Swan song, a photo from Ile-de-France, North

Photographer's Note

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf died yesterday.

I could have shot this scene during the intermission of a performance of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. Major problem: I've never been fond of classical ballet.
I'd rather see Siegfried forge an unbreakable sword, fight a dragon, kill his putative father, marry one of his mother's sisters and, finally, through his own death in the next part, wreak havoc in the realm of the gods, than hop and bounce around because he's fallen in love with a sweet - but cursed - princess turning into a swan night after night (I don't have any zoophilous fantasy, either)...
In fact, it was Gluck's Iphig駭ie en Tauride that night, at the op駻a Garnier. Musicians had just left the orchestra pit, but certainly not to ponder over Iphigenia's fate on the stage, the high priestess of Artemis about to immolate her brother Orestes (though he hasn't told her who he really is... yet!) who murdered their adulterous mother because she had slain her husband, Agamemnon, who had agreed, years ago, to sacrifice Iphigenia to obtain from the gods good winds to bring his army to the shores of Troy (is that clear enough?).

Oedipus on the one hand, Electra (Orestes and Iphigenia's sister) on the other hand, among many others. Each, in their own way, looking for their inner self, going through the motion of their symbolic actions and passions, fighting both for their identity and integrity, hoping to escape the unrelenting fate decided by powers beyond their grasp, evolving into psychoanalytic archetypes...
Characters and situations to depict the essence of all human deeds and emotions, to make us think about who we are and why, to allow us to learn about ourselves and the world as a whole, of course.

A world somehow akin to TrekEarth, in many ways, full of ideals and interactions, but the comparison stops there, presently. Pride, honor and a supreme idea of justice on the one hand, fear of harmful effect, bullying and arbitrariness on the other hand, operating at different levels.
So, since I feel that looking in another direction and keeping on posting "as usual" would mean that I accept and enforce the way the system is run, I prefer to follow my own way.

Have fun... as long as some of you keep shaking the tree, hopefully.
Something positive may come out of it, sometimes, somehow. If you really want it, at least...

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
George Orwell - Animal Farm (Snowball, revised by Squealer

Consequently, if the republic is the weal of the people, and there is no people if it be not associated by a common acknowledgment of right, and if there is no right where there is no justice, then most certainly it follows that there is no republic where there is no justice.
Saint Augustine

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cgrindahl, Galeota, Suh, manub has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

pridel (233) 2006-08-04 15:19

Bonjour Dominique
Bel hommage, c'est un vrai ballet que nous propose la. Une danse un peu boulevers馥 par ce d駸ordre. J'aime bien d'ailleurs ce contraste entre le classicisme sage qu'inspirent les cordes et les partitions et ce d駸ordre.
Et puis il y a ces 馗lats de lumi鑽e ici et la.
J'aime bien.
Pascal
ps) apr鑚 avoir corrig� les fautes d'orthographe et de grammaire, j'ai pris le temps de lire la note � la maison !
Ca veut dire quoi ? Tu abandonnes le navire (la gal鑽e devrais-je dire) S駻ieux ?
Pour TE, il n'y a pas eu de meurtres, paricides, infanticides que je sache, relations amoureuses certainement, intrigues itou, mais bon tu le dis toi m麥e les trag馘ies grecques s'apparentent � la vie et � celle de TE.

jmdaoudal (82) 2006-08-05 3:16

"Les musiciens venaient de d駸erter la fosse d'orchestre, s皞ement pas pour se pr駮ccuper du sort d'Iphig駭ie sur la sc鈩e", non non ils sont partis � la pause syndicale... J'ai lu ta note dans son ensemble et en Fran軋is et tu avais 馗ris en mail ta d馗ision... TE est un univers polymorphe, mais de la forme que nous en faisons, c'est aussi comme la vie, il y a des 馮o�stes, des brutes, des po�tes, de v駻itables artistes et des abrutis.. Bien sur, tout le monde il est pas beau, il est pas gentil... Chaque jour, quand je rentre dans l'interface pour regarder et communiquer je viens avec un esprit diff駻ent, je lis aussi en fonction de mon humeur et il faut bien avouer d'objectifs personnels avouables ou non, je "critique" et je r駱onds � ceux qui m'ont 馗rit, il y a des grand moments, parce qu'il y a des gens vraiment bien, qui font de belles expressions photographiques dans l'esprit du site, et puis il y a des visites for鉉es, sur ces derni鑽es, par des relations � peu pr鑚 suivies on arrive toujours � percevoir des attitudes plaisantes....
Je viens de lire Pascal en dessous.. Il y a de l'interogation, pour moi dans ton texte il y a de la d馗eption... Mais r馭l鹹his, TE, est quand m麥e un espace interessant ou des liens ce cr馥nt autour des publications suivies et m麥e s'il n'y avait par semaine qu'un contact procurant du plaisir, il faut y vivre (c'est comme dans les vieux couples :-))
L'image au dessus est tr鑚 bien faite
Amiti駸 et soutient
Jean Michel

[2]

cobraphil8 (84) 2006-08-05 10:39

Bonjour Dominique,
si effectivement tu quittes TE comme on pu le faire ces musiciens avec leurs instruments, je serai d鱸u de ne plus lire tes notes m麥e si c'騁ait peu r馮ulier...
J'avais plaisir � voir et lire tes posts.

Dans tous les cas, je te souhaite une tr鑚 bonne continuation.
Et bravo pour ton oeuvre, m麥e inachev馥.
Amiti駸
Philippe

cgrindahl (6113) 2006-08-13 12:39

Ah, Dominique! We've shared the glory years of TE when joy suffused exchanges. I'm grateful that I wasn't present as things unraveled though I'm curious what happened. Claude promised to tell me his version of events but I've yet to receive that email.

I'm old enough that I've experienced the inevitable dissolution of what seemed at the moment to be incredibly precious. Scientists tell us all systems are subject to entropy that leads gradually to disorder. I guess we should not be surprised that a love of photography may not be enough to overcome other idioscyncracies that plague us as humans.

I'll likely not leave, though with the passing of each person whose presence has given me so much pleasure, this place becomes a more barren place. I appreciate your aesthetic approach to photography as well as your always entertaining and enlightening comments. This simple composition is a perfect case in point. The disarray of instruments whose masters have departed together with the music stands holding open sheet music speaks volumes metaphorically of the case you make. Yes, you will be missed. I appreciate that it is difficult to invest one's energy in a venture when one's heart is not in it.

Be well.

[2]

Clairedelune (4923) 2006-08-23 21:50

Eh bien, il semble que ce soit fait. Que ton dernier tour de piste soit maintenant chose appartenant au pass�. Si dommage! Ah! Pas que je n'aie 馗rit tant de critiques que cela pour tes photos. Mais, je lisais toujours les tiennes (pour mes photos et pour d'autres) avec int駻黎 et interrogation. Toujours impressionn馥 par ton fran軋is impeccable et tes connaissances nettement sup駻ieures. J'apprenais toujours. J'ai appr馗i� ta pr駸ence sans tambour ni trompette, mais oh combien pertinente.
Ta derni鑽e photo est si symbolique. Et si significative. Le sens... est-ce ce qui a fini par manquer?

Je te regretterai Dominique. En fait, je te regrette d駛�.
Claire

Galeota (10352) 2006-09-07 16:14

Et voil� un autre livre qui se referme et que l'on regrette d駛� d'avoir lu aussi vite.