Programs

                                             Portrait of Hector Berlioz by Pierre Petit
SIX IN THE BOOKS: We officially finished with the lectures and tests for week 6 of our Introduction to Classical Music class. Today was all about  19th Century Program Music.  We learned that program music is an instrumental piece designed to relay a story or evoke a specific idea and atmosphere. An example would be Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons." (The kids listened to Itzhak Perlman and friends play "Spring" while they did math today.)

One of the works we learned about was Hector Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique. I'll let Annabelle tell you more about it.

Today I learned a lot about a symphony by a man named Hector Berlioz that tells the story of a young musician who falls in love with a beautiful woman. The symphony was actually based on Berlioz's crush on a real-life actress named Harriet Smithson. The symphony was five acts with a reaccuring theme of the Idée Fixe, a short musical idea.

Act 1 is called Rêveries – Passions, and this the the act where the musician falls in love. The constant melodic image that haunts him is almost like a double Idée Fixe! The music changes from joy to passion, fury and jealousy, tenderness and even tears, all in one act!

Act 2 is called, appropriately, "Un bal" (a ball), where the musician finds himself at a dance but cannot help but notice his beloved across the room. This act has the music of a waltz with beautiful sights. However, the Idée Fixe and the musician's thoughts disrupt this waltz at least 2 times during the act.

Act 3, "Scène aux champs" (Scene in the Fields), takes place in the countryside, where the young musician listens to a pair of shepherds playing their Ranz Des Vaches, which is a musical duet of sorts: the two shepherds take turns in playing the song. After a while, one shepherd plays a final note as the other does not respond. This leaves the musician in silence and sadness.

Act 4 is where the symphony takes a rather dark turn. The musician believes his love is unappreciated, and he poisons himself with opium. While the opium is not enough to kill him, it sends him into a coma-like sleep, where he dreams he is being executed. The music also features one last bit of the Idée Fixe before a loud crash is heard as his head is chopped off.

After our protagonist dying, you would not expect there to be more. But act 5 is the musician's dream continuing as he descends into hell! The act is titled "Songe d'une nuit du sabbat" (Dream of the Night of the Sabbath). The music descends until he reaches the bottom of hell, where he sees his former love, but in a grotesque form with a uglier riff of the Idée Fixe playing. He even comes across a Witches' Sabbath, where many witches are dancing in a circle cheering and celebrating his arrival.

Overall, the symphony tells an amazing story, without any lyrics! The music is dramatic and fits whatever is happening according to the program. Our Coursera professor even noted that Berlioz and Harriet even got married and lived miserably ever after in real life.

IN REVIEW:  The Oscars are on Sunday, and we're playing catch up, trying to check out some of the nominees before the awards are announced.

Last night, we screened "The Theory of Everything."  I'll let CJ tell you a little bit about it.

"The Theory of Everything" is a documentary about the life of Stephen Hawking, a British theoretical physicist who seeks to learn the "Theory of Everything," a hypothetical idea or equation that could answer everything in the universe. The film begins in 1963, when Stephen Hawking meets a woman named Jane Wilde at a party, and tells her about how he seeks to find out "The Theory of Everything."

Unfortunately, after a while, Stephen's muscles start to become difficult to control and it becomes hard to do something such as hold a pen for an extended period of time. At one point, he falls and is brought to the hospital, where he is told that he has Lou Gehrig's disease, which will make it very difficult, if not impossible, to do things such as walking, and has approximately 2 years to live. Stephen marries Jane Wilde, and several years later, they have a baby.

Eventually, Stephen, not wanting to, has to get inside a wheelchair that was bought for him. Following that, however, Stephen gives a lecture with his professor about the nature of black holes and what came to be known as "Hawking Radiation"

I am not covering the entire story here, but I would seriously recommend watching "The Theory of Everything."

His review is a bit truncated, but I agree with his recommendation. "The Theory of Everything" is worth checking out.

Annabelle felt compelled to make a pony version of Stephen Hawking. I think it's rather adorable.

MOVING IN:  This afternoon, the kids and I finally checked out where they'll be taking classes a couple of days a week. It's on the north side of Queen Anne hill, less than 10 minutes from us, which is super convenient. 

We ended up spending nearly 3 hours there, helping Annabelle's art teacher. We covered some large bulletin boards in the hallway and did an art installation of about three dozen bird-themed pieces.  Inside the room, we hung a posters featuring famous artists and info about the elements of art. The kids are looking forward to starting classes there next week.