morning meditation on the eternal nature of music, said Princess Haiku

I found a lovely video clip of Sarah Chang playing Meditation From Thais.

Pale, slanting morning light and music spills across my untouched day. It's interesting how music; in itself an ephemeral creation endures throughout our lives while things that we think of as substantial; work, family, friends, often do not and by the nature of life cannot. Yet music is as forever as the delicate empathy in the tones of this masterpiece, by Jules Massenet.

Today, is the last day that I could drive to King's Mums before it relocates to Portland, Oregon. I have never been to visit and I am trying to decide if several stressful hours on the freeway is worth this pleasure. Soon enough I will know as I have to leave soon if I am going to do this.

Oh, the possibilities of this new day....



Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912) was a popular composer of French lyric opera. Like Gounod and Bizet, his music is known for its charm and beautiful melodies.

This piece, Meditation, is taken from his opera, Thaïs. Thaïs is the central character in the opera, a seductive courtesan that repulses a monk, Athanaël, with her worldly attitudes. She learns to resent her shallow existence, and after being confronted by Athanaël and spending a night in meditation, agrees to retire from the secular world and become a nun. Athanaël, ironically, has been smitten by Thaïs' allure and decides that he is in love with her. He arrives at the convent where Thaïs now resides and finds her on her deathbed. Athanaël proclaims his love and renounces his vows of faith, while Thaïs steadfastly holds to her new found spirituality and dies, leaving Athanaël with neither faith nor love.

Meditation on Thais

Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912) was the most prominent French composer of the late nineteenth century.
Thais, based upon the novel by Anatole France, combines passion and religion. Set in Coptic Egypt. The opera was groundbreaking in its departure from metric rhyme in the text.
The Meditation is the entracte between acts 2 and 3 represents the spiritual
awakening of Thais.
More people are familiar with the “Meditation” from Thais than with the opera itself. It is a shame, because the story is an engaging one. Simply told, the opera’s plot traces the life journeys together of two unlikely characters – Thais’s from a courtesan to a saint, and Athanaël’s from a pious monk to a love-obsessed lunatic. Along the way, the two meet with worldly temptations and spiritual quests set to Massenet’s supremely lyrical, often intoxicating, music.