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| Notre Dame, restored |
In April 2019 a fire destroyed much of Notre Dame de Paris, one of the monuments of Medieval civilization and the birthplace of polyphony. It is about to re-open, fully restored to as it was before the fire.
And a personal thanksgiving. Over the last few months, possibly years, I have been suffering a progressive hearing loss. In the last week it worsened to the point that half of my hearing was gone. Yesterday a visit to my doctor, who applied hydrogen peroxide and vigorous flushing, dislodged two large lumps of hardened earwax and today my hearing is fully restored! This happened to me once before, in my twenties. It is like being reborn. My world had slowly turned into purgatory or limbo, where sounds were half-heard, a ghostly existence. Now, the sound of my slippers on the floor is deafening! I have all those high frequency sounds back. Who knows, maybe I will be able to return to composing. Ah, sound!
A friend and I years ago exchanged lists of the things we hated the most. His list had all to do with places. Number one was having to move house because he has an enormous library. He pointed out that my list all had to do with sounds. One item would be if a student baritone saxophone player moved in next door. Agh!
So let's have a celebratory envoi. The Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 by J. S. Bach:
2 comments:
Wonderful news! Naturally I'm very gratified and thankful to see Notre-Dame repaired (I sent money for the purpose after the fire). I didn't know that you had been struggling with hearing loss, but how tremendously good to learn that the problem has been resolved, and in such a sudden way! Wishing you much joy.
Thanks so much, Craig. Yes, it is one of those things that creeps up on you, imperceptibly until one morning you wake up and realize that you can barely hear out of one ear! The bonus is that when you get your hearing back, it is just wonderful! Now I have to listen to all the Bruckner symphonies again!
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