Dear Zibby,
I can't thank you enough for introducing me this music. Beyond this genuinely loving it, I feel it quietly altering me feeling about New York City, with which I've always had a slightly conflicted relationship. I've found that if you replace the horns and the shouting with, say, Schubert or Telemann, the city becomes unbearably beautiful. After years of thinly disguised rage on both our parts, it's like music has mediated a truce between us. Some early favorites, Massenets's Meditation. If a more beautiful piece of music has ever been composed, I don't know it. That Brandenburg concerto is no joke, and I echo your sentiment regarding Beethoven. Wow. I've no idea what the Vivaldi piece from Giustino is actually about, but to me, it suggests deception, some kind of elegant double-crossing.It makes me feel like I'm a double agent knee deep in some kind of sexy espionage. I've decided the Wagner overture you included should come with a warning label. According to some quick online research, the opera deals with the struggle between sacred and profane love, which is arguably the only struggle there is.
The other day, I was crossing the street, lost in my head about something, not uncommon state of affairs. I was listening to the overture, as the music began to swell I suddenly realized that I had hands and legs and a torso and I surrounded by people and cars. It's hard to explain exactly what happened. But I felt in that moment that the divine, however we may choose to define such a thing surely dwells as much in these concrete and taxicabs as it does in the rivers, lakes , and mountains. Grace, I realize, is neither time nor place dependent. All we need is the right soundtrack.
I suppose this new infusion of music in my life is, at the very least, make me reconsider my hastily to dead, white males. And I've you to thank for that. How's things, by the way?
Your friend
Jesse Fisher
Jesse,
Things is good. So happy you're loving the music. I felt my whole life got an upgrade when I took that class. The thing that floors me most is that human beings wrote that music. Are people writing music like that nowadays ? If they are, I don't know about it. I hope you've fallen in love with the piece from Cosi fan tutte. I find that when I listen to it, for some reason, everyone I see becomes instantly more attractive. Please experiment with it and get back to me.
Elizabeth,
You were right about the Mozart piece. It somehow made everyone in New York looks like a viable romantic partner. I can't escape any longer. I think I like opera. You are never to tell anyone this, ever. Seriously.
Your opera secret is safe with me. I've been relistening to the music after each of your letters. I like hearing your take and then revisiting them. And even though Pennsylvania stands between us, knowing we're hearing the same sounds makes me feel you are not all that far away. If I haven't been clear about this, I miss you. Hmm, don't really know why. I barely know you. By the way, handwritten letters, greatest thing in the world. Keep them coming.
You ask why music like this isn't being written today. I wonder if these composers were expressing things musically that are too large for our current psychic state.
Anyway , all is fine here. College continues colleging along…
Massenet's Meditation , for instance, and I worry that my nervous system is ill-equipped to contain such immensity of feeling.
I bet if we went there at the same time, we'd have been great friend.
Will this music be the death of me? If so, you'll have blood on your hands, Elizabeth. Can you deal with that?
Jesse, as much as I love this letters, I'd like to see you again. The sooner, the better. So come back here and see me. The dudes here continue to be 18 to 22 years old, and they continue to act their age , I'd like a gentleman caller, and I'd like him to be you.
Ever yours,
Zibby
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