Juscheld, Quixote: Metastructure or Vision

Frontispiece_to_Frankenstein_1831 (Commons)

In this article I describe Juscheld’s view of the artistic work as visionary structure, particularly in the way an author’s stance and experience of the world structures his or her emotional life, which in turn shapes his or her work. I propose the term “metastructure” as a an approximate, mid-way concept of what the composer… Continue reading Juscheld, Quixote: Metastructure or Vision

Secular vs. Sacred, Popular vs. Cultist

The seven churches viewed from the balcony of the Estonian National Library in Tallinn (Estonia)

The line between secular and sacred, popular and cultist (at times called classical) in music are diffuse the best of times. Certainly those who take this creative skill seriously, who may have the talent or enjoy the luxury to dedicate their lives to it, know better: none of us I guess would speak of inspiration… Continue reading Secular vs. Sacred, Popular vs. Cultist

Apocalypse as Limit of Signification

Bamberg Apocalypse - Dragon Pursuing Woman In Wilderness (Commons)

The Apocalypse is the limit of signification. For the western mind there can be no beyond it, no possible emotional commitment can be found in anything but the twin Janus faces of the apocalypse: revelation or destruction; the one looking ahead, the other drowning all possible futures in the abyss. Ours is a culture that… Continue reading Apocalypse as Limit of Signification

Happy 200th Birthday Socialist Richard Wagner

Caricature of Wagner by Karl Clic in the Viennese satirical magazine, Humoristische Blätter (1873).

An Introductory Note As I edit this article, in a world where the socialism that Richard Wagner fought for may have achieved gigantic global proportions, and perhaps should deserve a name more fitting to its real nature (since humanity seems now to be the enemy), I wonder what the revolutionary, some say “terrorist” genius that… Continue reading Happy 200th Birthday Socialist Richard Wagner

Routine is not Revelatory – Destruction in the Book of Revelation

The usual associations of the Book of Revelation with plague and destruction can hardly be called a mystery and less of all a revelation. The exploits of the dragon and the beast are sadly commonplace and a daily occurrence there to be seen for those who care to look: either the beast behaves like men… Continue reading Routine is not Revelatory – Destruction in the Book of Revelation

The missing heroine: Revelation 12

Bamberg Apocalypse Folio031v Dragon Pursuing Woman In Wilderness

Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? (Ecclesiastes 3:21) If the Book of Revelation is not a tragic piece it is because the main character is missing. No matter how hard we attempt to convince ourselves that the protagonist is humanity… Continue reading The missing heroine: Revelation 12