Spinozablue: An Eclectic Journal of the Arts

Posted on: June 7, 2009

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The web­site Flor del Concreto passes along an event reminder. Books New Jersey is hold­ing a spe­cial lit­er­ary gath­er­ing on June 14th. From their blurb:

 

Save the Date!

Sunday, June 14th
1pm  —  5pm

Rain or Shine!

@ Paramus Public Library
116 East Century Road
Paramus, NJ 07652

Welcome…

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Posted on: June 5, 2009

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Original Poster for Lakmé. Leo Delibes, 1881  –  1882

Flower Duet, from Lakmé.

Natalie Dessay and Delphine Haidan, vocals. 2002

Léo Delibes would prob­a­bly be shocked to see and hear his opera, Lakmé, espe­cially the Flower Duet sec­tion, linked with every­thing from Ghirardelli choco­lates to the movie True Romance. Because of that spe­cial duet between Lakmé and her ser­vant, Mallika, because of its extreme sweet­est, exoti­cism, ripeness and flu­id­ity, it has been paired with great vio­lence as well as won­der­ful food. Study in con­trasts. Study in oppo­sites. It is almost too much of a temp­ta­tion to have that roman­tic, lush, beau­ti­ful melody play­ing under­neath an onslaught of may­hem and oblit­er­a­tion. If I were a direc­tor, I think I might be tempted as well.

But I think Delibes would not like the overuse of that bril­liant sec­tion of his opera, I’m guess­ing. He would enjoy its pop­u­lar­ity, but not its near omnipresence.…

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Posted on: June 2, 2009

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Beata Beatrix. By Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 1870. The Tate, London

Authentic syn­chronic­ity appeals to me greatly. Not forced. Not con­trived. Just lined up like a com­posed fluke of sorts. Well, not a fluke. Like des­tiny. Like it had to be. Just so. Just like it ended up being. Inevitable. As William Barrett said, the best art is inevitable.

Dante Rossetti paints Dante’s Beatrice in honor of his own lost love, Elizabeth Siddal. The elder Dante wrote Vita Nuova to honor and recre­ate his lost love, Beatrice. Dante Rossetti based the paint­ing above on that depic­tion. Beatrice and Elizabeth. Love after love. Death walks with us and alters us in pro­found ways. The cre­ation of art, like the cre­ation of life, is given its pro­fun­dity  —  when it earns it  —  because of death, because of its tem­po­rary nature. Beginning and end without end.

Why Dante today, you ask? Well, it just so hap­pens that we have a new prose poem by George Spencer that deals with Dante’s peo­ple in a very inter­est­ing way.…

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