afternoon of a faun said, Princess Haiku

Excerpt from, Afternoon of a Faun by Stephen Mallarme



ECOLOGUE
THE FAUN

These nymphs, I would perpetuate them.
So bright
Their crimson flesh that hovers there, light
In the air drowsy with dense slumbers.
Did I love a dream?

Highlights of the 2012-13 Season (playlist)

Yo-Yo Ma - Bach, Cello Suites

Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046, 1047, 1048, 104...

Ginette Neveu - 1948 (Live) Brahms Violon concerto Op. 77

First choice - Helene Grimaud (Chopin, Rachmaninov) 2012 - Audio

Mozart the Requiem, sublime celebrates the soul, said Princess Haiku

Conversations with Helene Grimaud or through the mystery flower Part Seven, said Princess Haiku

Every great artist inspires love, devotion and awakening of true self as does the pianist, Helene Grimaud. I visited her guest book on her web site at Deutschgrammophon and spent a long time perusing her messages.

These intimate conversations with Helene Grimaud, left anonymously by her fans touched my heart. They were a fascinating and poetic outpouring of love, spiritual confession, appreciation and devotion. You can read the original article here and below you will find more of the letters.

I hope that you enjoy them.
Princess Haiku


Conversations with Helene Grimaud:



PrincePeterofNewYork
USA
12-23-2008

Mon cherie Helene,

In summer's heat or snowy winter deep,
Whether you are are near or far,
You'll always be y piano virtusosa shining star,
More beautiful than the Sisters of the Pleiades, by far!

Happy Holidays et Season's Greeting et Bonne Annee!
Je t'aime et Je t'adore,

Pierre

P.S.
What you are, you are by accident of birth;
What I am. I am by myself,
There are and will be a thousand Princes;
There is only one Beethoven!



Char
USA
03-03-2009

Wisdom in Hibernation

In Courtly Love we gather our forces and circle
the rest is Magical and Divine.



AVR
USA
12-11-2008

Breaking out of Cliche

Longing for anything
A gape evolving daily
T asting the essence of the loved one
E vaporating and condensing in new forms
R oaming the Universe together
A ndrogynous
L overs without limits

T he score you played next door
H eavenly sounds mesmerizing me
I nsights inside a circular design
N o is not in my dictionary
K isses are forever French



TX
Germany 11-11-2008

Dear Wolfwoman,

some parts I played last year...
You have to know I never learned it; not even notes...
I had the courage and played in Munich near the Marienplatz on the street and saw people's eyes after playing. I saw their feelings and know I met their hearts.





Credo
Austria
07-11-2008

Bon anniversaire and happy birthday, liebe Helene!
May there be joy for you and all your beloved ones
on this God given day.
May this joy unveil the sorrow,
if there is any afflicting sound in the sense
of your wonderful heart.

a silent bearer of a rose.



JT
USA
07-11-2008

Dear Helene:

I wish you a very happy birthday.
I very much enjoyed the new Bach recording with its wonderful logical program. I still remember the night in Troy, New York where you performed the Bach/Busoni Chaconne as if your life depened on it. I always look forward to your very special musical insights that strike a chord in my heart.



KE
USA

12027-2007

When you are absent I notice
No movement in the waves of perceptions
The fields stand still in dead calm



Pei
Greece
12-16-2007

Magical Helene,

In awe I reflect my perceptions.

The hands of a craftsman shape visions
Free Aphrodite from an amorphous marble
Carving, sanding, shaping the next goddess

Tools of creation possessing life force
Tiresome and agile moving with speed
Giving life, mixing, arranging, creating music.



Valz
USA
12-12-2007

I asked you to dance with me
Moving apart in tachyon speeds we land in a new world
Mine will remain a mystery while yours a fairy tale



HT
France
11-20-2007



Chopin and Helene
Genius meets Genius
Creativity meets Synaesthesia

Pythia's dreams of a magical union
Between the two
A soulful connection.

The union of conscious femininity
Can only be contained in a love container
Made up in Quantum Soup of Super Strings

The mystery composer in love
Not the poet but the choreographer discovers
Graffiti in secret envelopes

JB
UK
06-21-2006

Get well soon!

Trust that the music in your soul shall cast aside your maladies; these shadow impostors of illness. Then rising up again unobstructed, you can pour your soul into the music. Destined to perform you shall lay unhindered and we shall listen.



Anon
USA
06011006

Connecting with all the waves may bring the miraculous into being.



AP
France
04-20-2006

Chere Mademoiselle Grimaud,

While I adore you I sometimes feel this world is not such a friendly place for talent like yours, because I perceive this theme from below the collective, the matrix.



DA
Greece
04-05- 2006

Your thoughts triggered a trip to Christina's world.
Here is my favorite poem written by her.

One face looks from all his canvases,
One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans:
We found her hidden just behind those screens,
That mirror gave back all her loveliness.
A queen in opal or in ruby dress,
A nameless girll in freshest summer greens,
A saint, an angel- every canvas means
The same one meaning, neither more or less.
He feeds upon her face by day and night,
And she with true kind eyes looks back on him,
Fair as the moon and joyful as the light:
Not wan with waiting, nor with sorrow dim;
Nor as she is, but was when hope shone bright;
Not as she is ,but as she fills his dream.

Christina Rossetti
12/24/1856

the apoetheois of Ginette Neveu, said Princess Haiku

A new acquaintance of mine sent me a link to a youtube audio of a violin performance by Ginette Neveu. Her music has quite rightly been referred to as perfection; the very apotheosis of violin virtuosity.


photo

The intensity of Neveu's music is white hot and as she herself explained as a nine year old child, "I play it as I understand it."


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Ginette Neveu was, for 14 years, one of the most promising musicians of the twentieth century, a violin virtuoso who dazzled audiences in her native France with her performances, and listeners around the world with her recordings. She is remembered today for the promise of her few recordings, and the tragedy of her early death in an airplane crash.

Neveu's musical abilities manifested themselves very early in her life, and she achieved fame as an infant prodigy. Her formal debut took place at age seven and a half, with a performance of Bruch's G minor Violin Concerto in Paris. She quickly began winning prizes in competition, and took lessons from Georges Enescu, before entering the Paris Conservatory at age 11, where she earned the top student prize at the end of her first eight months there. It was her winning of the 1935 prize in the Wieniawski Competition at age 16, against a field of 180 competitors that included a 27-year-old David Oistrakh, that assured her international career more


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Neveu, Ginette, was a grandniece of Charles-Marie Widor. She studied with her mother, making her debut when she was seven as soloist with the Colonne Orchestra in Paris; after further studies at the Conservatory there, she won the premier prix at age 11; then completed her training with Enesco and Flesch. She won the Wieniawski Competition (1935), and then embarked on an acclaimed career as a virtuoso, touring Poland and Germany that same year, the Soviet Union (1936), and the U.S. and Canada (1937). After the close of World War II, she made her London debut (1945); then appeared in South America, Boston, and N.Y. (1947).



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Ginette Neveu gave her last concert on October 20, 1949. A week later, on October 27, she and her brother boarded an Air France flight en route to another series of concert engagements. All 48 passengers on board the flight, including the famous French boxing champion Marcel Cerdan, died when the plane flew into a mountain after two failed attempts to make a landing at the São Miguel Island airport in the Azores. It has been said that Ginette Neveu's body was found still clutching her Stradivarius in her arms.[1] more




Composer Henri Sauguet called Neveu’s death: a “divine abduction. After listening to some of the many audios of her playing on youtube I quite agree. I ordered a cd of her playing Brahms from Amazon today and look forward to hearing more of her music. Indeed, she appears on the video in this post as a burning angel; as a Jean D'Arc of the violin who leads her listeners on a spiritual odyssey and into auditory battle with the promise of victory.

Conversations with Helene Grimaud or through the mystery flower Part Two, said Princess Haiku

photo credit


Every great artist inspires love, devotion and awakening of true self as does the pianist, Helene Grimaud. I visited her guest book on her web site at Deutschgrammophon and spent a long time perusing her messages.

These intimate conversations with Helene Grimaud, left anonymously by her fans touched my heart. They were a fascinating and poetic outpouring of love, spiritual confession, appreciation and devotion. You can read the original article here and below you will find more of the letters.

I hope that you enjoy them.
Princess Haiku


Conversations with Helene Grimaud:



etude
Atlanta
03-10-2006

My Dear Helene,

I have loved music since I was a young boy. I used to stand transfixed in the driveway next to my parent's house and listen to the pianist next door play Chopin, De Falla and Rachmaninoff. When she practiced I stood as still as a statue. The music wrapped me in enchantment. Since then music has been the most precious thing in my life.

I love all of the great composers but Sergei Rachmaninoff is my favorite. In 1959 I was fortunate enough to visit with one of the master's daughters, Tatiana at Villa Senar. that afternoon, August 16, 1959 will always live in my memory. the high point came when upon entering the music room where the Rhapsody, Corelli Variations and the Third Symphony were composed, Tatiana asked me to play his piano. I was stunned by the gesture but politely refused.

This is where you come in for were I you, I would have thanked her by playing her father's music, Chopin and perhaps some Bach or Beethoven. Only you among modern pianists could have done this precious moment complete justice!

I know that Michael Pletnev has recorded on this piano in his "Homage to Rachmaninoff" disc, but you would be my choice it it were possible to live that afternoon over. I would like you to know that Tatiana gave me a small branch of her father's favorite tree to take back to the United States with me. I went to Vahalla, New York and laid it on his his grave.

Helene, you are the most gifted pianist of our generation. I feel myself lucky to have heard you play the Rachmaninoff Second Concerto one year ago in Philadelphia, and I will be in Baltimore for your recital on November 5th. As I told you last year, your Chopin Second Sonata is the best interpretation since Rachmaninoff himself. May all the blessings of the universe be yours. Be well and continue your life in the service of music and our fellow creatures.

With highest regards and much love,
Professor Emeritus...

03-10-2006





Beau
Belgium
01-07-2006

Dear Helene,

I am not a pianist but a guitarist who is a fan of the Beatles and rock music. I recently heard one of your cds and it was a revelation; I even started crying. I asked if you were a human being or an angel? I fear the violence that we must all endure in this world. When I listen to your music, this fear turns into a sense of peace. Thank you for that amazing feeling. If you're a human being then it reassures me to know that there are people full of sensitivity and love. If you are an angel then thank you for coming to earth.



Jake
Amsterdam
03-23-2005

Dear Helene,

At the risk of being redundant I add myself to your thousands of fans that have no choice but to communicate with you in this one-way manner. I want to thank you for all of your wonderful music. I Iive in Amsterdam and am sorry to see that you don't play here so often. I saw you once in the summer of 2003 and then summer 0f 2004 you were unwell. It's a hard world for passionate beings!

Aller Beste Toegewenst



Marie
USA
03-23-2005

Hello Helene,

I bought your new CD today and it outstanding!

Is there a symbolic message in that there is a picture of you at a subway station and another picture of you next to an empty rail track?



Michel
France
02-05-2005

"Only silence remains"




PrincePeterofNewYork
USA
09-13-2008

Je t'ecoute de tout mon coeur,
At the last Night Prom at Royal Albert Hall,
You are a truly brilliantly shining star,
More beautiful than the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades.

Conversations with Helene Grimaud or through the mystery flower, said Princess Haiku

Every great artist inspires love, devotion and awakening of true self as does the pianist, Helene Grimaud. I visited her guest book on her web site at Deutschgrammophon and spent a long time perusing her messages.

These intimate conversations with Helene Grimaud, left anonymously by her fans touched my heart. They were a fascinating and poetic outpouring of love, spiritual confession, appreciation and devotion.

It seemed wrong to me that these lyrical letters written in the tradition of courtly love would be left in a dark, virtual dead letter office to eventually disappear. Many of the letters are glimmers into intimate recesses of the human heart, for like an archetypal Moon Goddess, Helene's music rides across the night night sky and into the human spirit.

I felt that they deserved to see the light of day and be appreciated for their beauty, charm and authenticity. Whether one is reading the witty and erudite prose of PrincePeterofNew York or the dark despair of Brontian youth in search of their diva anima, or poets inspired by her such as A of Croatia, they deserve to be preserved for their artistic value.

Once a month I will be devoting a special post to these "conversations with Helene Grimaud." Perhaps it is a particular and luminous quality of otherness in la belle, Helene's music that makes it possible for her audience to connect with their deeper selves. I remember writing that Helene was a poet's musician and these letters prove this to be true. Threaded like silver through out them are the words of all who understand the universal language of music.

The postings presented are extracts in many cases of longer conversations. Dates, names and other details have been changed to further protect the anonymity of the original posters.

I hope that you enjoy them as I did.
Princess Haiku




Conversations with Helene:


PrincePeterofNewYork
United Sates
07-11-2008

Mon Cherie Helene,

Bonne Anniversaire!
Pour toi!
Aphrodite by Victor Daley

On a golden dawn in the dawn sublime
Of years ere the stars had ceased to sing,
Beautiful out of the sea-deeps cold,
Aphrodite arose- the flower of Time,
That dear to the day of her blossoming,
The old, old Sea had borne in his heart.
Around her worshipping waves did part
Tremulous-glowing in rose and gold.
And the birds broke forth into singing sweet,
And flowers born scentless breathed perfume:
Softly she smiled upon Man forlorn,
And the music of love in his wild heart beat,
And down to the pit went his gods of gloom,
And earth grew bright and fair as a bride,
And folk in the star- worlds wondering cried-
"Lo, n the skies a new star is born!"

O Beloved, thus on my small world you
Rose, flushing it all with rosy flame!
Changing sad thoughts to a singing throng,
And creating the earth and sky anew!
As Love you appeared- and, lo, you are Fame,
And, all my follies and sins despite,
You yet, Beloved, may see my light-Small, but a star- mid the stars of song.

Bonne Anniversaire!

Je t'aime et je t'adore,
Pierre



Song
Chicago
16-03-2009

The seats were filled with all kinds of people
Mine was filled with me... but a different me
I did not shed a tear... my eyes did not fill with tears
I missed your playing and your smiling face

The piano did not sound like a bell...
I love a Helen who dazzles me with creativity...
I love a Helen who dazzles me with hide and seek
I love a Helen for she hides in the dark ocean
I love Helen like I love Houdini!



Samurai
Japan
10-03-2009

The Samurai is like the water. His mind is in abysmal stillness. When she calls him he doesn't come... When she wants to give he doesn't accept because he's not a beggar... The Samurai understands the meaning of everything she says, even her silence.



Silver
Greece
05-12-2008

Megaron the palace of music in Athens, Greece
I used to go by this building almost daily
I did not known that one day in the future it would be a place to display your talents.

I did not know I would not be present in physical sense
I did not know I could be present in a mental sense wither
I loved your presence and talk before the concert started.
The walk below the Acropolis and the Plaka restaurant we had lunch
A climb to the Erotokritos site not far but only a heavy climb to the foothill.

Love,



Opus
Greece
11-22-2008

My dear Helene,

The theme is "safe and sound"
The frequency is 54.6
Colors are Violet

M twin sister and You
A huntress with bow and arrows
My sculpture on display in Louvre, Paris.

Perhaps you can honor me by playing something
Study my bow and ... play the "spacious dance" songs
I promise when you direct attention this way

Artemis, Kalliste you will discover
More melodic than the sweetest concerto you ever heard
Mnemosyne will help you remember it.

My arrow traveled along the shoreline by the calm blue sea
Missed my brother's Adam's Apple landed on the
white French door below the golden ornate handle.

Come when you can!



AR
Pakistan
10-29-2008

I love watching you in the Helene Grimaud Master Class
The sounds and your explanations have become my secret teacher
Showing me the beauty I can be in every step of my development.



Mav
France
10-16-2008

I cannot tell you how much you touch me with your music... and your wolves.



Lostangel
San Diego
08-10-2008

The letter I received about postponement of your recital in La Jolla, sadly disappointed me. Three times has Southern California been forsaken of your talents. The last concert scheduled in Los Angeles you appeared only then to disappear. After effects of pneumonia. I understand. Not to sound unkind but it's been a series of bath luck. Best of luck to you in your travels.



Stairway
Greece
10-09-2008

Selene, brings the shadows and then the mind fills in the harmonies you think about but do not play.



Mystery
Malta
25-06-2008

You can continue loving her and not tell her. You can send her a love letter each day. You can train your anima to be just like her, and then you will not need her or burden her in any way. You can pray to the goddess of love. First, you must discover whom she likes and then you can bring her along. The archetypes can influence your intended lover. You can do Mantras each day. Stop being arrogant about what you love and ask her to tell you what she loves.



Noangel
Italy
06-06-2008

You can consider yourself free when you are what you've chosen to be.



Flav
Greece

I was very fortunate to get a word with you on a certain score that rings so clear in my mind. I felt like I was handling to you the beginnings of a new idea. I have been working on this score for months with passion and energy.

I read this poem by William Blake that I would like to share with you.

Unless the eye, ear, tongue, heart and mind catch fire
God will not be seen, heard, named, loved and not be known!



Cello
Czech Republic
09-25-2007

I think it should be hard to play in our country's concert halls, became many of the pianos are of a poor quality. The only Fazioli piano is situated at the Academy of Music in Prague and it is so broken and out of tune, that it rests in the corner of the concert hall abandoned.

I hope you'll not think all of the people in CZ are the same and we still want real pianists performing here. I hope that we can look forward to future performances you by in Prague!

Yours sincerely,
17 y.o.





Valentin
Amsterdam
08-09-2007

Musical Key

An explorer at heart is searching for some treasure
perhaps a lost archeological treasure
Or a desire hiding in the dark unconscious
But something right at the tips of her fingers



Eros
San Franciso
06-09-2007

Immortal Beloved
This is such a bold concept

Just like redo
She brings the aromatic breeze that cools the skin
Tantalized the mind and spirit

When the sun sets she arrives
And she is gone when the sun rises
She loves dark Eros the most



Mindful
Greece
05-24-2007

I went back to the book to discover a section where you may have hidden your secret. The secret is what the artist does with their mind. Thanks for the tour!



Imago
UK
10-12-2006

To Helen
Edgar Allan Poe

Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore
That gently, o'er a perfumed sea,
The wary, way-worn wanderer bore
To his own native shore.
On desperate seas long wont to roam,
Thy hyacinth hair, thy classic face
Thy Naiad airs have brought me home
To the glory that was Greece,
And the grandeur that was Rome.
Lo, in yon brilliant window-niche
How statue-like I see thee stand,
the agate lamp within thy hand,
Ah! Psyche, from the region which
Are Holy Land!

La Belle Helene playing through a long evening, said Princess Haiku

You can listen but can you hear?

in which the Urban Flute Player falls in love with the Artely Wilkins Flute

I am excited to be getting a new flute; an Artely the Wilkins Model. This flute is like a flower with an unusual and delicate fragrance. - Passed over in it's time it has become a lore, a legend, a tale capable of virtuosity. Many flute players have turned to flutes that are more efficient and forthcoming than the Artely Wilkins, but none of them compares to its transcendent capabilities.

I first encountered this flute at my music teacher's on a day when I arrived for a lesson sans flute. He was very gracious and allowed me to play on his other flute which was none other than the perfume rose of an Artley Wilkins flute.



I read somewhere that Paul Horn played an Artely Wilkins in his Taj Mahal recording and I'm not surprised about that. Not that I have unrealistic expectations of my own abilities at the flute; coming to it as I did as an adult. It still soothes the spirit and lifts the heart to have a vehicle by which to travel farther than oneself. And my neighbor has not recently flung a chair against our mutual wall which is a good sign.



My Artely Wilkins is being restored by none other than Steve Deutsch; an engaging and excellent flute technician. The term "technician" seems too strait laced for the abundantly creative spirit that Steve is, but it does describe one of the ways he earns his living.

I think the main reason the Artely Wilkins flute was passed over, despite its gorgeous tone was it's poor marketing and its rather homely name. We can do better than this.

Help Princess Haiku rename her new flute.

BTW it will be ready on the Day of the Dead which will give it a certain cachet or Mojo. I can live with that and I hope my neighbor can. :)

Princess Haiku hears the "The Raindrop Prelude in her Dreams"

Princess Haiku has been wandering in her sleep as both insomniacs and ghosts will. When asked where she has has been she only replied, "inside the raindrop."

"Classical Destinations," said Princess Haiku

Classical Destinations is the finest travel documentary and exploration of musical history that I have ever seen. You owe it to yourself to see the DVD which includes all 13 episodes from the superb TV series hosted and narrated by Simon Callow.



"Classical Destinations mixes documentary, music performance, real life soap-opera, philosophy and and tragic-comic whimsy in a moving visual tapestry." Some of the segments includes Vivaldi's Venice, Mozart's Salzburg and Johann Strauss's Venice. You can see video clips and explore great links on their web site.

honoring the late, great Pavarotti on Christmas Eve.

May you sing forever with the angels.
May your music resound forever in our hearts.

music of the Red Priest, said Princess Haiku still inspires

Fortunately, I am starting to feel better and have been listening to music tonight. I found this stunning video of Sarah Chang playing the music of the Red Priest on KDFC. It's my opinion that Vivaldi was as strikingly beautiful as was his music. Apparently, so did the hundreds of orphans that Vivaldi taught.

"Except for his music, not much is known about Antonio Vivaldi (1678^-1741). Born in Venice to musically skilled parents, he learned music from his father and later studied for the priesthood. Ordained at 25, he said mass for only a year until his asthma forced him to retire. He then dedicated his life to performing on violin and keyboard, teaching at the girls' school; Ospedale della Pietà composing instrumental and vocal music, and producing his operas and pastiches."

In Venice there was the extraordinary Ospedale della Pietà which was an institution for orphaned or illegitimate girls, foundlings and the female children of poor families. In fact there remains a plaque on the church threatening with damnation parents who tried to pass off their children as orphans. One can see the beautiful church of the Pietà, Santa Maria della Visitazione on the Grand Canal pictured above. It is but a short walk from the Saint Mark's Square and the Bridge of Sighs. Already in the 17 th century day this ospedale had achieved fame for its work with disadvantaged girls, especially for their singing and instrumental musicianship. Composers like Antonio Lotti and Scarlatti had served as musical directors.

This church and the Ospedale attached to it will forever be associated with the name of the great Italian priest-composer, Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1741). It was here that Vivaldi composed for the girls such marvelous works for chorus and especially for various combinations of instruments. The young ladies for whom Vivaldi composed and directed music were known as the putte or maidens. By 1738 there were about a hundred putte in residence at the ospedale. The girls were divided into two categories: the figlie di comun or commoners who received a general education and the figlie di coro or choristers and musicians who received an exacting musical training in solfeggio, singing and instrumental technique. Vivaldi supervised the teaching and served as concert master and composer-in-residence as mentioned. The reputation of the Pieta surpassed anything in Europe and drew visitors from all over Europe.

If you are interested in learning more about Vivaldi and the young ladies he taught the book, read Vivaldi's Virgins.

"Barbara Quick's Vivaldi's Virgins is a coming of age story set in 18th century Venice utilizing and transforming a literary form popular during that era. As a violinist, the narrator allows the reader to experience the richness of Vivaldi's music from a perspective unavailable today to modern listeners."

Princess Haiku's car music

The People who were onto the music I play in my car are
Chedwick
Dreamer
Lotus
Painter

a mystery palaquin said, Princess Haiku

A mystery palaquin carried Princess Haiku into the farthest reaches of night. Why even the stars were at my fingertips, I was so far away she exclaimed!





What music was Princess Haiku listening to on her esoteric journey? The closest guess wins a link of the day. When you stop let me know what you listen to in your car when you are driving, or are on a break daydreaming.

Undine Returns to Sea

Undine
by Micha F. Lindemans
In Teutonic folklore, undines are female water-spirits who like to associate with humans. They often join villagers in their dances and merry-making. An undine was created without a soul, but by marrying a mortal and bearing him a child she obtained a soul and with it all the pains and penalties of the human race.

She is the subject of the tale Undine (1811) by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. The word was invented by the medieval scholar Paracelsus.
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