Day 294: A holiday with Hesse
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
294 — A holiday with Hesse
22-May-1972
(Montag–Mon.)
TRANSCRIPT
Ferien. Again, no practicing. Instead a good amount
of writing work and reading.
Hesse—The
Glass Bead. Drives me wild. I feel
that when I read him, so many of the ideas and
feelings that he has, I have also been feeling, all
along inside of me. He adds so much more to the
meanings of these feelings. And they are also so
amazingly connected to the concepts of music. I
think, an opera, perhaps, “The Glass Bead Game” would
have unbelievable (unlimited) possibilities. The
hardest part would be to have the elements of it
communicate the same innermost spirit that Hesse
projects. Perhaps quite a while in the future.
Saw “Don Carlos” – Verdi. Excellent cast, Gwenyth
Jones. Interesting with it’s scary theme. I enjoy
Verdi’s music—it is often beautiful, but sometimes
strikes me as just show.
Usually, at all of these operas, I cannot help but
think a lot about the opera itself, and its elements,
or often, about contemporary music and how it could
be used as such. I am often puzzled, and have trouble
finding, the “essence” of where and how contemporary
music is progressing. Too often it seems empty.
REFLECTIONS
A
Hesse holiday. Today is
another holiday. I am not practicing and instead do a
lot of writing and reading—Hermann Hesse to be
specific. I remember reading a lot of Hesse in
college. Now, I can’t remember anything. I will have
to read him to see why he resonates so dearly to my
“artistic” side. That is one thing I like about
“youth,” that you can become truly excited by and
enthralled by what fancies you. Good. As you get
older, the excitement is generally sanded down a bit
with your “maturity.” Good for youth.
I’m even thinking of a Hesse opera? I certainly am
not capable of writing an opera, or perhaps any
large-scale work.
Essence of Verdi. Sometimes
I laugh a little about my “loftiness” when I write
about these feelings that music brings to me. I
suppose that it is that intensity of youth, and the
dreams of youth, that bring that about. Good for
youth, again.
John
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