Marine Biology inspiring Classical Music

The January 1979 issue of the "National Geographic" magazine, contained an unique surprise. The page 24A & 24B bound into the magazine was a flexible plastic (vinyl?) 7 inch  record, 33 rpm Stereo entitled "Songs of the Humpback Whale." It contained live recordings of the sound of the animal. It could be detached from the magazine &  played on an ordinary record player. It had also an explanatory commentary by Roger Payne, Ph.D. Research Biologist, New York Zoological Society.

This recording inspired the American Composer, George Henry Crumb (1929-92) to compose a work called "Vox Balaenae" (Voice of the Whale) for three masked players playing electric flute, electric cello & electric piano. The composer advised that each of the three players wear a black half-mask throughout the performance of the work. The masks, by effacing a sense of human projection, will symbolise the powerful impersonal forces of nature. It is hard to imagine that only flute, piano & cello (all electronically enhanced) are capable of producing the sounds of this piece. (From "Chamber Music - A Listener's Guide" by James M.Keller, Oxford University Press, 2011).

Sri Ramakrishna, Christianity & Islam

Sri Ramakrishna was a 19th century saint who was one of the first to preach the essential validity of all religions. Apart from cleansing Hindu society of his time, especially in Bengal, of many regrettable practices, he was one of the first to practice the spiritual disciplines of Christianity & Islam till he attained their respective goals. These are given in considerable detail in his spiritual biography, "Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master."

The obvious question arises as to why Sri Ramakrishna practiced the spiritual disciplines of those religions. In addition to proving that the highest goals of those religions were similar to those of Hinduism, he might also have provided first hand validity to those practices.  Then one would wonder whether any saints of those religions had also practised the spiritual disciplines of those religions & recorded their mystic experiences. The answer is yes, they did.

One of the first female saints was Hildegard of Bingen (11th Century), who was a mystic & polyglot to boot. Her vision of the "Cosmic Egg" as a symbol of the Cosmos, is strikingly similar to the "Hiranyagarbha" of the Rig Veda. Another was Julian of Norwich (14th century) who famously prayed for & obtained the priceless boon of experiencing the exquisite physical pain of Christ's crucifixion in her own mortal body. The Spanish St.Teresa of Avila (16th century), author of the revelatory "The Interior Castle", with its metaphorical seven mansions of God (similar to the eight chakras of Hinduism) was a visionary mystic, who was exploring her spirituality with her sister nuns, when her male counterparts were persecuting heretics in the notorious Spanish Inquisition.

The 8th century Sufi saint, Rabia of Basra, whose birth & influence was foretold by the Prophet himself (in a dream to her father), famously prayed for the pain of hell & exclusion from paradise in return for the love of Allah.

In conclusion, when we revere Sri Ramakrishna, we can also bow in reverence to the earlier mystics in Christianity & Islam, in addition to countless Hindu saints, who preceded him.

Who directed the Ben Hur Chariot race scene?

No, it was not William Wyler, the credited director of the film. The most famous scene by which the film is remembered was shot by Andrew Marton & Yakima Canutt, the second unit directors.

Any large project, including films, is divided into various UNITS, whose work can go on independently of each other, so as to save TIME. This is known in management parlance as the "Critical Path Method."

The CPM is an algorithm for planning a set of activities, so as to identify the longest stretch of DEPENDENT activities & measuring their duration. It is used in conjunction with PERT, (Programme Evaluation & Review Technique), another management tool.

These are used to get the project done in the shortest time, as time is money. This can be illustrated by another film "Cleopatra", which despite being the highest grossing film of its time, did not recoup its cost for a long time, because too much time was wasted during its making.

To end on a lighter note, when Barbara Streisand was approached for "Funny Girl", she asked who would direct. When told it was Wyler, she reportedly said "Oh, the Chariot guy! What does he know about girls?"

"Nannerl" Mozart & Fanny Mendelssohn

These were the talented sisters (both four years older!) of their famous younger brothers.

A film named "Mozart's Sister" (2010, French) has been made on her life. Her father did not favour either her composing or becoming a professional musician, even though she played the harpsichord & violin as well as her brother & could also sing. According to the film, the Dauphin (Crown Prince) of France, fell in love both with her music & herself but had to marry another for reasons of State. She later married a twice-widowed magistrate with 5 children (Shades of "The Sound of Music!") at the age of 32. After his passing away, she lived until the age of 78, blind & tired, though not in want.

Fanny, as talented as Felix Mendelssohn, was also discouraged by her father to be a professional. After her marriage, when she wanted to publish her compositions, her husband did not object, but Felix did! She obeyed her younger brother! But when she died of a stroke at the age of 38, Felix was shattered. But he recovered enough to compose a string quartet in Fanny's memory, visited her grave & died himself within six months of Fanny's death. Her great-great-great granddaughter, Sheila Hayman, has made & released a feature length documentary on her illustrious ancestor in late 2023.

Most Joyous Composers in Western Music

Probably the first composer to introduce the String Quartet & the Symphony into the Western repertoire, Josef ("Papa") Haydn was also pre-eminent in producing joyous music.

One of his humorous passages occur in his Symphony No.94 in G Major, nicknamed the "Surprise" Symphony. The surprise occurs in the otherwise peaceful second movement andante being interrupted by a fortissimo chord, after which the placid movement continues.

One of the most Joyous pieces is also the Vivace assai Finale of his Symphony No.96 in D Major. This piece supposedly so excited the audience that they left their seats & rushed towards the stage, applauding. At this stage, a chandelier crashed down on the vacated seats! So this symphony was nicknamed "The Miracle"!

The other composer to compose joyous music was Felix Mendelssohn. His very first Symphony in C Minor, Op.11, composed when he was fifteen, is full of unbridled youthful high spirits. In addition, as Julius Harrison writes, "Mendelssohn had already indicated how neat, even fastidious, and colourful each detail must be in its expression, to say nothing of the balance between the instruments necessary to ensure a proper distribution of sounds in the bigger passages."

His fourth in A Major, Op.90, nicknamed the "Italian" has one of the most dramatic openings in symphonic literature. "Happy in its outlook, pictorial in ideas & orchestration, it is one of the symphonies to which one returns to find enjoyment in every note" concludes Julius Harrison.

Education, Employment & Earning

The difference between animals & humans is the latter's curiosity about the world. This curiosity, being recognised as an essential human characteristic, led to the organising of Education. After acquiring education, it was utilised to obtain gainful employment,  generating Earning for livelihood. This classical progression seems to be given the go-by in recent times.

Instead of the first step in this chain, namely curiosity, leading to Education (or knowledge) has almost disappeared as the primary human motivation, being replaced by Earning (or Wealth) as the primary human goal, followed closely by Status (as a means of feeding the Ego) as the be-all & end-all of human existence. Employment is also not because of interest in the work, but to earn optimum money, whether ethically or not.

Because of this mindset, even religion & culture, being the other two uniquely human attributes, are also sought after, only if they provide wealth or fame (another facet of Status). Praying to God is also for the latter two objectives. Cultural activities are also tolerated only if they produce Wealth or Fame. Same goes for Sports also. Instead of playing for "Joie de Vivre", as they are meant to be, the same old goals of Wealth & Fame are the dreams at the end of the rainbow.

Worse, those engaged in the pursuit of knowledge, culture, sports or spirituality for their own ends, are deemed a laughing stock by quite a large majority of unenlightened population. Even the great Dr. Samuel Johnson reportedly said "Only a blockhead ever wrote except for money!". If this trend of the only human interests being wealth & status continues, can the mental regression of humans into sub-humans be far behind?