Proust writes extensively about memory. He has a way of coiling and uncoiling his descriptions. He is able to relate memory to taste, color, dreams, sound. In Swann's way, he describes the little phrase of Venturi's sonata as a catalyst for love at first sight. *I'm working my way through Proust's epic series Remembrance of Things Past. The translated books that I own are fantastic, and I am also listening to the book on Audible, which helps me to process the lengthy descriptions and massive text. "The year before, at an evening party, he had heard a piece of music played on the piano and violin. At first he had appreciated only the material quality of the sounds which those instruments secreted. . . . But then at a certain moment, without being able to distinguish any clear outline, or to give a name to what was pleasing him, suddenly enraptured, he had tried to grasp the phrase or harmony—he did not know which—that had just been played and that had opened and expanded his soul, as the fragrance of certain roses, wafted upon the moist air of evening, has the power of dilating one’s nostrils. . . . This time he had distinguished quite clearly a phrase which emerged for a few moments above the waves of sound." —Marcel Proust, from À la recherche du temps perdu, vol.1: Du côté de chez Swann My husband and I were having a discussion about music recently. Certain albums or songs are a living soundtrack to different stages in our life. We can each look back to 1999 or 2001, whenever we hear a certain song or artist, we are transported to those moments and memories.
During our conversation, he said, "It's crazy how music can represent a little slice of your life" as he gestured along on an imaginary timeline. We've been listening to a lot of Beastie Boys, Led Zepplin, and David Bowie lately. We are a little out of touch with current music and artists....we just got tickets to see Ben Folds and Flight of the Concords---neither have a new album, as are intermingling music from old slices of our lives into our current experience, I wonder how that will impact our memories. In the future, when we hear a song, will we be transported to our past when we first heard that music, or to now....when we are looking at the music with new eyes, hearing it with a new outlook and appreciation and more life experience and perspective. I wonder what songs will emerge as the sound track to the current 'slice' in my life?
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Mrs. Mitchell
This is my 'slice of life' blog. Archives
March 2020
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