MUSIC SATURDAY - ANDREA ZANI

“Where words leave off, music begins.” ― Heinrich Heine 

Andrea Teodoro Zani (11 November 1696 – 28 September 1757) was an Italian violinist and composer. Zani was born at Casalmaggiore in the Province of Cremona. He received his first instruction in playing the violin from his father, an amateur violinist. Subsequently, he received instruction in composition from Giacomo Civeri, a local musician, and studied violin in Guastalla with the court violinist Carlo Ricci.

Antonio Caldara, who was working as Capellmeister at the court of Archduke Ferdinand Charles in Mantua, not far from Casalmaggiore, heard Zani play and invited him to accompany him to Vienna. Between 1727 and 1729 Zani arrived in Vienna and was active there as a violinist in the service of the Habsburgs.

Following the death of his sponsor Caldara in 1736, he returned to Casalmaggiore where he remained for the rest of his life, except for occasional concert appearances. He died in his hometown as the result of an accident, when the carriage in which he was travelling to Mantua overturned.

Zani's works show the influence of Antonio Vivaldi, but are somewhat less sweeping. His op. 2, published in 1729, is of great historical importance because it is the earliest dated source of symphonies that present no ambiguities of genre. His late works clearly exhibit a casting off of baroque elements in favour of early classical ones.

There are numerous manuscripts of Zani’s works found in libraries scattered throughout Europe, including three concertos and one sonata for flute, at least twelve concertos for cello, six trio sonatas for two violins and continuo, as well as several violin concertos and symphonies.

Here are 12 concertos of his Opus 4, played by Capella Palatina and Giovanni Battista Columbro. These are engaging works with sonorous violin soli, playful flute soli and some wonderful passages for the ensemble, a colourful palette and some lovely melodies to enjoy. This is a premiere recording and I much enjoyed listening to it. Hope you enjoy it too.

FOOD FRIDAY - BAKED PEACHES

“The ripest peach is highest on the tree.” – James Whitcomb Riley

Peaches are in season at the moment and we chanced upon some in a farmers’ market today. Unlike the supermarket variety, these were ripe, juicy and fragrant. We had some for lunch and then took the opportunity to make this summery dessert for after dinner:

Baked Peaches 

Ingredients

6 ripe fresh peaches

200 g ground blanched almonds

4 tbsp maraschino liqueur

80 g unsalted butter, melted

12 tbsp icing sugar

Softened mascarpone cheese to serve

Method

Carefully cut the peaches in half lengthwise and remove the pit with a sharp knife leaving a hollow in each half. Place the peach halves on a buttered baking tray, hollow side up.

In a blender, mix the almond meal with the liqueur and blend well until well-moistened and homogenised.

Fill each peach hollow with a spoonful of the almond paste and brush them with melted butter. Sprinkle a tablespoon of icing sugar over each peach half.

Bake at 180˚C until they are soft and golden brown. Serve with a dollop of mascarpone cheese.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme.

ALL ABOUT SMALLAGE

“Dear Perenna, prithee come and with smallage dress my tomb: And a cypress sprig thereto, With a tear, and so Adieu.” – Robert Herrick 

Smallage (Apium graveolens var. graveolens) is the wild variety of celery, belonging to the carrot family (Apiaceae). Smallage is very leafy, with thin hollow stalks and can grow up to 1 metre tall. The stalks are very slender and pliable, although quite stringy and not used in cooking. The plant does look quite similar to parsley although the leaves are of different shape, their colour are a little lighter, and their stalks are somewhat thicker. It is a biennial plant, growing luxuriantly the first year, flowering and seeding the following year, then dying. It can be treated as a “cut-and-come-again” plant, with multiple harvests of leaves. One French name, “celeri à couper”, gives the sense that its leaves are cut and the plant then regenerates.

Smallage flowers are flat, umbrella-like masses of tiny white blooms, similar to parsley. Its seeds are what is sold as “celery seed” (i.e. not the seeds from the domesticated, familiar, celery plants), and are used in culinary applications. The seeds have a powerful celery flavour with a tinge of bitterness, so they used sparingly, quite often in a lot of pickling mixes. The flavour of the celery seed enhances salt and ground seeds are mixed with salt and sold as “celery salt”. Celery salt is used as a seasoning, in cocktails (notably to enhance the flavour of Bloody Mary cocktails). Note that seeds intended for cultivation are not suitable for eating as they are often treated with fungicides. Buy the culinary packaged seeds for cooking uses.

Smallage is used as a herb with its leaves providing a strong and slightly bitter flavour that enhances other strong flavours (e.g. beef stew, mutton dishes, pork dishes, mixed vegetable and meat soups). The young, tender, raw leaves can be used in salads, while older more mature leaves can be used when boiling, stewing and roasting. In France, smallage is used in soups and stews, as cooks there prefer its stronger, more concentrated flavour than the milder, domesticated celery. If smallage is asked for in a recipe and its not available, one may use the leaves of the domesticated celery variety (the heart leaves in salads and the external leaves for cooking).

The English word “smallage” comes from “small ache” (pronounced “small ash”). “Ache” was an old French word for celery. Smallage is sometimes thought to be what the Greeks called σέλινον - selinon, but they used the same word for this and for parsley, so one cannot be sure which herb was meant by the author. The Romans also used the same word (apium) for both smallage and parsley. Later both Latin and Greek came to have separate names for parsley, to distinguish it from celery. In Greek, πετροσέλινον (petroselinon, petra meaning “rock” and selinon meaning “celery”, so parsley was “rock celery’). From the Greek word, the Romans derived their more precise word for parsley, petroselinum.

Traditionally, smallage was used medicinally and in Greek and Roman funeral rites, not being used in cooking until the Middle Ages. A chthonian (i.e.underworld) symbol among the ancient Greeks, smallage, parsley and celery were said to have sprouted from the blood of Kadmilos, father of the Cabeiri (chthonian divinities celebrated in Samothrace, Lemnos, and Thebes). The spicy odour and dark leaf colour encouraged this association with the cult of death. In classical Greece, celery leaves were used as garlands for the dead, and the wreaths of the winners at the Isthmian Games were first made of celery before being replaced by crowns made of pine. According to Pliny the Elder in Achaea, the garland worn by the winners of the sacred Nemean Games was also made of celery. The Ancient Greek colony of Selinous (Greek: Σελινοῦς, Selinous), on Sicily, was named after wild parsley that grew abundantly there; Selinountian coins depicted a parsley leaf as the symbol of the city.

Smallage root was used in preparations for its carminative effect and the use of celery seed in pills for relieving pain was described by Aulus Cornelius Celsus around AD 30. Celery seeds contain a compound, 3-n-butylphthalide, that has been demonstrated to lower blood pressure in rats. Celery juice significantly reduced hypertension in some patients and the same effect on hypertension associated with pregnancy has also been documented. Bergapten in the seeds can increase photosensitivity, so the use of essential oil externally in bright sunshine should be avoided. The oil and large doses of seeds should be avoided during pregnancy, as they can act as a uterine stimulant and cause miscarriages.

Celery and smallage are among a small group of foods (headed by peanuts) that appear to provoke the most severe allergic reactions; for people with celery allergy, exposure can cause potentially fatal anaphylactic shock. The allergen does not appear to be destroyed at cooking temperatures. Celery root (commonly eaten as celeriac, or put into drinks) is known to contain more allergen than the stalk. Seeds contain the highest levels of allergen content. Celery allergy is most prevalent in Central Europe. In the European Union, foods that contain or may contain celery, even in trace amounts, must be clearly marked as such.

A sprig of smallage in the language of flowers means “I shall love you until I die”, while flowering stalks should only be used in funeral wreaths, having the meaning of “Rest in Peace”.

POET'S UNITED - WOMEN'S DAY

“No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men.” - Muhammad Ali Jinnah 

Today is International Women’s Day and Poets United has as its Midweek Motif “A Woman’s Day: Be Bold For Change”. Here is my poem: 

I Don’t Want a Women’s Day 

I don’t want a token Women’s Day,
I want a world where humanity reigns supreme.
Sex and gender are immaterial
In this struggle for survival,
Where so much can be achieved
When brother and sister work together
Side by side as equals.

I don’t want a single, yearly Women’s Day,
I want a whole year, every year, where humanity reigns supreme.
XX or XY hardly matters
When the right life-or-death decision is made;
Where one depends on the other,
When husband and wife work together
Side by side as equals.

I don’t want a ceremonial Women’s Day,
I want an everyday reality, where humanity reigns supreme.
Trousers or dresses are irrelevant
In building a society where justice and good prevail;
Where we build rather than destroy,
When father and mother work together
Side by side as equals.

I don’t want a conceded Women’s Day,
I want a future starting yesterday, where humanity reigns supreme.
Mars and Venus are passé,
In this brave new world;
If humanity is to survive,
Let us instead be Jovial, and as fellow humans work,
Side by side as equals.

TRAVEL TUESDAY #69 - PAESTUM, ITALY

“The Poseidonians forgot the Greek language, after being admixed with Tyrrhenians, Latins and other foreigners. Their only legacy was a Greek festival, with beautiful ceremonies, with lyres and flutes, with games and wreaths...” – Constantine Cavafy 

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us.

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.  

Paestum was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia (southern Italy). The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric order, dating from about 600 to 450 BC, which are in a very good state of preservation. The city walls and amphitheatre are largely intact, and the bottom of the walls of many other structures remain, as well as paved roads.

The site is open to the public, and there is a modern national museum within it, which also contains the finds from the associated Greek site of Foce del Sele. After its foundation by Greek colonists under the name of Poseidonia (Ancient Greek: Ποσειδωνία) it was eventually conquered by the local Lucanians and later the Romans. The Lucanians renamed it to Paistos and the Romans gave the city its current name.

As Pesto or Paestum, the town became a bishopric (now only titular), but it was abandoned in the Early Middle Ages, and left undisturbed and largely forgotten until the eighteenth century. Today the remains of the city are found in the modern frazione of Paestum, which is part of the comune of Capaccio in the Province of Salerno, Campania, Italy. The modern settlement, directly to the south of the archaeological site, is a popular seaside resort, with long sandy beaches.

Much the most celebrated features of the site today are the three large temples in the Archaic version of the Greek Doric order, dating from about 550 to 450 BC. All are typical of the period, with massive colonnades having a very pronounced entasis (widening as they go down), and very wide capitals resembling upturned mushrooms. Above the columns, only the second Temple of Hera retains most of its entablature, the other two having only the architrave in place. These were dedicated to Hera, Athena, and Poseidon (Juno, Minerva, and Neptune to the Romans), although previously they often have been identified otherwise, for example, as a basilica and a temple of Ceres (Greek Demeter), after eighteenth-century arguments.

The two temples of Hera are right next to each other, while the Temple of Athena is on the other side of the town centre. There were other temples, both Greek and Roman, which are far less well-preserved. Paestum is far from any sources of good marble. The three main temples had few stone reliefs, perhaps using painting instead. Painted terracotta was for some detailed parts of the structure. The large pieces of terracotta that have survived are in the museum.

The second Temple of Hera was built around 460–450 BC, just north of the first Hera Temple (seen in the back left of the photo). It was once mistakenly thought to be dedicated to Poseidon. The columns do not have the typical 20 flutes on each column, but have 24 flutes. The Temple of Hera II also has a wider column size and smaller intervals between columns.

The temple was also used to worship Zeus and another deity, whose identity is unknown. There are visible on the east side the remains of two altars, one large and one smaller. The smaller one is a Roman addition, built when a road leading to a Roman forum was cut through the larger one. It also is possible that the temple originally was dedicated to both Hera and Poseidon; some offertory statues found around the larger altar are thought to demonstrate this identification. 

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme, 
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme. 
 
Add your own travel posts using the Linky tool below, and don't forget to be nice and leave a comment here, and link back to this page from your own post: 

MYTHIC MONDAY - EGYPT 3, ATUM

“O Unas, you have not gone dead, you have gone alive to sit on the throne of Osiris. Your sceptre is in your hand that you may give orders to the living, the handle of your lotus-shaped sceptre in your hand. Give orders to those of the Mysterious Sites (the dead)!  Your arm is that of Atum, your shoulders are those of Atum, your belly is that of Atum, your back is that of Atum, your bottom is that of Atum, your two legs are those of Atum, your face is that of Anubis. The sites of Horus serve you, the sites of Seth serve you.” – Pyramid Texts of the Pyramid of Unas. 

Atum sometimes rendered as Atem or Tem, is an important deity in Egyptian mythology. Atum’s name is thought to be derived from the word tem, which means “to complete” or “finish”. Thus he has been interpreted as being the ‘complete one’ and also the ‘finisher of the world’, which he returns to watery chaos at the end of the creative cycle. As creator he was seen as the underlying substance of the world, the deities and all things being made of his flesh or alternatively being his ka.

Atum is one of the most important and frequently mentioned deities from earliest times, as evidenced by his prominence in the Pyramid Texts, where he is portrayed as both a creator and father to the king. He is usually depicted as a man wearing either the royal head-cloth or the dual white and red crown of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, reinforcing his connection with kingship. Sometimes he also is shown as a serpent, the form he returns to at the end of the creative cycle, and also occasionally as a mongoose, lion, bull, lizard, or ape.

Atum was a self-created deity, the first being to emerge from the darkness and endless watery abyss that existed before creation. A product of the energy and matter contained in this chaos, he created his children, the first deities, out of loneliness. He produced from his own sneeze (or in some accounts, semen), Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. The brother and sister, curious about the primeval waters that surrounded them, went to explore the waters and disappeared into the darkness. Unable to bear his loss, Atum sent a fiery messenger, the Eye of Ra, to find his children. The tears of joy he shed on their return were the first human beings.

In the Heliopolitan creation myth, Atum was considered to be the first god, having created himself, sitting on a mound (benben – or identified with the mound itself), from the primordial waters (Nu). Early myths state that Atum created the god Shu and goddess Tefnut by spitting them out of his mouth. To explain how Atum did this, the myth uses the metaphor of masturbation, with the hand he used in this act representing the female principle inherent within him.

Other interpretations state that he has made union with his shadow. In the Old Kingdom the Egyptians believed that Atum lifted the dead king’s soul from his pyramid to the starry heavens. He was also a solar deity, associated with the primary sun god Ra. Atum was linked specifically with the evening sun, while Ra or the closely linked god Khepri were connected with the sun at morning and midday.

In the Book of the Dead, which was still current in the Graeco-Roman period, the sun god Atum is said to have ascended from chaos-waters with the appearance of a snake, the animal renewing itself every morning. Atum is the god of pre-existence and post-existence. In the binary solar cycle, the serpentine Atum is contrasted with the ram-headed scarab Khepri, the young sun god, whose name is derived from the Egyptian hpr “to come into existence”. Khepri-Atum encompassed sunrise and sunset, thus reflecting the entire solar cycle.

Atum’s cult centred on the city of Heliopolis (Egyptian: Annu or Iunu). The only surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the Temple of Re-Atum obelisk located in Al-Masalla of Al-Matariyyah, Cairo. It was erected by Senusret I of the Twelfth dynasty, and still stands in its original position. The 20.73 m high red granite obelisk weighs 120 tons.

ART SUNDAY - OTTO HEYDEN

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“To excavate a pyramid is the dream of every archaeologist.” - Sarah Parcak 

Otto Johann Heinrich Heyden (born July 8, 1820 in Ducherow (Vorpommern), Germany, died September 21, 1897 in Göttingen ) was a German painter. He was the son of the preacher Johann Bernhard Heyden and his wife Dorothea, the eldest daughter of the mayor of Gützkow, Johann Balthasar Putter (1751-1818).

He attended the Gymnasium Stralsund and here he finished his high school years in 1894. After this, he began studying theology at Greifswald and Berlin at the request of his parents, but in 1843 he transferred to the Art Academy in Berlin. There he became a pupil of professors Karl Wilhelm Wach and August von Kloeber. With the recommendations of his teachers, Heyden later became a student in the studio of Léon Cogniet in Paris.

From 1850 he lived four years in Italy, mostly in Rome and near Naples . There he also made the preparations for his first major work, “Job, surrounded by his friends” (1855), bought by the Stettiner Museum. He also painted numerous portraits and landscapes. In 1854 he returned to Berlin and settled down as a freelance artist.

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the University of Greifswald, he donated a monumental painting, which shows the founding ceremony in the Greifswald Nikolaikirche and this painting is currently exhibited in the Pommerschen Landesmuseum. During the German-Austrian War of 1866, he moved from historical painting of the remote past to the presentation of current historical events, with several battle paintings executed.

In 1869, Heyden undertook an extensive study trip to and through Egypt, which resulted in a series of pictures depicting the street life of Cairo and of the surrounding countryside. The painting above “Caravan by the Pyramids” is a typical such orientalist work. During the Franco-Prussian War , Heyden was at the headquarters of the V Armeenkorps under Crown Prince Frederick William. As a consequence, during the war, Heyden created many watercolours and portraits of army life and personnel.

Otto Heyden was awarded the Honorary Doctorate by the University of Greifswald in 1854. He was appointed court painter and honoured with the title of Royal Prussian Professor. At the age of 77, Otto Heyden died on 21 September 1897 in Göttingen.

MUSIC SATURDAY - WILLIAM LAWES

“Sound, jocund strains; on pipe and viol sound, Young voices sing; Wreathe every door with snow-white voices round, For lo! ‘t is Spring! Winter has passed with its sad funeral train, And Love revives again.” - Lewis Morris

William Lawes (April 1602 – 24 September 1645) was an English composer and musician. He was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and was baptised on 1 May 1602. He was the son of Thomas Lawes, a vicar choral at Salisbury Cathedral, and brother to Henry Lawes, a very successful composer in his own right. His patron, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, apprenticed him to the composer John Coprario, which probably brought Lawes into contact with Charles, Prince of Wales at an early age.

Both William and his elder brother Henry received court appointments after Charles succeeded to the British throne as Charles I. William was appointed as “musician in ordinary for lutes and voices” in 1635 but had been writing music for the court prior to this. Lawes spent all his adult life in Charles’s employ. He composed secular music and songs for court masques (and doubtless played in them), as well as sacred anthems and motets for Charles’s private worship.

He is most remembered today for his sublime viol consort suites for between three and six players and his lyra viol music. His use of counterpoint and fugue and his tendency to juxtapose bizarre, spine-tingling themes next to pastoral ones in these works made them disfavoured in the centuries after his death; they have only become widely available in recent years.

When Charles’s dispute with Parliament led to the outbreak of the Civil War, Lawes joined the Royalist army and was given a post in the King's Life Guards, which was intended to keep him out of danger. Despite this, he was “casually shot” by a Parliamentarian in the rout of the Royalists at Rowton Heath, near Chester, on 24 September 1645. Although the King was in mourning for his kinsman Bernard Stuart (killed in the same defeat), he instituted a special mourning for Lawes, apparently honouring him with the title of “Father of Musick.”

The author of his epitaph, Thomas Jordan, closed it with a lachrymose pun on the fact that Lawes had died at the hands of those who denied the divine right of kings:
“Will. Lawes was slain by such whose wills were laws.”
Lawes’s body was lost or destroyed and his burial site is unknown.

Here are his Consort Setts in 5 & 6 parts for viols and organ, played by Fretwork and Paul Nicholson.

FOOD FRIDAY - ORANGE TEA CAKE

“One mustn’t ask apple trees for oranges, France for sun, women for love, life for happiness.” - Gustave Flaubert 

Time for tea! And of course a slice of tea cake. This lovely, fragrant, moist tangy and sweet orange cake foots the bill. Enjoy it with a cup of fragrant, light and partly oxidised, greenish Oolong tea. 

Orange Cake
Ingredients - Cake
125 g butter softened
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup orange juice
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cup self-raising flour sifted
1 tbs orange zest
1 tsp vanilla essence
Ingredients - Icing
1/3 cup butter softened
1 and 1/2 cup icing sugar sifted
2 tbs orange juice
1/2 tsp orange zest 

Method
Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the zest, vanilla essence and continue beating, adding the yolks one by one.
Lightly beat the egg whites and add alternately with the milk, little by little, while beating the cake mixture lightly.
Add the flour little by little alternating with the orange juice. Do not overbeat at this stage.
Pour mixture into a buttered 20 cm x 10 cm loaf or 20 cm round (or ring) tin. Bake in centre of 180˚C fan-forced oven for 30-40 minutes. Turn onto wire rack and allow to cool.
Ice with orange icing and garnish with orange zest if desired.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme.

ALL ABOUT VIETNAMESE CORIANDER

“Once your belly is full, you can achieve anything.” – Vietnamese proverb 

Persicaria odorata, the Vietnamese coriander, is an herb whose leaves are used in Southeast Asian cooking. Other English names for the herb include Vietnamese mint, Vietnamese cilantro, Cambodian mint, hot mint, laksa leaf, and praew leaf. Its Vietnamese name is rau răm, while in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore it is called daun kesum, daun kesom, or daun laksa. In Thailand, it is called phak phai. In North-East India, Manipur state uses this as garnishing herb over various cuisines such as Eromba and Singju. It is neither related to the mints, nor is it in the mint family Lamiaceae but the general appearance and odour are reminiscent of them. Persicaria is in the family Polygonaceae, collectively known as smartweeds or pinkweeds.

Vietnamese coriander is a perennial plant that grows best in tropical and subtropical zones in warm and damp conditions. In advantageous conditions, it can grow up to 15–30 cm. The top of its leaf is dark green, with chestnut-coloured spots, while the leaf’s bottom is burgundy red. The stem is jointed at each leaf. In Vietnam, it can be cultivated or found in the wild. It can grow very well outside in summer in non-tropical Europe. It prefers full sun and well-drained soil. It should be brought inside for winter and treated as a houseplant. It rarely flowers outside the tropics.

Above all, the leaf is identified with Vietnamese cuisine, where it is commonly eaten fresh in salads (including chicken salad) and in raw gỏi cuốn, as well as in some soups such as canh chua and bún thang, and stews, such as fish kho tộ. It is also popularly eaten with hột vịt lộn (fertilized duck egg). In the cuisine of Cambodia, the leaf is known as chi krasang tomhom and is used in soups, stews, salads, and the Cambodian summer rolls, naem. In Singapore and Malaysia, the shredded leaf is an essential ingredient of laksa, a spicy noodle soup, so much so that the Malay name daun laksa means “laksa leaf”. In Laos and certain parts of Thailand, the leaf is eaten with raw beef larb.

In Australia, the plant is being investigated as a source of essential oil (kesom oil). This oil contains aldehydes such as decanal (28%) and dodecanal (44%), as well as the alcohol decanol (11%). Sesquiterpenes such as α-humulene and β-caryophyllene comprise about 15% of its oil. C-Methylated homoisoflavanones can be found in the rhizomes of P. odorata.

Traditionally, in Vietnam, the herb is believed to repress sexual urges. A saying in Vietnamese states, “rau răm, giá sống” (Vietnamese coriander, raw bean sprouts), which refers to the common belief that Vietnamese coriander reduces sexual desire, while bean sprouts have the opposite effect. Many Buddhist monks grow coriander in their private gardens and eat it frequently, believing it helps them remain celibate. No scientific studies have measured P. odorata’s effects on libido.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Weekend Green meme.

POETS UNITED - FEAR

“Courage is knowing what not to fear.” - Plato

This Wednesday Poets United has as its theme “Fear”. The Greek word for fear is φόβος (phobos), hence “phobia”. People have all sorts of fears, many of which are irrational and these latter kind are the dreaded phobias. There is a site with dozens of these and it may amuse you to look at it. My “Fear” poem below:

Fear

“Why be afraid of the dark,” she said,
“Close your eyes and you will see
A great light and rainbow colours,
For within you burns a sun
Brighter than the one up high.”

“Why be afraid of evil,” she said,
“Open your heart and you will find
Goodness beyond measure,
This kindness inside it is enough
To annul all wickedness.”

“Why be afraid of hate,” she said,
“You have the strength to fight it,
Your courage is beyond measure,
Bravery within you lies untapped,
Enough to let you win.”

“Why be afraid of love?” She said,
And she paused, thinking hard.
“Ah, indeed, love's a force to be feared
And no matter how hard you try
There's no way to counter its invincible power.
Seek it out; cultivate it; humour it;
Respect it; harness its potential; enjoy its pleasures;
Be grateful for its presence in your life -
But be afraid of love; be very afraid of it…” She said.

TRAVEL TUESDAY #68 - ASWAN, EGYPT

“Egypt was - as it is now - a confluence of cultures, as a result of being a crossroads geographically between Africa, the Middle East and Europe.” - Ridley Scott

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. 

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Aswan, formerly spelled Assuan, is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate. Aswan is a busy market and tourist centre located just north of the Aswan Dams on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract. The modern city has expanded and includes the formerly separate community on the island of Elephantine.

Aswan is the ancient city of Swenett, which in antiquity was the frontier town of Ancient Egypt facing the south. Swenett is supposed to have derived its name from an Egyptian goddess with the same name. This goddess later was identified as Eileithyia by the Greeks and Lucina by the Romans during their occupation of Ancient Egypt because of the similar association of their goddesses with childbirth, and of which the import is "the opener". The ancient name of the city also is said to be derived from the Egyptian symbol for trade, or market.

Because the Ancient Egyptians oriented toward the origin of the life-giving waters of the Nile in the south, Swenett was the first town in the country, and Egypt always was conceived to "open" or begin at Swenett. The city stood upon a peninsula on the right (east) bank of the Nile, immediately below (and north of) the first cataract of the flowing waters, which extend to it from Philae. Navigation to the delta was possible from this location without encountering a barrier.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme, 
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme, 
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme. 

Add your own travel posts using the Linky tool below, and don't forget to be nice and leave a comment here, and link back to this page from your own post: 

MYTHIC MONDAY - EGYPT 2, PTAH

“The kingdom of heaven is within you; and whosoever shall know himself shall find it” - Ancient Egyptian Proverb 

In Egyptian mythology, Ptah (Egyptian: ptḥ, probably vocalized as Pitaḥ in ancient Egyptian) is the demiurge of Memphis, god of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the spouse of Sekhmet and the father of Nefertum. He was also regarded as the father of the sage Imhotep.

Ptah is the Creator god par excellence: He is considered the demiurge who existed before all other things, and by his willfulness, thought the world. It was first conceived by Thought, and realised by the Word: Ptah conceives the world by the thought of his heart and gives life through the magic of his Word. That which Ptah commanded was created, with which the constituents of nature, fauna, and flora, are contained. He also plays a role in the preservation of the world and the permanence of the royal function.

In the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, the Nubian pharaoh Shabaka would transcribe on a stela known as the Shabaka Stone, an old theological document found in the archives of the library of the temple of the god at Memphis. This document has been known as the Memphite Theology, and shows the god Ptah, the god responsible for the creation of the universe by thought and by the word.

Ptah is the patron of craftsmanship, metalworking, carpenters, shipbuilders, and sculpture. From the Middle Kingdom onwards, he was one of five major Egyptian gods with Ra, Isis, Osiris and Amun. He wears many epithets that describe his role in ancient Egyptian religion and its importance in society at the time:
Ptah of the beautiful face
Ptah lord of truth
Ptah master of justice
Ptah who listens to prayers
Ptah master of ceremonies
Ptah lord of eternity.

Ptah is generally represented in the guise of a man with green or dark skin, wrapped in a shroud sticking to the skin, wearing the divine beard, and holding a sceptre combining three powerful symbols of ancient Egyptian religion: The Was sceptre The sign of life, Ankh and The Djed pillar. These three combined symbols indicate the three creative powers of the god: Power (was), life (ankh) and stability (djed).

ART SUNDAY - ROMÀ RIBERA

“Fame can take interesting men and thrust mediocrity upon them.” - David Bowie

Romà Ribera i Cirera (13 December 1848, Barcelona - 29 May 1935, Barcelona) was a Catalonian genre painter. He specialised in contemporary scenes from upper-class social events, rendered in meticulous detail, but also did numerous scenes from life in the 17th and 18th centuries.

He studied at the Escola de la Llotja and at the private school operated by Pere Borrell del Caso. In 1873, he went to Rome to complete his studies. While there, he met Marià Fortuny, who works would influence his style. After leaving Italy, he visited London to exhibit. Once he had established himself, he settled in Paris. At a time when most artists were attracted to impressionism, he found inspiration in the works of James Tissot and Alfred Stevens.

In 1878, he enjoyed great success at the Exposition Universelle. This enabled to him retain Adolphe Goupil as his agent. To maximise his income, he chose to solicit clients from the upper classes; portraying their activities and possessions. He had a major showing at the exhibition at the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition, where he presented a series of watercolours. He returned to Barcelona in 1889, exhibiting at the Sala Parés. He pursued the same upper class client strategy there that he had in Paris. Occasionally, he travelled to exhibit in Madrid.

In 1902, he became a member of the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi and was chosen to sit on the Catalonian Museum Board. In Catalonia his works can be found exhibited in various public institutions, including the National Museum (MNAC), the Museum of Montserrat, the Girona Art Museum and the Library Museum Víctor Balaguer of Vilanova.

Ribera was skilled and well-trained, which was true of most of the artists of his generation. He was able to paint interesting scenes in a visually pleasing way, making for highly decorative paintings suitable for middle class tastes. His highly representational and studiously “painterly” style was helpful early in his career, but seems to have hindered his claim to international success and fame. The rapidly changing modern painting revolutions made his work increasingly passé, even in comparatively artistically conservative Spain.

The painting above is representative of his work and is titled: “De Soirée” (In the Evening) - 1894. The painting is faultless in its execution, the colours harmonious, the composition pleasing, the subject matter agreeable and yet if one compares it to the similarly themed Degas work “Woman Combing her Hair” of 1894, one immediately sees why Romà Ribera is relatively obscure while Degas retains his place as a trendsetter in late 19th century painting.

MUSIC SATURDAY - JEREMY CAVATERRA

“One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.” - Lucius Annaeus Seneca 

Contemporary “serious” music (i.e. music based on formal models of the classical tradition) can be a minefield to navigate. There are many significant contemporary composers the world over who are busy producing music – concertos, sonatas, suites, symphonies, operas, however, when one listens to it all it’s hard to pick up the truly talented, original voice through all of the avant-garde “noise” and attention-seeking trumpet-blaring of the composers’ own trumpets. My personal experience has shown that people still like to relate to music that is tuneful, emotionally involving and creates a world that is inviting and fulfilling on a sentimental (in its best possible meaning!) level.

Several loooong minutes of jangling noise played fortissimo by a full orchestra in jarring, cross-rhythms with no form, no harmony and no melody will find few fans (except perhaps the poseur music critics who wish to appear knowledgeable and forward-looking, and who rave about it in appropriately tall ivory towers). Now, don’t get me wrong – I don’t like the direct opposite: Saccharine sweet “classical muzak” suitable for playing in shopping malls and lifts. You know the kind, either maudlin, romantic, schmaltzy stuff, or jolly, falsely jocose stuff that is so plastic! Many recent films are filled with sorry examples of the latter two.

I am fortunate enough to count amongst my small circle of friends a contemporary composer who is talented, hard-working and genuine about the music he writes. I have known him for many years and I admire his work (incidentally not only his music, but also his writing and his art, as he is multi-talented in that way!). He is Jeremy Cavaterra, currently residing in California, USA. 

Jeremy Cavaterra (1971–) was born in New York City, where he studied at Manhattan School of Music. His music has been performed by soloists, chamber groups, and orchestras internationally. As a pianist he has appeared as both soloist and collaborative artist with ensembles, instrumentalists, and singers, often performing his own work. He is Composer-in-Residence for The Salastina Music Society, based in Los Angeles.

Recent performances include The Aquarium with The Young People’s Symphony Orchestra; and Nemeton, featuring Pacific Symphony oboe principal Jessica Pearlman Fields (November 2016). Early in 2017, Mission Chamber Orchestra of San Jose will perform the world premiere of Lost Coast, a work commissioned by that ensemble.

Jeremy has been commissioned to compose a cello concerto for Los Angeles Philharmonic principal Robert deMaine and is now working on that (as well as continuing his other creative pursuits in many fields!). Here is Jeremy Cavaterra’s Lost Coast, performed by the Misson Chamber Orchestra of San Jose, conducted by Emily Ray.


You can hear more of Jeremy’s work on his personal site here.