Dennis Aubrey “I am lost to the world” on Via LucisPhotography caught struck a deep chord while preparing for the following Sunday’s sermon. Gustav Mahler, the photography, and the poetry lifted my soul in the midst of the toxic 2012 campaign here in the U.S.
I listened to the sermon. You know there is music in your delivery that connects someone like me who is… out of range of Biblical references. I love Mahler. I listen to recordings in German. The German words… are music to me partly because I know so little German. I’m reminded how much I love Russian and French, and Italian language opera, and Swedish movies. In this modern world I have the subtitles that really deliver the full experience. In opera there is less “message”, mainly story… so you really want to at least know the story ahead of time. Today… I am thinking I should at least read the words once for Mahler’s vocal material… like Das Lied von der Erde, the Song of the Earth. What a beautiful title. One of the most spectacular choral works is Mahler’s Symphony No. 8., known as Symphony of a Thousand, because it asks for a large chorus… and that’s what I get on recordings I have viewed and listened to since I was a teenager. No… I have never thought too much about getting together with the words of this great music. I guess that my love of music just leaves the words to the very last for my contemplation. I have been nuts about Mexican singing for forty years… I call what I like best “crying music.” You really don’t need to know the exact situation that brings the tears. My daughter grew up with crying music. She says she just assumed that everyone did, kind of like sweet sauerkraut, and refried beans she got from me. She heard so much French language singing that she studied the language and spent a year in Paris. I listen to at least one Bach cantata in German every week. But, I generally only joke about the German references to the Bible. There is a lot of “take me lord, I’m ready to go.” So, I’m just saying Gordon… yah reached even me, and I will be checking out the lyrics to my Mahler stuff. As for the past year of campaigning. It was both horrible and pathetic… it was both beautiful and encouraging. I love it when you talk. The more the better.
Bob, I love it when you comment here. Keep ’em coming and I’ll be a happy man. Thanks so much for sharing so personally. I remember Rosey Greer, the retired massive football player, singing “Crying gets the bad stuff out” or somee such thin on Sesame Street whem my boys were young. It’s true. It does. Three cheers for crying music. Re: the campaign stuff, I just wrote back to “the Obama Store” which had sent me an email inviting me to buy a Victory button RIGHT NOW at 40% discount. I replied, “I’m sorry but this is NUTS! You’re turning the President and his office into a commercial enterprise. IT NEEDS TO STOP. It only serves to continue the campaign and the barrage of requests for money that turn off even the staunchest supporters.” Anyway, I share the sense of joy over the results of the election, but there’s a BIG difference between Elvis Presley and the President! Turning Barack into Elvis is the last thing the country needs. Peace, Brother!
So many times recently, I just shake my head at the things the world stews about. The things that concern me are the things humankind has always faced, and all our worry can not change it one iota…. And into Jesus’ lap, like a child, I crawl once more.
Views from the Edge 
Gordon, once again you moved me. Thanks so much for this.
LikeLike
Dennis, Thank you for the Via Lucis inspiration. God bless.
LikeLike
I listened to the sermon. You know there is music in your delivery that connects someone like me who is… out of range of Biblical references. I love Mahler. I listen to recordings in German. The German words… are music to me partly because I know so little German. I’m reminded how much I love Russian and French, and Italian language opera, and Swedish movies. In this modern world I have the subtitles that really deliver the full experience. In opera there is less “message”, mainly story… so you really want to at least know the story ahead of time. Today… I am thinking I should at least read the words once for Mahler’s vocal material… like Das Lied von der Erde, the Song of the Earth. What a beautiful title. One of the most spectacular choral works is Mahler’s Symphony No. 8., known as Symphony of a Thousand, because it asks for a large chorus… and that’s what I get on recordings I have viewed and listened to since I was a teenager. No… I have never thought too much about getting together with the words of this great music. I guess that my love of music just leaves the words to the very last for my contemplation. I have been nuts about Mexican singing for forty years… I call what I like best “crying music.” You really don’t need to know the exact situation that brings the tears. My daughter grew up with crying music. She says she just assumed that everyone did, kind of like sweet sauerkraut, and refried beans she got from me. She heard so much French language singing that she studied the language and spent a year in Paris. I listen to at least one Bach cantata in German every week. But, I generally only joke about the German references to the Bible. There is a lot of “take me lord, I’m ready to go.” So, I’m just saying Gordon… yah reached even me, and I will be checking out the lyrics to my Mahler stuff. As for the past year of campaigning. It was both horrible and pathetic… it was both beautiful and encouraging. I love it when you talk. The more the better.
LikeLike
Bob, I love it when you comment here. Keep ’em coming and I’ll be a happy man. Thanks so much for sharing so personally. I remember Rosey Greer, the retired massive football player, singing “Crying gets the bad stuff out” or somee such thin on Sesame Street whem my boys were young. It’s true. It does. Three cheers for crying music. Re: the campaign stuff, I just wrote back to “the Obama Store” which had sent me an email inviting me to buy a Victory button RIGHT NOW at 40% discount. I replied, “I’m sorry but this is NUTS! You’re turning the President and his office into a commercial enterprise. IT NEEDS TO STOP. It only serves to continue the campaign and the barrage of requests for money that turn off even the staunchest supporters.” Anyway, I share the sense of joy over the results of the election, but there’s a BIG difference between Elvis Presley and the President! Turning Barack into Elvis is the last thing the country needs. Peace, Brother!
LikeLike
So many times recently, I just shake my head at the things the world stews about. The things that concern me are the things humankind has always faced, and all our worry can not change it one iota…. And into Jesus’ lap, like a child, I crawl once more.
LikeLike
Karin, Lovely.
LikeLike