However, I won’t be distracted by such loud noises. I’m preoccupied with a much more important mission. I have confiscated my mom’s old hand type writer as well as several books from the library. I am writing my first Bach biography, I still have the dozen or so densely typed pages. My first ever attempt to create an independent synthesis of information from alternative sources. Happiest days of my life. I was so proud of it for many years until I realized how totally inadequate it was.
When I was 16 my high school organized a trip to Berlin, in the good-old days when there still was a simple wall providing a clear division between right and wrong. All I heard was: Berlin = State Library = one of the largest depositories of Bach’s original manuscripts … The library is/was on the wrong side, of course. To the utter dismay of my teachers I soon escaped for an afternoon (scary Checkpoint Charlie!) and spent a few heavenly hours in the library. I had to witness it and have witnessed it with my own eyes.
Fast forward 40+ years, thousands of CD’s and hundreds of books in my library later. The original Bach, Mozart, etc. manuscripts are deteriorating so fast that they are no longer accessible to the public, not even to scholars or musicians who want/need to consult the source material. The solution is to publish high quality facsimiles and distribute them in small numbers mostly amongst worldwide libraries. There are related projects ongoing to make it all available on the Internet. A few years ago the facsimile of Bach’s B-minor Mass fell in my hands, one of my most precious and certainly most pricey possessions. Complete with SDG!
Yes Wes, you and/or good catholic girl Judy are right:Now it’s time for me to return to the most impossible preservation task of all. The preservation of me.
Here's a dichotomy: how can a country that produces the likes of Bach, Beethoven, etc. also produce the likes of Hitler, etc.?
ReplyDeleteobsessive control freaks, those germans
ReplyDeletereally liked the recording/video, too, although i don't feel too good about you obsessing on those lyrics...you know, as many times as i have heard that tune, i never really thought about the lyrics until now...i don't think keith ever thought about them
Soli Deo Gloria, indeed
Good Morning Job.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting and personal blog. May I ask your line of professional work to help me better understand the context of your interests.
I will followup latter with comments on this human paradox of pure potential for good and evil. It has always been part of human nature be it at the national or personal level. Raises issues of Religion, Politics, War and Psychology.
Your dichotomy question can also be considered in light of the topics we have been discussing; our personal Hungry Goat and the practice of Zen to turn the eye inward to our own Buddha-nature seeking the origin and essence of human consciousness and our purpose/place in the Hubble Universe.
I'm off to workout.Beautiful sunny day.
John Lennon challenged us to "Imagine" World Peace.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm just a simple (naval) architect.
ReplyDeleteWe started the Matrix with a invitation to "Free Your Mind"
ReplyDeleteLennon asked us to "Imagine theres no Country... nothing to kill or die for."
"You may say I'm a Dreamer but I'm not the only one.
I hope some day you'll join us and the world will live as one."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okd3hLlvvLw
FE
John's hungry ghost was called Paul.
ReplyDeletePaul's hungry ghost was called John.
Now there's dichotomy! Or is it?
Dichomoty implies mutually exclusive, which wasn't quite true either in their case. More like two hungry ghosts feeding off each other.
Darn, I wish I were more intelligent than me.
Let's not forget the wise words of Steve (Hanks): we watch ourselves when we watch this blog ... Ultimately it boils down to: do I like what I see when I look in the mirror?
ReplyDelete