Recalling An Unexpected Promise in Beauty
An occurrence when I visited the Musee d’ Orsay in Paris, France comes to mind. As I walked toward the sculpture, I was stunned into silence and awe. The mesmerizing scene of the dread-locked, Nubian warrior with spear drawn and eyes of fury attacking th hungry croc skulking in menace toward two lovely women with babies clutched in fear as they appeared those been innocently washing garments at a lonely, watered shore. I was stunned by the beauty, the danger, the bravery and menace reprehended in the enormous sculptor in white, “Les Nubians” by Ernest Barrias. The tears came unexpectedly as may jarred emotions reacted to the towering beauty. The Paris trip, won on a radio station contest was before cell phones and I had taken by last shot with my Kodak camera and Gene, my partner at the time was wandering somerwhere else in the amazing museum. I took no pictures of the unforgettable scene; however, through the Internet, I can relive the experience forever etched in my aging memory.
Les Nubians by Ernest Barrias
Another Unexpected Promise in Beauty
Another promise revealed itself in sudden, unexpected tears as I sat in an airport waiting area before COVID, when travelers could still casually pick up magazines to browse. I opened an issue of Life magazine and found full-page photographs of Fallingwater, the southwestern Pennsylvania house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
The sheer loveliness of the home—its design, its placement, and its harmony with the surrounding landscape stunned my imagination and awakened my emotions as tears filled my eyes as I took in the beauty of what Wright had created.
Fallingwater, Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright
Those photographs sparked a lasting interest in the great architect. Whenever the Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue film A Summer Place appears on television, I watch it again, drawn by the chance to marvel at another Wright-designed home, this one located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
Home in Carmel by the Sea, Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright
The Promise in Music
Something soaring stirred the first time I heard Pavarotti sing “Nessun Dorma.” Not previously being exposed to opera, I first caught a brief musical snippet at the end of The Mirror Has Two Faces, the Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges film. I sat through the credits to find the information I needed and then searched for the haunting music. As I listened to the Italian-language aria on my computer, I felt my heart swell in response to its soaring beauty. Tears came with a smile; without understanding the words. That is the power music can have. Marvin Gaye’s Got to give It Up can force a tired me out of the bed to dance, and Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma can bring tears to my eyes and swell my heart to bursting. It’s the music.
The Promise of Music in a Foreign Country
While visiting Rio de Janeiro my friend Maxie and I went to an auditorium event where food was served and during intermission, a deejay played music. Of course, most of his music was in lovely Portuguese. However, when he played Stevie Wonder’s I Just Called to Say I love You, everyone in the room joined in to sing along. There were smiles and much laughter and a true feeling of community as the crowd smilingly turned to each other to sing the lyrics. It was a beautiful moment.
“I just called to say I love youI just called to say how much I careI just called to say I love youAnd I mean it from the bottom of my heart”
In my humble opinion, music can/will/may save the world’s differences and misunderstandings.