Day 195 of 365
I am finally working a little less. I had some projects wrap up, and a course I was teaching ended last week. I had so many things planned to get done this weekend. I have two quilts I need to make (one is a baby gift, and the other is an order from our Farmer-ish shop). I did not cut a single quilt square. Instead, I slept–a lot. And I played chess with my son. And, today, I went to the symphony.
It was magical and so good for my soul. We are fortunate to have such a lovely professional orchestra so close to where we live in rural Maine. We go to the symphony every time we can, and I look forward to each performance with a lot of anticipation. The music heals my body and my soul.
I had read this quote before by Victor Hugo: Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
I never fully understood this quote the way I do now. Today, we listened to three composers, one of which was Clara Schumann. If you don’t know her, she was a famous pianist and composer, who was very well known at a young age and certainly a genius. She married Robert Schumann (also a composer) and had a lot of children and then wrote in her journal that she didn’t feel she could compose anymore. This was just heartbreaking to me. I mean, she was obviously, much more than this, but this what stands out to be based on what I know about her so far. I need to know more. I want to find a good biography.
Tonight, I heard a piano concerto she wrote when she was just 14 years old, and it was magnificent. But there was one part in particular that was simply magic. There is a part in the third movement (I think it was the third) where there is a duet between the piano and the cello. The rest of the orchestra goes silent, and it’s just the piano and the principal cellist–and it was one of the most beautiful moments in music I have ever heard. I had tears. My grumpy teenage son had tears. And, somehow, knowing the story of Clara Schumann made the moment all the more poignant.
So, yeah, it was great to not get very much done this weekend, though I did clean the chicken coop, but if it’s not too hot outside, I actually like cleaning the chicken coop. I like make their little house nice and clean. It’s one of the things that brings me joy.
photo credit: Dominik Scythe, Unsplash
Farmer-ish 