MUSIC SATURDAY - FOR PARIS

“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.” - Francis of Assisi

On the evening of 13 November 2015, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks occurred in Paris and its northern suburb of Saint-Denis. The attacks consisted of mass shootings, suicide bombings, bombings, and hostage taking. Beginning at 21:16 CET, three separate explosions and six mass shootings occurred, including bombings near the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

The deadliest attack was at the Bataclan theatre, where attackers took hostages and engaged in a standoff with police until it was ended at 00:58 14 November CET. At least 129 people were killed, 89 of them at the Bataclan theatre. 352 people were injured by the attacks, including 99 people described as being in a serious condition. In addition to the civilian casualties, eight attackers were killed and authorities continued to search for any accomplices that remained at large.

In a televised statement at 23:58 CET, French President François Hollande announced a state of emergency, the first state of emergency since the 2005 riots, and subsequently placed temporary controls on the country’s borders. According to some English-language sources, the first citywide curfew in Paris since 1944 was also put in place.

On 14 November, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks. According to The Wall Street Journal, the attacks were motivated by ISIL as “retaliation” for the French role in the Syrian Civil War and Iraqi Civil War. Hollande also said the attacks were organised from abroad “by Daesh”, the Arabic acronym for ISIL, “with internal help”, and described them as “an act of war”.

The attacks were the deadliest to occur in France since the Second World War and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004. The attacks came just a day after an ISIL terrorist attack in Lebanon that killed 43 people and the killing of ISIL member “Jihadi John”; and 14 days after the crash of the Russian-chartered Metrojet Flight 9268, which killed 217 passengers and seven crew members, and for which ISIL’s Sinai branch claimed responsibility. Prior to the attack, France had been on high alert since the January 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 17 people, including civilians and police officers.

I cannot fathom the depth of the hate that has caused these attacks, nor am I naïve enough to believe that religious causes are at the bottom of it. Islam is a religion that has peace and submission to God as its cornerstone and tolerance towards other people is something that the Qur’an espouses:
“We have appointed a law and a practice for every one of you. Had God willed, He would have made you a single community, but He wanted to test you regarding what has come to you. So compete with each other in doing good. Every one of you will return to God and He will inform you regarding the things about which you differed.” (Surat al-Ma’ida, 48, the Holy Qur’an

Numerous families in France have been plunged into the blackest of despair and mourn loved ones. All people of all faiths around the world who love peace, freedom, equality and fraternity sympathise with the victims and their families. This tribute is especially for them.

Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem Op.48 with Paavo Jarvi, Orchestre de Paris, Chen Reiss, Matthias Coerne.

FOOD FRIDAY - CHERRY ETON MESS

“In Japan, the cherry blossom represents the fragility and the beauty of life. It’s a reminder that life is almost overwhelmingly beautiful but that it is also tragically short.” - Homaro Cantu

We are enjoying cherry season at the moment in Melbourne and as well having these delightful fruits fresh, there are a multitude of ways to enjoy cooking with them. Here is a favourite recipe of ours for Spring, before the cherries are all too soon over (but yes, I suppose you can substitute canned cherries for fresh if there are none available...).

Cherry Eton Mess

Ingredients

350 mL thickened cream

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

150 g petite vanilla meringues, roughly chopped (or you can use meringue nests, crushed)

2 cups pitted cherries, halved

1 tbsp maraschino liqueur

1/2 cup hot water

Method

In a small saucepan combine the sugar and hot water over low heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to medium and simmer without stirring for five minutes or until the syrup thickens. Add the cherries and vanilla extract. Increase the heat to high and simmer for one to two minutes and remove from the heat and add a tbsp. of maraschino liqueur. Allow to cool completely.

Beat the cold cream with a tbsp of sugar until it thickens and stiff peaks form. Do not over-beat as it will curdle. Put in the refrigerator.

Cherry Eton mess should be made up just before serving. When ready to serve, mix together the cream and the chopped meringues. Very gently fold through the cherry syrup mixture (don't totally combine) and heap into serving glasses. Top with a decorative meringue and fresh cherry if desired. Serve the cherry Eton mess immediately.

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BORODIN'S CACTUS

“People trample over flowers, yet only to embrace a cactus.” - James Joyce

Today, it is the St Martin I, the Pope’s Feast Day for Roman Catholics and St John the Merciful’s Feast Day for the Greek Orthodox faithful.
In Taiwan, Dr Sun Yat-sen’s Birthday is celebrated.

Today is also the anniversary of the birth of:
Baha’ Ullah, founder of Baha’i faith (1817);
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin, Russian composer (1833);
Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (1840);
Sun Yat Sen, Chinese statesman (1866);
Kim Hunter, actor (1922);
Grace Kelly, US actress/princess (1928);
Stephanie Powers, actress (1942);
Neil Young, musician (1945);
Nadia Comaneci, gymnast (1961).

The red crown cactus, Rebutia minuscula, is the plant for today’s birthdays.  It is a native of South Bolivia and North Argentina and produces masses of red blooms, often forming a complete ring around the base of the plant.  The plant symbolises warmth and desire.  In the language of flowers, it conveys the meaning: “I desire you”.

Alexander Porfirevich Borodin (1833-1887) was a Russian chemist who turned composer and whose musical works were largely based on Russian folk themes.  He wrote three symphonies, the third unfinished; two string quartets and two operas, Prince Igor, the most famous, finished after his death by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov.  He also published several scientific papers on organic chemistry!  The Polovtsian Dances from the opera Prince Igor are one of my favourite compositions of his.

POETS UNITED - RIVER

“Summer is a promissory note signed in June, its long days spent and gone before you know it, and due to be repaid next January.” - Hal Borland

Poets United this week is all about rivers. And poets have been waxing lyrical about these ever flowing watercourses since ancient times. Here is my contribution, as Summer approaches us Downunder!


By the River

At last, the warming rays have bleached the day

And skies are blue, with wisps of summer cloud;

The gentle breeze makes leaves dance and play,

While dragonflies dart about the blossoms proud.

The river slowly flows and water sparkles, shines

The crowds loll about the grassy shores, with laughter

Toasting, drinking, picnicking, beneath the shady pines;

Relaxing, dozing, counting dreams for a long time after.

The day is perfect: Warm, lazy tender, balmy, sweet

Our time of rest inviting idleness, persiflage, banter.

Enjoy this gem of a day, take it as given, a rarest treat;

Our summer’s over soon, gone as horses in a crazy canter.

REMEMBRANCE DAY 2015

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” - Winston Churchill

On the 11th day of the 11th month at 11:00 o’clock in the morning, Australians will pay tribute to the men and women who served our country during wartime. This is our Remembrance Day, originally called Armistice Day, to commemorate the end of the hostilities for the Great War (World War I), the signing of the armistice, which occurred on 11 November 1918 - the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Armistice Day was observed by the Allies as a way of remembering those who died, especially soldiers with ‘no known grave’. On the first anniversary of the armistice, in 1919, one minute’s silence was instituted as part of the main commemorative ceremony. In London, in 1920, the commemoration was given added significance with the return of the remains of an unknown soldier from the battlefields of the Western Front.

The Flanders poppy became accepted throughout the allied nations as the flower of remembrance to be worn on Armistice Day. The red poppies were among the first plants that sprouted from the devastation of the battlefields of northern France and Belgium. Soldiers' folklore had it that the poppies were vivid red from having been nurtured in ground drenched with the blood of their comrades.

After the end of World War II in 1945, the Australian and British governments changed the name of Armistice Day to ‘Remembrance Day’ as an appropriate title for a day which would commemorate all war dead. In October 1997, then Governor-General of Australia, Sir William Deane, issued a proclamation declaring 11 November as Remembrance Day and urging Australians to observe one minute’s silence at 11.00 am on Remembrance Day each year to remember the sacrifice of those who died or otherwise suffered in Australia’s cause in wars and war-like conflicts.

In 1993, to mark the 75th anniversary of the 1918 armistice, the Australian Government exhumed the remains of an unknown Australian soldier from the Western Front for entombment at the Australian War Memorial’s Hall of Memory, Canberra. As Australia’s Unknown Soldier was laid to rest, World War I veteran Robert Comb, who had served in battles on the Western Front, sprinkled soil from Pozières, France, over the coffin and said, “Now you’re home, mate”.

Lest we forget…

MOVIE MONDAY - THE THIRD MAN

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” - Sun Tzu

“The Third Man” is a 1949 British-American film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles and Trevor Howard. It is considered one of the greatest films of all time, celebrated for its acting, musical score and atmospheric cinematography. Novelist Graham Greene wrote the screenplay and subsequently published the novella of the same name (originally written as preparation for the screenplay). Anton Karas wrote and performed the score, which used only the zither; its title music “The Third Man Theme” topped the international music charts in 1950, bringing the then-unknown performer international fame.

We watched this classic film again last weekend and yet again we were impressed by its merits, making it a film far ahead of its time. The black and white cinematography by Robert Krasker is superb and contributes greatly to the artistic merit of the film. The acting is wonderful, the music perfectly suits the locale, mood and plot, and the direction is great.

Graham Greene’s screenplay concerns an out of work pulp fiction novelist, Holly Martins (Cotten), who arrives in a post war Vienna divided into sectors by the victorious allies, and where a shortage of supplies has lead to a flourishing black market. He arrives at the invitation of an ex-school friend, Harry Lime (Welles), who has offered him a job, only to discover that Lime has recently died in a peculiar traffic accident. From talking to Lime’s friends and associates Martins soon notices that some of the stories are inconsistent, and determines to discover what really happened to Harry Lime.

One of the values of this film, viewed several decades since it was made is as a historical document and a social commentary of post-WWII Europe. The film was set in its own time when made, of course, but now we view it as a piece of history. Viewed superficially, “The Third Man” is a all about betrayal and corruption in a post-war, occupied Vienna; on the other hand, it is giving the audience a glimpse of the mood of Europe after the great war. The uncertainty that the Cold War was to generate is found throughout the film: Holly Martins is constantly trying to figure out whom to trust. Vienna is on the frontier of the new communist bloc. The shadow-filled images of a bombed Vienna are stark, mysterious and create a sense of anxiety and melancholy.

When the film was released in Britain and America, it received overwhelmingly positive reviews. Time magazine said that the film was “crammed with cinematic plums that would do the early Hitchcock proud—ingenious twists and turns of plot, subtle detail, full-bodied bit characters, atmospheric backgrounds that become an intrinsic part of the story, a deft commingling of the sinister with the ludicrous, the casual with the bizarre.” Critics today have hailed the film as a masterpiece. Roger Ebert added the film to his “Great Movies” list and wrote, “Of all the movies that I have seen, this one most completely embodies the romance of going to the movies.”

If you haven't seen this film, where have you been? It is a “must-see” movie for lovers of film noir and a wonderful movie for everyone who likes a meaty, well-made film that doesn’t underestimate the intelligence of the viewer.

ART SUNDAY - GUSTAVE MOREAU

“Anyone who hasn’t experienced the ecstasy of betrayal knows nothing about ecstasy at all.” - Jean Genet

Gustave Moreau, (born April 6, 1826, Paris, France—died April 18, 1898, Paris) was a French Symbolist painter known for his erotic paintings of mythological and religious subjects. The only influence that really affected Moreau’s development was that of his master, Théodore Chassériau (1819–56), an eclectic painter whose depictions of enigmatic sea goddesses deeply impressed his student.

In the Salon of 1853 he exhibited Scene from the Song of Songs and the Death of Darius, both conspicuously under the influence of Chassériau. Moreau’s Oedipus and the Sphinx (1864) and his The Apparition (Dance of Salome - ca 1876) and Dance of Salome (ca 1876) show his work becoming increasingly concerned with exotic eroticism and violence, and his richly crowded canvases made greater use of dramatic lighting to heighten his brilliant, jewel-like colours.

His last work, Jupiter and Sémélé (1896), is the culmination of such tendencies. Moreau’s art has often been described as decadent. He made a number of technical experiments, including scraping his canvases; and his nonfigurative paintings, done in a loose manner with thick impasto, have led him to be called a herald of Abstract Expressionism.

Moreau succeeded Elie Delaunay as professor at the École des Beaux-Arts, and his teaching was highly popular. He was a very influential teacher of some of the artists of the Fauve movement, including Matisse and Rouault. At his death, Moreau left to the state his house and about 8,000 works, which now form the Musée Gustave Moreau in Paris.

Above is his Samson and Delilah of 1882. A watercolour in the Musée Gustave Moreau, Paris, France. The story of Samson in Judges 13-16 portrays a man who was given great strength by God but who ultimately loses his strength when Delilah allows the Philistines to shave his hair during his slumber (Judges 16:19). Delilah, meaning “[She who] weakened”,  is one of several dangerous temptresses in the Hebrew Bible, and has become emblematic as the femme fatal who is the cause of the downfall of a strong man.

MUSIC SATURDAY - A MASS BY ZELENKA

“Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.” - Pablo Casals

Jan Lukas Zelenka (later Jan Dismas Zelenka) was born in Loudovice, Bohemia in 1679 and was the son of an organist. He was educated at the Prague Jesuit College, with which he continued to remain in contact throughout his life. He moved to Dresden around 1710, where he became principal double-bass player of the Dresden Court Orchestra. Apart from a period of study in Vienna and periodic returns to Prague, and possibly a journey to Italy, Zelenka remained in Dresden for the rest of his life.

In 1697, the King-Elector Augustus the Strong of Saxony had assumed the Polish crown, a step that obliged him to adopt the Roman Catholic faith even though Saxony was predominantly Lutheran. Thus, the Royal Court at Dresden maintained two religious “faces”, on the one hand honouring strictly Lutheran Bach with the title of Royal Court Composer, and on the other hand bestowing on Zelenka the title of Court Composer of Church Music for his numerous sacred works composed for the Dresden Catholic Church.

Among Zelenka’s compositions there are numerous sacred works, including some 21 masses, psalms, and three oratorios with biblical subjects (totalling some 150 works in all) side by side with secular instrumental compositions reflecting his role in the Court Orchestra, of which he became conductor for five seasons.

Zelenka spent about two years in Vienna, where he studied counterpoint under Johann Josef Fux. He most probably composed four of his five Capriccios there (the final one being composed in 1729). During the Vienna years, no doubt under the influence of Fux, he gathered a sizable study collection of works by various composers written in strict contrapuntal style, which still survives in the Saxon State Library.

In 1719 Zelenka returned to Dresden, once again taking up his position in the Court Orchestra and resuming his sacred compositions. He continued with his inventory of contrapuntal works, fortunately including his own compositions, which has been a blessing to musicologists studying his output. 1723 was a particularly significant year for Zelenka. In this year the coronation took place in Prague of the Emperor Charles VI, an occasion for which the Jesuits had commissioned Zelenka to compose suitably festive music. Monarchs and princes from all the surrounding territories converged on Prague for the occasion, bringing their retinues and orchestras with them.

Zelenka conducted his own composition (Sub olea pacis; ZWV 175), the solo parts being sung by Czech noblemen. It was a glittering occasion, perhaps the high point of Zelenka’s career. He also composed four of his 10 instrumental works in 1723. Thereafter, Zelenka’s life in Dresden continued uneventfully, with further sacred compositions, some commissions from Bohemian noblemen, and no doubt some (undocumented) occasional visits to Prague.

He gradually took over the duties of the ailing court Capellmeister Heinichen (1683-1729), but he was not awarded this title after Heinichen's death. Instead, he received the royal title of Church Music Composer during the 1730s and was never well paid at Court. Bach, based in nearby Leipzig, was also awarded a similar Court Title at this time. A well-known and greatly respected visitor to Dresden, Bach was undoubtedly on familiar terms with all the musicians and musical personalities of Dresden, including Zelenka. Bach would often take his son Wilhelm Friedemann with him on his visits to Dresden; Bach in fact instructed his son to copy one of Zelenka’s works – the Amen from his third Magnificat (ZWV 108) – for use in Leipzig at St Thomas’s.

Zelenka’s music is always fresh and creative. His instrumental works often surprise the listener with sudden turns of harmony, and performers are often challenged by the demanding instrumentation. His choral works bear no relationship to those of Bach – indeed the two composers were writing for different religious traditions and idioms. Zelenka’s choral works are difficult to place in time; in his eclectic mix of drama, counterpoint, and depth of feeling one could almost be listening to a Schubert Mass. Here again, as in his instrumental works, listeners should expect the unexpected. The seven masses Zelenka wrote in his last 12 years (ZWV 16–21), at the age of 54–66, are generally regarded as some of his finest works. They may even have been the inspiration behind Bach’s drive to create a full-length Catholic mass (the B-minor mass) during his own final years.

Zelenka died in Dresden, of dropsy, on December 23, 1745. A few of his works have been lost over the years, but miraculously most of his autograph scores still remain intact in Dresden (with some score copies located elsewhere). It was only during the second half of the 1900s that Zelenka was truly “discovered”, and unlike many lesser treasures of the baroque (that might just as well have been left undiscovered), Zelenka’s music undoubtedly rewards further exploration. It would be true to say that his compositional output, both instrumental and sacred, has put a fresh face on baroque music.

Here is his ‘Missa Omnium Sanctorum’ (ZWV 21), performed by Collegium 1704 at the Festival Oude Muziek 25 August 2012, Domkerk Utrecht, Netherlands.

Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745)

Missa Omnium Sanctorum ZWV 21

Kyrie; Gloria; Credo; Sanctus; Agnus Dei.

FOOD FRIDAY - APPLE CAKE

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” - Martin Luther

We had some apples languishing in the fridge this week and they had “apple cake” written all over them. The following recipe was given to us by an acquaintance we made when we visited Alsace many years ago. I remember it was rather amusing when we started discussing the origin of the recipe and there was no final decision made whether it was French or German...

Apple Cake
Ingredients
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brandy
2 sweet apples (Fuji or Golden Delicious), peeled, cored and cut into 1 cm cubes 
Icing sugar for sprinkling on cake (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spray a 25 cm spring-form cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Sift the flour and baking powder.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and brandy. Don’t worry if the batter looks grainy. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chopped apples.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle evenly with an extra 1 tablespoon of sugar.
Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake is lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool until just warm. Run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake and remove the sides of the spring-form pan. Using a fine sieve, dust with icing sugar (if desired).
Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

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GOETHE'S BELOVED...

“Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.” 
- St. Augustine

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born on August 28, 1749, in Frankfurt am Main in Germany and died on March 22, 1832, in Weimar. He was a German poet, novelist, playwright, and natural philosopher, the greatest figure of the German Romantic period and of German literature as a whole. Goethe was perhaps the last European to attempt the mastery and many-sidedness of the great Renaissance personalities: Critic, journalist, painter, theatre manager, statesman, educationalist, natural philosopher. His writings on science alone fill about 14 volumes. In poetry he displayed a command of a unique variety of theme and style; in fiction he ranged from fairy tales, to shorter novels and novellas. In the theatre, from historical, political, or psychological plays in prose through blank-verse drama to his Faust, one of the masterpieces of modern literature.

He achieved in his 82 years a great wisdom yet to the end of his life he retained a willingness to let himself be shaken by love or sorrow. His masterpiece “Faust” was completed a few months before his death, and he bequeathed it with irony to the critics of posterity to discover its faults. Its final lines, “Das Ewig-Weibliche/Zieht uns hinan” (“Eternal Womanhead/Leads us on high”), summarises his own philosophy, with Woman being the ultimate ideal, man’s energiser and source of creative force and life.

Here is one of Goethe’s short poems today, that has as its theme the universal and ever relevant topic that of love and the tyranny of distance between lovers.

Nearness of the Beloved

I think of you when from the sea the shimmer
Of sunlight streams;
I think of you when on the brook the dimmer
Moon casts her beams.

I see your face when on the distant highway
Dust whirls and flakes,
In deepest night when on the mountain byway
The traveller quakes.

I hear your voice when, dully roaring, yonder
Waves rise and spill;
Listening, in silent woods I often wander
When all is still.

I walk with you, though miles from you divide me;
Yet you are are near!
The sun goes down, soon stars will shine to guide me.
Would you were here!
                           Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

Poetry about the pain of being apart from one’s beloved is certainly something that has inspired poets throughout the ages. Loving and being apart seems to be an ever-repeated and universal theme.

POETS UNITED - TRANQUILLITY

“We live in the age of the refugee, the age of the exile.” - Ariel Dorfman

This week, Poets United has as its theme “Tranquillity”. In a world becoming increasingly more violent, more agitated, more unstable, to find tranquillity may be well nigh impossible for the majority of people around the globe. Over the last few months, the shocking news of an escalating refugee crisis in Europe illustrates the point only too graphically.

Vast numbers of refugees have made their way across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe in 2015, sparking a crisis as countries struggle to cope with the influx, and creating division in the European Union over how best to deal with resettling people. More than 750,000 migrants are estimated to have arrived by sea so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), but exact numbers are unclear as some may have passed through borders undetected.

Although not all of those arriving claim asylum, over half a million have done so. Germany continues to be the most popular destination for migrants arriving in Europe. It has received the highest number of new asylum applications, with almost 222,000 by the end of August. Hungary has moved into second place, as more migrants have tried to make the journey overland through Greece and the Western Balkans. It had 96,350 applications by the end of July.

The Aegean Sea crossing has seen the deaths of more than 3,000 people this year, but the route is still one of the most popular for refugees trying to cross into the European Union, as the eastern Greek island of Lesbos is only a few hours away from Turkey, where many Syrian refugees are coming from. The majority of people who take boats across the Aegean are using smugglers, whom they have often paid up to 2,000 euros each.

Tranquillity

When the bombs fell and our homes destroyed
In ghastly, fiery infernos,
We screamed, we cried, we ran away
And sought tranquillity.

When soldiers shot at us, and partisans shot back,
In deadly, deafening crossfire,
We crept low, and hoped to flee
And sought tranquillity.

When climbing into trucks, thrown in together,
In fusty, airless, stinking compartments,
We held our breaths and swallowed our tears,
And sought tranquillity.

When thankfully we boarded illegal, leaky boats
In tossing seas and wind-swept treacherous waters,
We held onto each other and prayed to God,
And sought tranquillity.

When on doors locked we knocked, and met closed borders,
In icy weather, while hunger gripped our belly,
We gritted our teeth, survived against all odds
And sought tranquillity.

We search for a safe haven, a home to call our own,
Somewhere to raise our children without fear;
We need a sunny place where we can smile again,
And seek tranquillity.

And in the depths of winter, while one by one we die,
In dark grey fields of war we perish, in perilous journeys we expire.
A cold, bleak, callous indifference kills us all
And in our death we find, at long last,
Tranquillity.

ON TOLERANCE

“The highest result of education is tolerance.” - Helen Keller

On this planet we are blessed with a diversity that has ensured the survival of life in one form or another for millennia upon millennia. It is this diversity that allows evolution and survival. It is this diversity that ensures adaptation to adverse environments. There is no surer way to die out as a species than to be uniform and unchangeable. Rigidity and inflexibility, in a biological sense, will sooner or later cause extinction.

Human beings have managed over the ages of life on planet earth to reach a position of domination over all of the other life forms, such that the fate of all other species on this planet depends on our whims and fancies, our activities and behaviour. We pride ourselves on being rational, thinking creatures and yet we destroy our planet systematically, wipe out thousands of species of living things each year. As if that weren’t enough, internecine hostility within our own species, threatens humanity itself on many fronts.

Tolerance is respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world’s cultures, our forms of expression and ways of being human. Tolerance is harmony in difference. We view tolerance as a way of thinking and feeling (most importantly though, of acting) that gives us peace in our individuality, respect for those unlike us, the wisdom to discern humane values and the courage to act upon them. An adoption of tolerance by a diverse community equips its members with skills necessary to live together peacefully.

Ethnic conflicts, human rights violations, intolerance, nationalism and racism are, together with low environmental awareness, main threats to stability of the present world. Globalisation and growing multiculturalism in nation states bring such issues to the attention of many policy makers as well as impacting on the life of ordinary people. Teachers may play a very progressive role in the process of combating intolerance and racism and can articulate the bottom-up policies for social change. Individuals and community groups can foster an attitude of tolerance – tolerance depends on all of us for its active implementation.

tolerance |ˈtäl(ə)rəns| noun

1 the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with : the tolerance of corruption | an advocate of religious tolerance.

• the capacity to endure continued subjection to something, esp. a drug, transplant, antigen, or environmental conditions, without adverse reaction : the desert camel shows the greatest tolerance to dehydration | species were grouped according to pollution tolerance | various species of diatoms display different tolerances to acid.

• diminution in the body's response to a drug after continued use.

2 an allowable amount of variation of a specified quantity, esp. in the dimensions of a machine or part : 250 parts in his cars were made to tolerances of one thousandth of an inch.

ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting the action of bearing hardship, or the ability to bear pain and hardship): via Old French from Latin tolerantia, from tolerare.

MOVIE MONDAY - V FOR VENDETTA

“Society exists for the benefit of its members, not the members for the benefit of society.” Herbert Spencer

On November 5 it is Guy Fawkes Day in the UK and this commemorates the foiled attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament by a group of dissidents. The conspiracy intended to blow up the English Parliament and King James I in 1605, the day set for the king to open Parliament. The anniversary was named after Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the conspirators. The assassination of the king and the overthrow of his government was to be the beginning of a great uprising of English Catholics, who were distressed by the increased severity of penal laws against the practice of their religion.

The conspirators, who began plotting early in 1604, expanded their number to a point where secrecy was impossible. The conspirators included Robert Catesby, John Wright, and Thomas Winter, the originators, Christopher Wright, Robert Winter, Robert Keyes, Guy Fawkes (a soldier who had been serving in Flanders), Thomas Percy, John Grant, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham, Ambrose Rookwood, and Thomas Bates. Percy hired a cellar under the House of Lords, in which 36 barrels of gunpowder, overlaid with iron bars and firewood, were secretly stored.

The conspiracy was brought to light through a mysterious letter received by Lord Monteagle, a brother-in-law of Tresham, on October 26, urging him not to attend Parliament on the opening day. The 1st earl of Salisbury and others, to whom the plot was made known, took steps leading to the discovery of the materials and the arrest of Fawkes as he entered the cellar. Other conspirators, overtaken in flight or seized afterward, were killed outright, imprisoned, or executed. Among those executed was Henry Garnett, the superior of the English Jesuits, who had known of the conspiracy.

The plot provoked increased hostility against all English Catholics and led to an increase in the harshness of laws against them. Guy Fawkes Day, November 5, is still celebrated in England with fireworks and bonfires, on which effigies of the conspirator are burned.

Please to remember The Fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
I see no reason Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

‘Twas God’s mercy to be sent
To save our King and Parliament
Three score barrels laid below,
For old England’s overthrow

With a lighted candle,
with a lighted match
Boom, boom to let him in.
    Anonymous Hertfordshire Rhyme

Quite aptly for today, I am considering a film that was inspired in part by this historical event, but which also looks towards the future and creates one of the most convincing filmic dystopias and asks several questions that relate to our present-day society. The film is James McTeigue’s “V for Vendetta” and its screenplay is an adaptation of Alan Moore/David Lloyd's graphic novel. Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry and John Hurt have been wonderfully cast and do a sterling job in playing out this tale of the fight for freedom and justice against cruelty and corruption.

There are elements of Orwell’s “1984”, Leroux’s “Phantom of the Opera” and superhero dramas such as “Batman” and “Spiderman” in this movie, but there is also an underlying serious political/social message in it. Its plot takes place in the future, when Britain is under totalitarian rule and is rife with prejudice against minorities, unfair punishments and the cries of tortured dissidents in captivity. In the mist of this nightmarish background, one man known as “V” dares to stand up to the government and is labelled by it as a “terrorist”. One night V rescues a young woman called Evey Hammond and an unlikely bond between the two emerges which results with Evey becoming V’s friend and helper.

V has a passion for justice, but he is also bitter and nurses his own personal hatred for the government as he was treated unjustly in the past. November the 5th is the day V and his followers will stand up to the government once and for all. The government is represented by Detective Finch who tries to track down V. Finch’s search leads him to discover much about V’s background, but also confronted by increasing evidence of tyranny and oppression, he begins to question whether or not he is on the right side.

Important questions arise upon viewing this film. Is V a hero or a terrorist? Are his actions justified or should the violence he espouses be condemned? “V for Vendetta” is a movie that looks scathingly at present-day politics. One cannot fail to see that President Bush is the model for Stutler. The news media and their coverage of V’s activities are inspired by on the propaganda machines at the disposal of today’s politicians, with V’s actions put on par with those of suicide bombers and underground train attacks. Does “terrorism” become “freedom-fighting”?

A totalitarian oppressor in power who utilises torture, unjust rule, (a reign of terror, in fact) is not likely to arouse our sympathies, whereas V, who is presented as the “terrorist” is much more likely to appear to be the “hero”. This is a disturbing and chilling film because it presents the reality of today and yesterday as the “Status quo” that our children will inherit in the future. If you haven’t seen this movie, I strongly recommend that you see it. It is dark, thought-provoking, and quite entertaining. I have not read the original graphic novel it is based on, and I realise that the film has created characters that are rather exaggerated, but the message is quite powerful and for me, well-conveyed in the film medium.

BELATED ART SUNDAY - BAKST

"The art of becoming wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." - William James

For Art Sunday, the art of Léon Bakst who spent most of his life working in the world of costume and stage design. Léon Bakst (born February 8, 1866, St. Petersburg, Russia - died December 28, 1924, Paris, France) was the pseudonym of Lev Samoylovich Rosenberg. He was a Russian artist who revolutionised theatrical design in both scenery and costume.

Bakst attended the Imperial Academy of Arts at St. Petersburg but was expelled after painting a “Pietà” that was deemed to be too-realistic. He went to Paris to complete his studies and returned to Russia where he became a court painter. He was a co-founder with Sergey Diaghilev of the journal Mir Iskusstva (“World of Art”) in 1899. Bakst began to design scenery in 1900, first at the Hermitage court theatre and then at the imperial theatres. In 1906 he went to Paris, where he began designing stage sets and costumes for Diaghilev’s newly formed ballet company, the Ballets Russes.

The first Diaghilev ballet for which he designed décor was Cléopâtre (1909), and he was chief set designer thereafter, working on the ballets Scheherazade and Carnaval (both 1910), Le Spectre de la Rose and Narcisse (both 1911), L’Après-midi d’un Faune and Daphnis et Chloé (both 1912), and Les Papillons (1914).

Bakst achieved international fame with his sets and costumes, in which he combined bold, innovative designs and richly sumptuous colours. His attention to minutely refined details conveyed an atmosphere of picturesque, exotic Orientalism, well-suited to the works he designed. In 1919 Bakst settled permanently in Paris. His designs for a London production of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty in 1921 are regarded as his greatest work.

Scheherazade is of course a retelling of the famous story of the Arabian Nights and the stirring, exotic music of Rimsky Korsakov (1844-1908) provided the artistic stimulus that Bakst required in order to produce some opulently magnificent oriental costumes and sets for this ballet (1910). Two costumes shown here: The “Blue Sultana” and an “Odalisque”.

MUSIC SATURDAY - GLIÈRE HARP CONCERTO

“Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” - Winston Churchill

Reinhold Glière, Russian in full Reyngold Moritsevich Glier (born December 30, 1874 [January 11, 1875, New Style], Kiev, Ukraine, Russian Empire [now Kyiv, Ukraine]—died June 23, 1956, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.), was a Soviet composer, of German and Polish descent, who was noted for his works incorporating elements of the folk music of several eastern Soviet republics.

Glière was the son of a musician and maker of wind instruments. He attended the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied violin, composition, and music theory with such notable composers as Sergey Taneyev, Anton Arensky, and Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov and from where he graduated in 1900. After teaching for a while in Moscow, he studied conducting in Berlin from 1905 to 1907, first appearing in Russia as a conductor in 1908, the same year his tone poem Sireny (“The Sirens”) was enthusiastically received. Glière taught at the Kiev Conservatory and was appointed director in 1914.

He returned to Moscow in 1920, taught at the conservatory there, and became involved in studying folk music, traveling widely to collect material. The opera Shakhsenem (first performed 1934) resulted from his study of the national music of Azerbaijan, and Uzbek elements appear in the opera Gyulsara (1936). Glière achieved a high status in the Soviet musical world after the Russian Revolution, largely because of his interest in national styles. He organised workers’ concerts and directed committees of the Moscow Union of Composers and Union of Soviet Composers.

At the end of the 20th century, Glière’s music was principally performed in countries formerly of the Soviet Union, although his ballet Krasny mak (1927; The Red Poppy) won wider international popularity for a time. Also well regarded were the ballet Medny vsadnik (1949; The Bronze Horseman) and his Symphony No. 3 (1909–11; Ilya Muromets). Although Glière was highly respected by many, his often politically motivated works—e.g., the overture 25 let Krasnoy Armii (1943; Twenty-five Years of the Red Army and Torzhestvennaya uvertyura (K 20-letiyu Oktyabrya) (1937; Solemn Overture for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution), were criticised by others for lack of depth and originality. Nevertheless, his influence on younger Soviet composers was profound. Among his pupils were Sergey Prokofiev, Nikolay Myaskovsky, and Aram Khachaturian.

Reinhold Glière wrote his Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in E-flat major, Op. 74, in 1938. It lasts about 25 minutes and is in three movements:

I. Allegro moderato in E-flat major

II. Tema con variazioni in C-flat major

III. Allegro giocoso in E-flat major

Glière sought the technical advice of the harpist Ksenia Alexandrovna Erdely (1878-1971). She made so many suggestions that he offered to credit her as co-composer, but she declined. The work was published as the work of Glière as edited by Erdely. The music is immediately accessible although it breaks no new ground in terms of compositional techniques or technical demands on the solo harpist. It combines features that are redolent of both the Viennese classical style and Russian romantic nationalism.

FOOD FRIDAY - PUMPKIN BREAD

“I love the scents of winter! For me, it’s all about the feeling you get when you smell pumpkin spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, gingerbread and spruce.” - Taylor Swift

We are seeing more and more merchandising and brou-ha-ha about Halloween in the last few years in Australia. Twenty years ago, one hardly heard anything about it. Now, it is getting a great deal of air time and children especially are getting into it. The last couple of years we have had the great big orange pumpkins for carving sold by supermarket chains. Here is my contribution to Halloween, with this delicious recipe:

PUMPKIN BREAD
Ingredients
650g butternut pumpkin, peeled, deseeded
110g butter, softened
1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 cup of chopped dates

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease base and sides of a 6cm deep, 10.5cm x 20.5cm (base) loaf pan. Line with baking paper, allowing a 2cm overhang at both long ends.
Wash and cut pumpkin into 4cm pieces. With water clinging, place pumpkin in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate. Cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high power (100%) for 3 to 4 minutes or until pumpkin is tender. Set aside to cool. Drain and place cooled pumpkin in a food processor. Process until smooth (you should have 1 cup).
Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until well combined. Stir in pumpkin.
Sift flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves over pumpkin mixture. Add walnuts and dates, stirring gently to combine. Spoon into prepared pan. Smooth surface. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 10 minutes. Lift onto a wire rack. Serve warm or cold.

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