous interiors, such as the ones featured below, all of which may have been painted in the same two rooms of Vermeer’s well-to-do’s mother-in-law’s house in Oude (Delft).  With respect to these somewhat intimiste paintings, it may be helpful to read a few sentences from the Encyclopædia Britannica‘s entry on Vermeer.

Beginning in the late 1650s and lasting over the course of about one decade—a remarkably brief period of productivity, given the enormity of his reputation—Vermeer would create many of his greatest paintings, most of them interior scenes. No other contemporary Dutch artist created scenes with such luminosity or purity of colour, and no other painter’s work was infused with a comparable sense of timelessness and human dignity[ii]

Characteristics of Vermeer’s Interiors

Chief characteristics of Vermeer’s interiors are black and white flooring leading to a vanishing point, leaded and at times colored windows on the left side of the canvas, heavy rugs on tables, musical instruments, virginals in particular, jugs, and, in “The Milk Maid,” a baseboard made of blue Delft tiles (see below).  In his “Lady at a Virginal with a Gentleman,” you may have noticed that the mirror above the virginal echoes the floor.  Vermeer was influenced by the Utrecht Carravagists (see chiaroscuro) who enjoyed paintings-within-paintings.

Vermeer’s interiors are clean and his characters, neatly dressed.  These are rooms that suggest a degree of comfort and are a pleasure to look at as well as a collector’s dream.  Vermeer, a Delft artist, sold at least 21 of his paintings to Jacob Dissius, a Delft collector.  Pieter van Ruijven, a baker, also bought two paintings by Vermeer.  As a result, Vermeer was not well-known outside Delft and, given that he worked slowly, there are only about 34 to 36 paintings indisputably attributed to him.  He was, after all, the busy father of eleven children and an art-dealer, as was his father.  From his father, he had also inherited an inn.

Vermeer as Head of the Guild of Saint Luke

Although Vermeer seems to have stayed in Delft most of his life, he did not work in isolation.  He was a member of The Guild of Saint Luke, which he joined on 29 December 1653.  He was elected head of the Guild in 1662, and was re-elected to the same position in 1663, 1670, and 1671, which is a tribute to the exceptional quality of his paitings and esteem on the part of Dwelft painters.  He was influenced by Carel Fabritius, Leonaert Bramer, Dirck van Baburen (c. 1595 – 21 February 1624) and Gerrit von Honthorst, an Utrecht Caravaggist.  He may have tutored Pieter de Hooch and Nicolaes Maes, but these artists competed with him.

The Disaster: France invades the Dutch Republic

Until the invasion of the Dutch Republic by French troops, in 1672, the Dutch Republic had been a prosperous nation.  But it was suddenly severely impoverished.  During five years or so, members of the middle-class could not purchase art and, by extension, artists could not sell their art, not to mention that Vermeer worked slowly and used expensive pigments (lapis lazuli, ultramarine, cornflower blue, etc).  When he died, in 1675, aged 43, probably of meningitis or encephalitis, then called “frenzy,” Vermeer left behind eleven children and debts to pay.  Furthermore, he would be forgotten until rediscovered in the nineteenth century by Gustav Friedrich Waagen and Théophile Thoré-Bürger.

  

 
The Lacemaker, 1669-70
The Guitar Player, c. 1672
A Lady at a Virginal with a Gentleman, 1662-63
Lady Seated at a Virginal, c. 1673
 
(Please click on the pictures to enlarge them.)
 
The Milkmaid, by Johannes Vermeer, c. 1658

The Milkmaid, by Johannes Vermeer,* c. 1658

Tiles and Footwarmer

Tiles and Foot-warmer, detail*

* The box on the floor is a foot-warmer.  The baseboard is made of blue Delft tiles.  Please click on the picture to enlarge it.

Photo credit: Wikipedia and Web Gallery of Art

Conclusion

So let this be our introduction to “genre” painting.  The Vermeer paintings shown above are interiors and it could well be that focussing on life indoors or in courtyards is the chief characteristic of “genre” painting.  Furthermore, we had the privilege of seeing some of the most beloved “genre” pieces in European history.

I must close.  So, at this point, let the paintings speak for themselves.

I wish you all my very best.

RELATED ARTICLE

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[i] Web Gallery of Art (Vermeer)

[ii] Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr. “Johannes Vermeer”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 08 Dec. 2012
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/626156/Johannes-Vermeer>.

composer: German-Danish organist and composer Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637 to 1639 – 9 May 1707)
piece: “Quemadmodum Desiderat Cervus” 
 
11drink4
 
© Micheline Walker
December 9th, 2012
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A Lady drinking with a Gentleman (detail), c. 1658
 
 

Liturgy as a Musical Form: the Hours and the Mass

07 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by in Feasts, Liturgy, Music

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Illuminations

Illumination

This post contains a tiny list of three posts written in 2011.  They have been revised.  For instance, they include more links.

1. The first post was republished earlier this week.  It tells that nature and, in particular, the degree of darkness and light, dictates the dates on which feasts are celebrated.  In other words, it tells about the calendar.

2. The second post deals with the Hours.  The Hours predate Christianity.  However, the concept of “watching” also finds its roots in Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.  His apostles would not stay awake when he was about to be taken away and crucified.  My parish, so to speak, is the Benedictine monastery at Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, on Lake Memphremagog.  The Hours and the Mass are the two components of daily liturgy at Saint-Benoît-du-Lac.  Other priests, priests who are not monks, read their Breviary which is also a book of hours. This post also alludes to the solstices and equinoctial points.

Not mentioned in the posts listed below are the equinoctial tides.  Again, a natural phenomenon dictates a feast.  In September, at about the time the feast of St. Michael the archangel is celebrated, on September 29th, the tides are briefly at their lowest point.  The year I lived in Normandy, one could not see the water from the shore and Mont-Saint-Michel was an island.  When the water receded sheep would graze on the salted meadows, the prés salés.  We often ate lamb from the prés salés.  It was a treat.

3. The third post discusses Mass, the second and most important part of daily liturgy.  Mass can be short (the Ordinary of the Mass) and have no movable parts, such as the Agnus Dei, or it can be long, the Proper of the Mass).  It is also called the Eucharist as Communion is a constant reminder of the Last Supper.

Musicology

I thought I had learned the Mass as a child as well as Gregorian Chant.  I also had a brief career as church organist.  However, I did not know much, if anything, about the Mass or liturgy in general until I took courses in musicology from a teacher who was not a Catholic.  Secular music has existed for a very long time but sheer bulk precludes leaving Sacred Music out of musicology courses.  The same could be said about studying the Fine Arts, but to a lesser extent.

In particular, sacred music allows us to trace the development of polyphonic music, i.e. soprano, alto, tenor, bass (SATB) combined.  Some pieces combine more or fewer voices.  In secular music, studying the Madrigal is also a way of learning how polyphonic music developed.  However, Gregorian music is monodic or monophonic.

REVISED POSTS: 
 
composer: J. S. Bach  (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750)
piece: Gloria in excelsis Deo, Messe h-Moll (BWV 232)
performers: Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra
conductor: Ton Koopman
painting: “The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew,” Caravaggio (29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610)
The Visitation in the Book of Hours of the Duc de Berry; the Magnificat in Latin

The Visitation in the Book of Hours of the Duc de Berry; the Magnificat in Latin

© Micheline Walker
December 7th, 2012
WordPress
 
(please click on the picture to enlarge it)