| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: of the opening. Where is Beethoven," cried Gambara, "to appreciate
this prodigious reaction of my opera on itself? How completely it all
rests on the bass.
"It is thus that Beethoven composed his E minor symphony. But his
heroic work is purely instrumental, whereas here, my heroic phrase is
worked out on a sextette of the finest human voices, and a chorus of
the faithful on guard at the door of the sacred dwelling. I have every
resource of melody and harmony at my command, an orchestra and voices.
Listen to the utterance of all these phases of human life, rich and
poor;--battle, triumph, and exhaustion!
"Ali arrives, the Koran prevails in every province (duet in D minor).
Gambara |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Open Letter on Translating by Dr. Martin Luther: Christendom, and said nothing about it to these devil's teachers.
Now even though Christians have done some parts of the papal
blasphemy, the papal asses have not yet proved that they did it
gladly. Still less does it prove that they even did the right
thing. All Christians can err and sin, but God has taught them to
pray in the Lord's Prayer for the forgiveness of sins. God could
very well forgive the sins they had to unwillingly, unknowingly,
and under the coercion of the Antichrist commit, without saying
anything about it to the priests and monks! It can,however, be
easily proven that there has always been a great deal of secret
murmuring and complaining against the clergy throughout the world,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: to his office than from any desire to shine himself. His life and that
of his wife were so frugal, so tranquil, that their modest fortune
sufficed for all their wants. To them, their daughter Ginevra was more
precious than the wealth of the whole world. When, therefore, in May,
1814, the Baron di Piombo resigned his office, dismissed his crowd of
servants, and closed his stable door, Ginevra, quiet, simple and
unpretending like her parents, saw nothing to regret in the change.
Like all great souls, she found her luxury in strength of feeling, and
derived her happiness from quietness and work. These three beings
loved each other too well for the externals of existence to be of
value in their eyes.
|
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Danny's Own Story by Don Marquis: But frequent I am not believed. And two, three
different times I gets to the place where I couldn't
hardly of told myself from a hobo, if I hadn't of
knowed I wasn't one.
I got right well acquainted with some of them
hobos, too. As fur as I can see, they is as much
difference in them as in other humans. Some
travels because they likes to see things, and some
because they hates to work, and some because
they is in the habit and can't stop it. Well, I
know myself it's purty hard after while to stop it,
|
