Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 – 1921) “He knows everything, but lacks inexperience” (Il sait tout, mais il manque d’inexpérience) said Hector Berlioz in one of his wittiest musical put-downs when talking about the brilliant young French composer Camille Saint-Saëns who, with Mendelssohn,…
I returned to my old stalking ground over the Easter weekend. I was visiting the woods that I walked in every day when i lived in a country cottage just across the road from it. It was wonderful to spend…
Over the Easter holidays we had mostly good weather here in Lewes. It rained a bit but not so much to stop people enjoying a visit to our beautiful old town. I had many an opportunity to go out into…
Easter Monday is blue jeans Monday for me. Time to stand a look in my small urban garden in Lewes, UK. What better than my crop of blue irises, variety: Blue Denim. My Blue Denim irises have just the right street-cred for…
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (1601-2) by Caravaggio (1571 – 1610) In this series of Easter themed paintings, I’ve chosen for today this vividly physical painting by Caravaggio where I feel the artist is pointing at my own faults of trying…
Agnus Dei, 1640, by Francisco de Zurbarán (1598 – 1664) Whether you choose to see this tethered lamb as a religious symbol as the 17th Century painter Francisco de Zurbarán did, its pathos and dignity is always moving and not just for what…
Christ Crowned with Thorns c 1510 by Lucas Cranach the Elder ( 1472-1553) It’s Good Friday and every year I try to reflect that with a work of art and a piece of ecclesiastical music. Today, it doesn’t get more…
I need to keep reminding myself that I live in a very attractive English town. I’d been pretty house-bound until recently with a lung condition which is, hopefully, now on the mend and I’ve been trying to get back to…
I blame Noel Duffy for my red face. My friend, the Irish poet whose inspiring new poetry collection On Light & Carbon sat in my lavatory for the last couple of months begun enthusiastically but then fell victim to my…
I suppose it’s sad when a camellia bloom falls from the tree but when it lies there like that on a sunny afternoon, I think it has a special beauty. After-all, there are plenty more up there for me not…