Name: English story about China 5: Confucianism and Taoism from 6th Century BC by ArtSongAsia
Duration: 5 min 21 s
Description: Confucianism and Taoism were founded in the 6th Century BC, when the existed major religions outside China were Judaism from Mesopotamia, Zoroastrianism from Persian and Buddhism from India.

Confucianism and Taoism were founded in the 6th Century BC, when the existed major religions outside China were Judaism from Mesopotamia, Zoroastrianism from Persian and Buddhism from India. 

English story about China 5: Confucianism and Taoism from 6th Century BC

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Elizabeth Bailey (soprano), Brno Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mikel Toms.

Music by Andrew Webb-Mitchell
Words by Joanna Boulter

“In Songs of Awe and Wonder, Andrew Webb-Mitchell has created a stunning set of symphonic songs on a grand scale. The music is full of passion and heroism, with glorious harmony and beautiful textures. The orchestration is beautifully detailed and the vocal writing creates a soaring line that carries the listener right through the vast canvas of the cycle. The work is dedicated to Mahler but, although the scale of the work is comparable to a Mahlerian song cycle, the music is in no way derivative and Andrew Webb-Mitchell has his own unique style and sound-world.”

Tasmin Little, violinist

The Artist’s Wife is written in sonata form and was inspired by a painting by the Viennese expressionist artist, Egon Schiele of his wife, Edith. It is an unusual painting and is quite unlike any of his other works; the tenderness and sensuality of this portrait contrasts starkly with much of his other work, raising the question of how his subject must have influenced both the man and the creative artist. The text for The Artist’s Wife examines this act of creation from this woman’s viewpoint – questioning her role as muse to the artist and her longing to be accepted and valued as a real woman, rather than merely an object of physical beauty.

In the autumn of 1918, the Spanish flu pandemic that claimed more than 20,000,000 lives in Europe reached Vienna. Edith, who was six months pregnant, succumbed to the disease on 28 October. Schiele died only three days after his wife. He was 28 years old. During the three days between their deaths, Schiele drew a few sketches of Edith; these were his last works.

You say you see me in this unforgiving pose, 
as you position me and move my head in place. 
May I not look up? 
May I meet your gaze just now and then? 
Show myself to you as I am? 
Let me raise my head. 
Let me look up, let me meet your gaze.

Now you say you have me perfectly posed. 
You need to understand 
that there’s so much more in me than meets the eye.

How to show a woman just as she is? 
I’m more than cheek and hand, 
more than curve of hip and breast alone could be.

Can you picture my innermost self, 
the essence of my soul?

Is this how I appear to you tonight? 
Will you show me to the world in a physical form 
as a body without mind, without heart? 
Or will you look deeper to paint me with insight 
revealing your subject as more than an image 
to put on display? 
Make me a truer part of your work!

Am I real in your eyes, 
or am I just a muse, creation of your art, 
and nothing myself? 
As you look into my eyes this interchange of looks will show you how I feel 
and then perhaps you’ll see me with a new-found tenderness.

See how my gaze enhances your art. 
The painting slowly takes shape as you work 
revealing your mastery anew.

This is the way it ought to be, how I’ve made you see me tonight. 
Now you understand how to bring this portrait to life, 
I’m at last drawn by your painter’s hand, 
now truly myself shaped by your touch.

I’m at ease in your company, at ease with your artistry,
and time passes by in a dream as I watch you work absorbed, focused. 
And as the sitting ends we wake to the world.

Everything I hoped for is achieved. 
This interchange of looks, 
I to you and you to me, 
has set me on the canvas.

All my doubts and worries have been overcome.

Reaching beyond a sensual yearning 
you have discovered an intimate vision 
of a woman, true and profound.

You and I 
bound in these colours. 
Timeless art 
living for ever.

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The Artist's Wife - Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Mikel Toms

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English story about China 5: Confucianism and Taoism from 6th Century BC

ArtSongAsia

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