Sarah Chang - Chopin Nocturne Violin NEW

Elegant and chic, Sarah Chang, said Princess Haiku playing the Brahms Violin Concerto.

I haven't heard Sarah Chang live in concert for three or four years and was delighted to come across this youtube video of her playing Brahms Violin Concerto in D. This is one of my favorites and the delight of people across the globe. Sarah is so expressive when she plays it is almost as though she dances with her violin. The warmth and fire in her playing is a wonder.

I don't know about you but I can't envision a world without Brahms, Beethoven, Chopin and other great classical music.

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.

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."

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.

Princess Haiku Listens to the Top 30 Young Phenoms Under the Age of 30 on KDFC

Yundi Li

KDFC Radio in San Francisco is known for its support of emerging and established young musicians. You can get more information on the top 30 gifted young musicians at the KDFC website.


October 27, 1982
Yundi Li turns 25 in October. Li is most well known for being the youngest pianist to win the prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition at the age of 18. Li is now living in Hannover, Germany.

Princess Haiku Offers Consolation to those Affected by the Virginia Tech Tragedy

He who learns must suffer, and, even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.




Aeschylus