O Friend, Not These Tones! Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 8:35 pm
O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! (O friend, not these tones!)
Sondern laßt uns angenehmere (Let us raise our voices in more)
anstimmen, und freudenvollere! (pleasing and more joyful sounds!)
(Twenty points to you and a lollipop if you can name for me, without looking it up or Googling for it, the piece of music whither the above pericope originates. Hint: it is – objectively, in my paradoxical opinion – the most divine piece of music ever written.)
I’ve spent a lot of words and time detailing what has led me to where I am, which is sort of floundering (in more ways than one) on the issue of the foundations of faith. These matters are not so pressing as they appear, and I shall need at least a full nine months of gestation before I have any further thoughts concerning them that are well-formed enough to utter. For now, I remain unresolved amid liturgical and Anglican tendencies and overpowering skepticism.
But friend, not these tones!
I have had the great opportunity to do much photography – three excursions already! – in the time I’ve been here and have been experimenting with the unfamiliar realm of urban work. And so I will post here some photos, more of which can always be found at my flickr – though I’ve noticed it tends to try to ‘correct’ my color palette, often ruining it (stupid machines!). Posting pictures will probably become the trend for the rest of the posts this summer. Pictures that, one hopes, may be worth more than the many words which I so often spill.
But the photography.
The first photoshoot was with another intern, as I mentioned. It was my first attempt at some still life/urban life in a very long time.
I tried my hand at it; we only had one tripod (mine, which wants a minor bit of repair) between the two of us to share, so it was a bit of a trade-off venture. Still loads of fun though.
On Friday I made a trip downtown to shoot some of the architecture.
But I found myself mostly in the vicinity of Pike Place, and finding a well-lit lounge/bar which I wanted to come back and capture, I waited for it to get dark.
By the time I was done several hours later the employees were waving at me from the windows. I’m very tempted to make this a regular Friday night occurence.
Noticing from before that there was an event going on at the market that weekend, I came back Sunday afternoon for some more people-focused photography, though it ended up being very cold that day. Still, the flower section of Pike Place is always a good place to stop by.
One sometimes wonders sometimes about those whose work is in the floral arrangements.
Keeping with the floral theme, on my way out from many awkward encounters at the marketplace, I followed this couple for a while as both they and I left the market, and then went our separate ways.
And now it is night for me, and yet there is still work tomorrow.
The Lord Almighty grant us a peaceful night and a perfect end. Amen.
(And another lollipop if you can tell me, without looking it up, when and under what circumstances the above line is said. I already gave the Anglican hint. And James doesn’t count.)
I love you, David; I really do.
And, I’m so very glad that a side-effect of one of your primary pursuits of joy is the production of beautiful photography, which allows me to witness at a distance the many things that I am missing.
Was that quote in the beginning from Schiller’s Ode to Joy which Beethoven put to music in his 9th symphony? My German is very bad, I may not have the wording right, but one of my favorite phrases from that poem is something like “seine zauber binden wieder vas Die Mode streng geteilt” or in English “your (pleasure’s) magic binds together what is separated by rigid social divisions” I believe the idea is that all of us humans, whatever our place in society, share the need for pleasure. That poem also expresses something of the idea that there may be a god behind it all.
You are very close, Marshall. Close enough that there’s no point in not giving it away. The lines are from Beethoven’s 9th but they are not from the Schiller poem, but actually from Beethoven’s introduction to it.
In the 4th movement of his 9th symphony, we hear bits of the melodies of the previous 3 movements, each going on for a while and then stopping, as if being rejected by the composer. Then the first male soloist jumps in with the lines above: “O friend, not these tones!” After his little pericope we launch into the fresh melody of the finale accompanied by Schiller’s Ode To Joy. So very, very close, but no cigar. Still, I’m impressed you could name the poet. Fantástico!
The mention of God in the poem is in the last stanza. I love the introductory two lines; I wonder if Beethoven didn’t re-use these words himself for the “kiss” that is his ninth symphony:
Be embraced, you millions!
This kiss for the whole world!
Brothers, beyond the star-canopy
Must a loving Father dwell.
Do you bow down, you millions?
Do you sense the Creator, world?
Seek Him beyond the star-canopy!
Beyond the stars must He dwell.