The Fountain - Beauguereau, St. Matthew's Passion - Bach, My Shadow - Robert Louis Stevenson

  

At the Fountain - William Adolphe Beauguereau

The following is a link to a short article on William Beauguereau and his painting.  http://www.goodart.org/artofwb.htm  Again a reminder that caution should be used in researching this artist as many of his works are nudes.

Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew's Passion  as it suggests is based on the story of Jesus' death as recorded by Matthew.  It was written in German but you can click the link below for a translation into English.    I like to print the words to follow in English as I listen to the music. It fittingly has a hauntingly sad sound.
 http://www.choral-society.org/resources/2005_06/St_Matthew_text.pdf
The following link is the beginning of an 8 part version of this work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhPOJ_l4UU8&feature=bf_prev&list=PLC8DFDB137F3B65CC&index=1


My Shadow
BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,

And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.

He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;

I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;

But my lazy little shadow, like an errant sleepy-head,

Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

The Nut Gatherers William Bouguereau,

I'm very sorry for the delay in posting - I spent most of last week visiting my grandbabies and didn't have computer access.  Blessings on your week.  Patti 

 

 I discovered William Bouguereau by when I was browsing through some paintings online and I was immediately drawn to the innocence that he portrays in his paintings of children and young women.  His paintings are very lifelike.  I hope you will enjoy them. (Note:  please be careful in researching this artist - many of his works are female nudes so most sites display these paintings). 

"Each day I go to my studio full of joy; in the evening when obliged to stop because of darkness I can scarcely wait for the morning to come...My work is not only a pleasure, it has become a necessity. No matter how many other things I have in my life, if I cannot give myself to my dear painting I am miserable."                                                            --William Bouguereau

The Nut Gatherers by William Bouguereau

This link has a magnifying lense capability for viewing this painting:

http://www.dia.org/object-info/2d7edad7-ef64-461f-8c1c-ee02475ecb81.aspx

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote Golden Variations.  Wikipedia has this to say about it: "The Goldberg Variations (BWV 988), an aria with thirty variations. The collection has a complex and unconventional structure: the variations build on the bass line of the aria, rather than its melody, and musical canons are interpolated according to a grand plan. There are nine canons within the 30 variations, one placed every three variations between variations 3 and 27. These variations move in order from canon at the unison to canon at the ninth. The first eight are in pairs (unison and octave, second and seventh, third and sixth, fourth and fifth). The ninth canon stands on its own due to compositional dissimilarities."

You can listen to the first few on the following links:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuIp04pnCa0&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvmC7ecYqq8&feature=fvwrel

Another poem this week by Robert Louis Stevenson:

    The Sun Travels
The sun is not a-bed, when I
At night upon my pillow lie;
Still round the earth his way he takes,
And morning after morning makes.
While here at home, in shining day,
We round the sunny garden play,
Each little Indian sleepy-head
Is being kissed and put to bed.
And when at eve I rise from tea,
Day dawns beyond the Atlantic Sea;
And all the children in the west
Are getting up and being dressed.

Thomas Cole - Home in the Woods, Johann Sebastian Bach - Patitas, and Robert Louis Stevenson - The Swing

Thomas Cole has many wonderful and varied paintings but we will end with a quiet scene of a cabin by a lake with a beautiful mountain and sky in the background.

 

In Case you haven't yet taken time to explore the site dedicated to Thomas Cole this would be a good time as this will be our last post of his works at least for now.  This site has many interesting things including biographical information, a virtual tour of his paintings and a video showing his home and the area he loved to paint in the Catskill Mountains.  http://www.explorethomascole.org/ 

Johann Sebastian Bach's Partitas are a set of six keyboard suites.  You can listen to it in three parts on the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHKYnO4YRiQ 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB1KF7FeJow&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmInR-VqqWk
and if you want more technical information written on this music http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitas,_BWV_825-830

A favorite poem of mine by Robert Louis Stevenson from A Child's Garden of Verses is The Swing.  I often quote it to my little ones while I push them on the swing.

                     The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside --

Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown --
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!

Thomas Cole-The Course of Empire: Desolation, Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburg Concerto, and Robert Louis Stevenson - Bed in Summer

Thomas Cole:  The Course of Empire - Desolation

This is the final painting in Thomas Cole's series - The Course of Empire.  It is titled "Desolation".  Note the time of day - the paintings have followed the course of a day beginning with sunrise and now ending with night and the moon rising.  Compare this painting with last weeks and the week before noting details of the changes that have taken place.  In many ways this scene is again peaceful even with the remains of a decaying civilization.  This is the only painting of the five that doesn't have any people in it (at least none that I could see).  You can view the painting below or click on this link to view a copy with zoom capability:  http://www.explorethomascole.org/tour/items/71

I'd like to introduce a new musician this week.

Johann Sebastian Bach is perhaps the best known composer of all time.  For a biographical article of his life click the following link:  http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxjsbach.html  or view Wikipedia's entry on Bach here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach

Today's musical selection is one of his Brandenburg Concerto's.  Read about this musical work here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg_Concertos

and listen to it here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ9qWpa2rIg&feature=related

A Child's Garden of Verses is one of my favorite children's books of poetry.  Robert Louis Stevenson wrote wonderful poetry reflecting a child's view of the world.  Read about him at the following link.  We'll be enjoying some of his poetry over the next few weeks.   http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/life

      Bed in Summer
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?