“Great Ideas are recurring themes that appear throughout writing and literature as each author plays off of his predecessor and adds his own thoughts to the Great Conversation.
Mortimer Adler called themes that turn up regularly in literature and thought Great Ideas. In the 1950s, he indexed his collection of classics, the Great Books, listing the ‘great ideas’ that each dealt with. Adler said that anyone should feel comfortable engaging with the Great Books and their philosophy. In two large volumes called the Syntopicon, Adler listed his 102 recurring themes, or Great Ideas. They include topics such as Truth, Goodness, Beauty, Justice, Time, Language, Emotion, Infinity, Being, and on.
The great conversation is the age-old conversation carried on by thinkers and writers as they build on, respond to, and refine their predecessors’ great ideas. It happens when Aristotle reads Plato and disagrees, a Roman reads Aristotle and adds to him, an early Christian like Augustine uses one of their ideas to explain a Christian doctrine, a medieval monk systematized it, a reformer reforms it, an early moderns discusses it. And now we have the conversation in the form of classic texts and it’s our turn to learn from and add to it. Dealing with ideas in the great conversation has proved for centuries to develop critical thinking skills, imagination, logic, and rhetoric.”
― Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS)
PROVERBS 1:7
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
THE PRAYER OF GENERAL CONFESSION
Almighty and most merciful Father; we have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done’ and there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; according thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.
ART APPRECIATION
This painting depicts the miracle of Jesus calming the storm recorded in Mark 4. This painting, completed in 1633, was displayed in a Boston art museum until it was stolen along with twelve other works of art in 1990. This is the biggest art theft in United States history and remains unsolved.1
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) was born in the Netherlands and liked to draw as a young boy. He studied as an apprentice where he learned to make paints and to stretch canvases. He began painting portraits, focusing on people’ clothing and gestures. He painted many portraits for wealthy people and was known for life-like reproductions. Rembrandt, like others in the Baroque age, worked with light and shadow to create dramatic scenes. Rembrandt obtained success and some wealth, but his later years were full of financial debt and sadness. In addition to the death of his wife, Saskia, only one of his four children with her lived to adulthood.2
MUSIC APPRECIATION
“Jeux d’eau” (“Water Games”) by Maurice Ravel
Composed in 1901 when Maurice Ravel was under the tutelage of Gabriel Fauré, Jeux d’eau (‘Fountains’ / ‘Water Games’) was dedicated to the composer’s tutor. The first premiere of the piece came at a private viewing for the Les Apaches. The public premiere came in 1902, with Ricardo Viñes playing the piano. Inspired by Franz Liszt’s Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este, Ravel explained the genesis of his piece: “Jeux d’eau, appearing in 1901, is at the origin of the pianistic novelties which one would notice in my work. This piece, inspired by the noise of water and by the musical sounds which make one hear the sprays of water, the cascades, and the brooks, is based on two motives in the manner of the movement of a sonata – without, however, subjecting itself to the classical tonal plan.” 3
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was one of the most sophisticated musicians of the early 20th century. Showing great musical promise as a child, he began his piano studies at the Paris Conservatoire when he was just 14 years old. Ravel remained a Conservatoire student off and on for 14 years, adding composition classes with the renowned Gabriel Fauré.
Ravel enthusiastically sought out experiences with a wide range of music, attending performances, for example, at the 1889 Paris Exhibition, where he heard a Javanese gamelan, Russian music by Rimsky-Korsakov, and more. He also joined Les Apaches, a group of literary, musical, and artistic contemporaries which openly shared and discussed a range of cultural topics and trends.4
- “Tree of Life Window.” The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, 26 Aug. 2022, morsemuseum.org/collection-highlights/windows/window-tree-of-life-2/. ↩︎
- Lange, Krista, and Leigh Lowe. First Grade Enrichment: Classical Core Curriculum. Teacher Guide. Memoria Press, 2017. ↩︎
- “Maurice Ravel ‘Jeux d’eau’: Water Games.” Classicalexburns, 28 Mar. 2022, classicalexburns.com/2022/03/28/maurice-ravel-jeux-deau-water-games/. ↩︎
- “Who Was Maurice Ravel? A Brief Introduction.” Who Was Maurice Ravel? A Brief Introduction – Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, http://www.chambermusicsociety.org/news/who-was-maurice-ravel-a-brief-introduction/. Accessed 30 Sept. 2024. ↩︎
Providence School of Tifton 