{"id":7823,"date":"2012-09-04T15:44:33","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T22:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=7823"},"modified":"2013-02-07T21:11:48","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T05:11:48","slug":"depth-is-where-its-at","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/09\/04\/depth-is-where-its-at\/","title":{"rendered":"depth is where it’s at"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Blue<\/a>
Photo: http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/pgordon\/2531908489\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday, around midday, I went out to the corner grocery store to get a few items. The previous four hours were all spent indoors, dealing with the last breaths and the passing of our beloved elder cat Calvin. I did the shopping I needed and didn’t really emerge into the ‘real world’ until I stepped out of the store into the parking lot. The day was radiant – a brilliant blue sky, light breeze, temperature in the mid 70’s. I hadn’t noticed anything up until that point. I was lost in my grief. But in that moment, I experienced both profound loss and sheer joy simultaneously. That feeling is what the fine arts are able to do for us as humans. We don’t need to experience the passing of a dear pet or friend or family member to experience the most profound forms of grief as expressed by, say, the end of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, or the radiant joy of a gorgeous late summer sunrise expressed, for example, by the opening of Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra<\/em>, or Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe<\/em>. And we also can experience that paradoxical feeling of both at the same time, like Wagner so beautifully does in his Liebestod<\/em> from Tristan and Isolde,\u00a0<\/em>or by Strauss in his final, sublime vocal trio at the close of Der Rosenkavalier<\/em>. This depth of feeling – regardless of whether the feelings are positive, negative, or somewhere in between – is what defines great art. It is what separates great art from that which is merely entertainment. And that is why it is so vital that we have support for our great institutions, large and small, in the arts, no matter where we live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, around midday, I went out to the corner grocery store to get a few items. The previous four hours were all spent indoors, dealing with the last breaths and the passing of our beloved elder cat Calvin. I did the shopping I needed and didn’t really emerge into the ‘real world’ until I stepped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[148,143,115],"tags":[3122,3121,3119,3120,3123],"class_list":["post-7823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-miscellaneous","category-music","tag-expression","tag-fine-arts","tag-grief","tag-joy","tag-meaning"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-22b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":489,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/10\/14\/fall-colors\/","url_meta":{"origin":7823,"position":0},"title":"fall colors","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"autumn leaves in beaverton, oregon, originally uploaded by nobleviola. \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "photography"","block_context":{"text":"photography","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/photography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":315,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/05\/08\/self-criticism\/","url_meta":{"origin":7823,"position":1},"title":"self criticism","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"self criticism, originally uploaded by nobleviola. 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If I told you how old, I'd have to kill you...","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":250,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/22\/spring-is-here\/","url_meta":{"origin":7823,"position":3},"title":"spring is here!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"crabapple b\/w, originally uploaded by nobleviola. The crabapple and cherry trees in the neighborhood are exploding with blooms (as are local noses with seasonal allergies) and it's nice to see the sun and temps in the upper 60's.","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":152,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/12\/23\/happy-holidays-all\/","url_meta":{"origin":7823,"position":4},"title":"happy holidays, all!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"happy holidays, all!, originally uploaded by nobleviola. Happy Holidays to all of our friends and family around the country and the world - here's to a more peaceful and loving 2007.","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":260,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/04\/03\/opening-day-2007\/","url_meta":{"origin":7823,"position":5},"title":"opening day 2007","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"opening day - abbott and costello style!, originally uploaded by nobleviola. A photo courtesy of Astros fanatic (and fabulous cellist) Dorien De Leon (here pictured with her two brothers). It seemed to be the perfect way to celebrate the opening day of major league baseball! Go Mariners!!!","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}