A time to mourn

This weekend I lost a friend to Covid. And as I write this, I’m thinking of my brother who died several years ago, since today is his birthday. He was 2 years younger than me, and we were incredibly close. You expect to lose your parents and your grandparents, but not your younger sibling. His passing left a hole in me that will never be filled. Imagine now, how many others are feeling that same sort of loss; how many other families and individuals have a hole that will never be filled. It is staggering to know that 1.3 million have died worldwide, and we are only now edging into the darkest part of this tragedy as winter approaches. I don’t want to dwell in this dark place, but hiding and denial do not bring us to the healing we all desperately need.

Beethoven suffered severe loss in his family, his homeland, his own health and his hearing. Yet he found the inner light to keep the darkness from winning. These struggles are inherent in his music, and extraordinarily so in the String Quartet #1, and its hauntingly beautiful second movement, described by Beethoven as “affettuoso ed appassionato,” which translated from the Italian means “affectionate and passionate.” And lucky for future music listeners, he spoke of what gave him his inspiration: the “crypt scene” of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s familiar tragedy crystallized suffering and loss, which Beethoven knew well. If you want to know more about this musical connection to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, this webpage has an interesting analysis.

Here is a live recording of this haunting music, that shades sorrow with beauty and love. It is performed by one of the greatest historic string quartets ever, the Alban Berg Quartett.

And while you listen, here is an excerpt from Romeo’s crypt soliloquy in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3.

… O my love, my wife,

Death, that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath,

Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty…

…Ah, dear Juliet,

Why art thou yet so fair? …

…O, here

Will I set up my everlasting rest,

And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars

From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!

Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips, O you

The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss

A dateless bargain to engrossing death!

Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavory guide!

Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on

The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!

Here’s to my love! …

With the spectacle of the two lovers, dead in the crypt, the play closes with these poetic words:

A glooming peace this morning with it brings,

The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head.

Go hence to have more talk of these sad things;

Some shall be pardon’d, and some punished:

For never was a story of more woe

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

While researching this music, I came across something very interesting. This genius of a man, Stephen Malinowski, has developed an electronic interpretation of music that is mind-blowing and insightful. I promise if you watch this you will delight in a deeper understanding of each instrument’s piece, and how magnificently they are woven together into a cohesive work of art. I wish this had been available when I was a student, but I’m even more grateful now that I can enjoy music in such a new, deeper way. Check it out! It is hypnotic and so rewarding, guaranteed to take you into a different mindset from when you began.

So again, we’ve made it through another day, but not without hope, and not without passion that makes life worth living. For me, deep diving into art, whether words, sounds, movement, or images, eases the darkness of mind. I pray that you, dear reader, will find for yourself hope and passion, as we go through these days together. Until next time we meet, enjoy music, dive into poetry, and thanks for visiting thetonepoet.com.

Postscript: Film buffs may recognize Beethoven’s same music in the bizarre and beautiful art film, The Lobster. The selection of the second movement of the String Quartet #1 appropriately builds on the mood of heartbreak and longing for love, just like Romeo and Juliet. Enjoy this short clip, where the music inserts added dimension to the absurd setting.