“I died for beauty, but was scarce” conjures up pictures linked with the macabre physicality of death – the narrator is a decaying corpse. This poem should be frightening and unpleasant… It attracts, even comforts the reader though.
Walking through Vologda, you’ll find the central square with ease: the orthodox “onion” domes of its church ensemble are visible from far away. The gilded dome belongs to a pseudo-gothic belfry. It resembles a beautiful woman who wants to be…
You may have seen the ballet Giselle or heard of it, at least. Its main character is a peasant who, despite her frailty, loves to dance. Beautiful and pure-minded, she’s meant to be happy… A dreadful tragedy suddenly happens in…
If you have been to an old cemetery, you have seen how cruel time is. Even the headstones which were placed a hundred years ago often seem half-destroyed: sad angels without heads sit on the cracked steles, names of the…
What do we do when the first act of an opera ends, the curtain falls, and the entr’acte begins? We rush off to the buffet, of course. Relaxation with a glass of good sparkling wine – that’s what entr’actes are…
In the central street of Riga, Brīvības iela, there is a bronze statue of a man sitting on a rock and drawing with a pastel pencil. This bearded, oddly-dressed, barefoot man resembles a character from a fairy tale. However, such…
Once, my good acquaintance – a well-educated woman, a pianist – came around for a chat. We were talking about music and then about art in general. I started to tell her about the impressionist works I had seen in…
Pieces of classical music tend to be relatively long. Even their separate parts often last up to fifteen minutes. Fine themes unfold gradually and enter into complicated relationships with each other. Preludes by Frédéric Chopin from Op. 28, in contrast,…
Many tourists try to photograph of St. Vitus Cathedral in its entirety. They squat, even lie on the ground, but to no avail: the grand building refuses to squeeze into a shot and become a Facebook story.
In many popular movies, battles are the most gripping scenes. We admire mighty heroes killing several enemies with one blow. We enjoy the heat of combat, the thrill of victory… Here are a piece of music and a painting, both…