Morning Meditation: Thursday, March 20, 2025

ART APPRECIATION

Leonardo da Vinci was truly excited by the possibility of human flight. He was inspired in his inventions by the flight of winged animals, especially birds and bats. The flying machine was quite large (the wingspan exceeded 33 feet), and the frame was to be built with pine. The flying machine was covered with silk so that it would be light but sturdy. The pilot was to face down and turn cranks with both feet and hands that would flap the wings. As da Vinci probably found out, the flying machine (an ornithopter) may have been able to fly once in the air, but a human could not produce enough power in this machine to get off the ground.
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Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was accomplished in art, music, science, mathematics, and engineering. Da Vinci was considered to be exceptionally smart. He designed weapons, buildings, machinery, churches, and fortresses He also drew very detailed anatomical studies that scientists respect to this day.

Da Vinci was left handed and often wrote backwards, though this was easily deciphered using a mirror. He drew sketches of submarines, a parachute, flying machines–things that weren’t invented until centuries later. The famous de’ Medici family were patrons who supported da Vinci’s work. Later, he met King Francis of France for whom he worked until his death in 1519.
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MUSIC APPRECIATION

“L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” (Habanera) from Carmen

With a plot based on the 1845 novella of the same name by Prosper Mérimée, Bizet’s Carmen was groundbreaking in its realism, and it rapidly became one of the most popular Western operas of all time. It is the source of many memorable and widely recognized songs, notably those known by the popular names “Toréador Song” and “Habanera.” Carmen also is the best-known example of opéra-comique, a genre of French opera not necessarily comic but featuring both spoken dialogue and sung portions. Despite its current reputation, however, it was condemned by the earliest critics, who were unaccustomed to seeing the lives of the common folk, much less the world of gypsies (in Mérimée they are specifically identified with the Roma), smugglers, deserters, factory workers, and various ne’er-do-wells given centre stage.

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23. The second movement, “Andantino,” of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23.

Possessing limited piano skills, Tchaikovsky wrote the concerto intending to persuade a colleague to give the premiere performance. He first approached Nikolay Rubinstein, a pianist and the director of the Moscow Conservatory at which Tchaikovsky taught. Rubinstein condemned the work as badly written and refused to play it unless substantial changes were made. Tchaikovsky declined to revise the piece and offered it instead to the German virtuoso Hans von Bülow, who, finding more to admire than had Rubinstein, agreed to perform it. The premiere, given during an American tour, was an immediate success, and the piece soon became equally popular in Europe. In the face of the new concerto’s undeniable success, Rubinstein withdrew his earlier criticism. He agreed to conduct the Moscow premiere and even made the concerto part of his own repertory.
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Georges Bizet (1838-1875) was a French composer best remembered for his opera Carmen (1875). His realistic approach influenced the verismo school of opera at the end of the 19th century. ⁴