Brahms, Piano concerto No. 2

What are the Odds?

Have you ever wondered how likely - or unlikely - it that you exist?

Intelligent Design

I link quite a lot to Mr Vanderleun's American Digest, and with good reason.

He is an accomplished writer of prose and poetry, and has wide-ranging interests.


This a a "must-read" post about Intelligent Design.
Beautiful.

Righteous Brothers, part 2

This song never gets old.

Joy of all Who Sorrow

Commemorated on November 19

Icons of this type depict the Mother of God standing full-length, with a scepter in Her right hand. In some variants of this icon, She is also holding Christ in Her left arm.

 The wonderworking "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Icon of the Mother of God was glorified in the year 1688. Euphymia, the sister of Patriarch Joachim (1674-1690), lived at Moscow and suffered from an incurable illness for a long time. One morning during a time of prayer she heard a voice say, "Euphymia! Go to the temple of the Transfiguration of My Son; there you will find an icon called the "Joy of All Who Sorrow." Have the priest celebrate a Molieben with the blessing of water, and you will receive healing from sickness." Euphymia did as she was directed by the Most Holy Theotokos, and she was healed. 



The design of this icon depicts the Theotokos, a most beautiful blossom of heaven, standing among the flowers of paradise. Her Son is visible above her in the clouds, the King of heaven and earth. Along both sides of the icon, framing the Mother of God, are suppliants (us), asking for her intercession. She stands with her arms spread open and her head tilted as if listening. The tenderness and kindness of a loving mother are evident in her face. She stands in paradise and yet among us. 

Stunning

from iOwnTheWorld

Illumination

...of the calligraphic kind.

This is astounding. Donald Jackson and team completes a 12 year project of a seven volume illuminated Bible.

Go here to page through some selected books. Some of the artwork is very iconographic in nature.

These are just some of the reproductions available.

Jonas Kaufmann, part 2

No commentary needed.

Just for the wonder of it all

Another photo of the Milky Way...

...and a short article about mapping it.

Don't miss American Digest's post about it, too: Amazing Grace. Go, now. You won't regret it.

Safe holiday weekend to all.

Orion's Sword

This is a shot from the Hubble; it is so beautiful, it takes my breath away.

Read more about it here (also more photos)

Artists: Fitz Hugh Lane

When I lived in the Boston area, I loved going to the MFA and stand in front of the Lane pieces. The way he made light on the canvases took my breath away. These reproductions do not do the work justice.

Boston Harbor

Owl's Head, Penobscot Bay

Lane was born in Gloucester. I used to go to the shore at Gloucester on Sunday afternoons, and sit on the stone wall, watching the boats, the people, the water, the gulls. It was very pleasant and restorative.

The Holy Spirit

"And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:2). 

The Holy Spirit of God does not separate from the Father nor does it separate from the Son either, nor does the Father separate from the Son and the Spirit, nor does the Son separate from the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit prophesied about the Son through the prophets, the Holy Spirit overshadowed the All-holy Virgin and prepared her for the birth of the Son of God, the Holy Spirit inseparably stood over the Son during the entire time of His visit to the world in the body.

• The Spirit of Wisdom the Spirit is the vision of heavenly mysteries; 
• The Spirit of Understanding the Spirit is the comprehending of the ties of the visible and invisible world; 
• The Spirit of Counsel the Spirit is the separation of good from evil; 
• The Spirit of Power [Might] the Spirit is the authority over created nature; 
• The Spirit of Knowledge the Spirit is the knowledge of the essence of created beings; 
• The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord the Spirit is the recognizing of the divine power over both worlds and submission to the will of God. 

Whoever among men had unto himself this fullness of riches of the gifts of the Holy Spirit? No one, ever. Only the Lord Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit distributes His gifts and gives them to men, some to this one and some to another. But, the whole of the undivided fullness of His gifts shines in the Son of God.

Why did the Lord Jesus need to have the fear of God when He Himself is God? As God, He did not have the fear of God but as a man had the fear of God for the sake of an example to us. Just as He fasted, watched and labored as a man for the sake of teaching men, so He feared God as a man for the sake of teaching men. What is more curable for men infected with sin than the fear of God? He, as one Who was healthy had to take unto Himself the medicine for sin so that He could encourage us who are sick to take those medicines. Does not a parent do the same thing with sick children who are afraid to take the prescribed medicine?

O Triune and Eternal God before Whom all the heavenly hosts bow down singing the wondrous hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth receive our worship also and save us. To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.

from the Prologue from Ochrid.

Corelli

Franco Corelli was born in Ancona, Italy, on 8 April 1921. In 1951 he won the Maggio Musicale competition in Florence, and again won a competition at Spoleto, singing Don Jose in Carmen. He made his debut at La Scala, Milan opposite Maria Callas in Spontini's "La Vestale" on the opening night of the season in 1954.

Franco Corelli reposed at the age of 82 in Milan, October 29, 2003. One of the great tenors of the 20th Century. Enjoy.

Beauty to make the heart ache

The center of our Milky Way galaxy can easily be seen due to the always clear skies of the Atacama 

In Canada

 

This ring around the Milky Way Galaxy discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey may be what's left of a collision between our Galaxy and a smaller, dwarf galaxy that occurred billions of years ago. It's an indication that at least part of our galaxy was formed by a lot of smaller or dwarf galaxies mixing together, explained investigators Heidi Jo Newberg of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Brian Yanny of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory's Experimental Astrophysics Group. CREDIT: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (www.sdss.org) 

 

  ³¹ “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades,
Or loose the cords of Orion?
³² “Can you lead forth a constellation in its season,
And guide the Bear with her satellites?
³³ “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,
Or fix their rule over the earth? 

Book of Job, Chapter 38

 

Maria Skobstova of Paris

Milk and Honey has a good post about Mother Maria. Commemorated on July 20.

I remember reading about her some time ago: a novice or disciple asked Mother Mary, "how can you know God's will for you?" Mother answered that whomever and whatever God placed in her path was His will for her that day.

We need not fret about God's will for our lives.

More about her here.

Domingo

Official website of Placido Domingo, here. He turned 70 years old this year, and is still singing.

From that site: As a singer, his repertoire encompasses 134 roles, a number unmatched by any other tenor in history, with more than 3500 career performances. His more than 100 recordings of complete operas, compilations of arias and duets, and crossover discs include DG’s anthology of the complete Verdi arias for tenor and EMI’s albums of Wagnerian roles that he has not sung on stage: Siegfried in both Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, and Tristan in a complete recording of Tristan und Isolde. 

A singer friend introduced me to the great tenor in the 80's while he was singing Hoffmann at the Met. I was definitely star-struck, as the gracious man took some time to talk and shake my hand. I shall never forget it.

Now for the fun stuff:

M'appari from von Flotow's Martha

 

 Ah, leve-toi, soleil, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette

Two versions of the love duet from Verdi's Otello. 

• First with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, 1992.
• Second with Renee Fleming at the Met, 1995.

 Now to end the feast with a delightful dessert:

Granada, 2000.

Besame mucho, 2008 (when he was 66 years old...)

 

St Andrew Rublev, commemorated July 4

Saint Andrew Rublev, Russia's greatest iconographer, was born near Moscow sometime between 1360 and 1370. While still very young, he went to the Holy Trinity Monastery, and was profoundly impressed by St Sergius of Radonezh (September 25).

After the death of St Sergius in 1392, St Nikon (November 17) succeeded him as igumen. St Andrew became a novice in the monastery under St Nikon. Sometime before 1405 he moved to the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery founded by St Andronicus (June 13), with the blessing of St Nikon.There St Andrew received monastic tonsure and was taught iconography by Theophanes the Greek and the monk Daniel, St Andrew's friend and fellow-ascetic.

St Andrew is first mentioned in the Chronicles in 1405, when he, Theophanes, and Prochorus painted the cathedral of the Annunciation. His next important project, which he undertook with the monk Daniel, was to paint the frescoes in the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir in 1408.

St Nikon of Radonezh asked St Andrew and Daniel to paint the new church in the reconstructed monastery of the Holy Trinity, which had been destroyed by the Tatars in 1408. At this time St Andrew painted his most famous icon: the Holy Trinity (actually, the Hospitality of Abraham).

St Andrew fell asleep in the Lord between 1427-1430, and was buried in the Andronikov Monastery. He was over seventy years old at the time of his death. The monk Daniel, who died before St Andrew, appeared to his friend and urged him to join him in eternal blessedness.

Psalm 8

O LORD, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength

Because of Your adversaries,

To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

What is man that You take thought of him,

And the son of man that You care for him?

Yet You have made him a little lower than God,

And You crown him with glory and majesty!

You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

All sheep and oxen,

And also the beasts of the field,

The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,

Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

 +++

Here is a photo of the "Sombrero" galaxy, from this site.

Just take a moment to look at it. See all the points of light surrounding the Sombrero?

Now look closer. All those points of light are other galaxies. There are some that look like streaks of light; those are galaxies like our own Milky Way, with arms.

Look at the bottom left, you can see two galaxies that look like they are merging. Astronomers say they just look that way, and that they are probably very far apart.

Click on the image to see a large version.

Great Sopranos: Nilsson

Birgit Nilsson 1918 - 2005


I still get goose-bumps listening to the lady.
Every inch the incredible diva. Yes, her voice was as big as it seems.

Dich, teure Halle, from Wagner's Tannhauser

Clip below is the end of Strauss's Salome. It looks like some kind of gala; it's at the Met in NYC, and the stage looks like it's from Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier.

Birgit Nilsson was known for her witty one-liners:

When asked what was the most important requirement for a soprano to sing Isolde, Nilsson said, "a comfortable pair of shoes."

When Nilsson was asked if she thought Joan Sutherland's famous bouffant hairdo was real, she answered: "I don't know. I haven't pulled it yet."

Nilsson called Turandot, one of the most punishing roles in the soprano repertory, her "vacation role."
Rudolf Bing made a ritual joke of getting on his knees every time Nilsson returned to the Met. When he did this after having been knighted by Queen Elizabeth, Nilsson said, "You do that much better since you practiced for the queen."

Bing asked Nilsson to sing the final scene from Salome at his farewell gala in 1972. As an added inducement, he said that she could have his head on a platter. Nilsson replied, "Oh, that's not necessary, Mr. Bing. I will use my imagination."

Nilsson did not get along with the famous conductor Herbert von Karajan . Once when rehearsing on stage at the Vienna Staatsoper, her string of pearls broke. While helping her retrieve them, Karajan asked, "Are these real pearls bought with your fabulous Metropolitan Opera fees?" Nilsson replied, "No, these are very ordinary fake pearls bought with your lousy Vienna Staatsoper fees."

When Nilsson first arrived at the Met to rehearse the production of Die Walkure conducted by Karajan, she said, "Nu, where's Herbie?" And Karajan once sent Nilsson a cable several pages long, proposing in great detail a variety of projects, different dates and operas. Nilsson cabled back: "Busy. Birgit."

There was a healthy competition between Nilsson and tenor Franco Corelli as to who could hold the high C the longest in Act II of Turandot. In one tour performance, after Nilsson outlasted Corelli on the high C, Corelli stormed off to Bing during the next intermission and said that he was not going to continue the performance. Bing, who knew how to handle Corelli's tantrums, suggested that he retaliate by biting Nilsson on the neck when Calaf kisses Turandot in Act III. Corelli didn't bite Nilsson but he was so delighted with the idea that he told her about Bing's suggestion. She then cabled Bing, informing him that she had to cancel the next two tour Turandot performances because she had contracted rabies.

Here's a listen to the healthy competition:

 And a most beautiful Liebestod, from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde:

Theotokos of Vladimir

From the Prologue from Ochrid:

The Commemoration of the Icon of the All-Holy Birth-Giver of God, 
of the town of Vladimir

When the Tartar King Ahmet besieged Moscow, Prince John Vasillievitch set out with an army to defend the city. Even though the army of Prince John was smaller in number and weaker than the Tartar army, nevertheless, it emerged victorious. All at once, an indescribable fear overcame the Tartars and they became confused and fled. Everyone ascribed this unexpected success to the icon of the All-Holy Birth-giver of God before whom the Russian people prayed for salvation from the Tartars. As a result of this, June 23 was designated in Russia for the commemoration of this miracle.

Most Holy Theotokos, pray for us!