Love and Death in a White Desert

Gerhard Jäger: Der Schnee, das Feuer, die Schuld und der Tod. ISBN 978-3-89667-571-2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Know thyself – the famous inscription at a Greek temple in Delphi was meant as a warning against man’s vanity. Man is weak, prone to errors, vulnerable and mortal. Plato, the ancient philosopher, went a step further and exhorted man to acknowledge his ignorance and to strive for a better understanding of himself and of the universe. The quest of oneself’s identity, the search for the origin of one’s beliefs is one of oldest challenges of mankind and a constant subject in literature.

The Austrian novelist Gerhard Jäger has written a gripping story of a historian spending the winter in a remote mountain village to write a book about a witch hunt. It takes time to bridge the gap between him, the academic, the city dweller, and the village folks, he remains an outsider at the beginning. As time goes by, a slow process of social integration starts until he reveals the subject of his book. Many a secret lie dormant in the village and the villagers have no intention to let a foreigner disturb the fragile peace. Nevertheless, the man makes a few friends until a girl enters the game. Maria, a mute girl with a tragic past. The historian falls in love and his first friend in the village becomes his strongest enemy. At some point, an avalanche destroys half of the village and in the middle of this emergency the constellation of the three main characters is heading to its climax. Death is the air – and I will say no more otherwise you won’t read this riveting book.

Jäger beautifully draws the psychogram of the historian and his search for himself. Who is he? What does he expect from life? Which truth is he to believe, which choices does he want to make? Besides the plot and the psychological dimension of the book I was impressed by Jäger’s suggestive language and I was often tempted to draw a parallel to Thomas Mann’s “Magic Mountain”. And the obvious piece of music to go along with this book is Franz Schubert’s string quartet “Death and the Maiden”:

Composing while death is knocking on the door

Putin’s World or the Battle for Influence in Europe

Hubert Seipel: Putin. Innenansichten der Macht. ISBN 978-3-455-50303-6 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ It is hard to find a biography about Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, and it is even harder to find a balanced one. It quickly becomes apparent that the author of this book, a German journalist, had and probably still has privileged access to Putin, and the great value of the book is to oppose Putin’s personal view on issues ranging from the dissolution of the USSR, the rise of Russian oligarchs under Putin’s predecessor Boris Yeltsin, the expansion of NATO and the Ukraine crisis to the openly hostile attitude of many US and European politicians and media.

A multi-polar world

Putin gets a chance to present his point and, which I deem more important, to explain his vision of a multipolar world, of Russia’s place in world affairs and the historic context that shapes this vision. A recurrent argument is: The break-up of the Soviet Union was a traumatic experience for Russia’s population. The US and the European Union took advantage of Russia’s weak position in the 90s to expand their influence simply because they could get away with it and did not care to acknowledge Russia’s national interests. The West’s cardinal sin was the expansion of NATO and the EU to the east, as he sees it. The selling-out of the most valuable parts of the Soviet economy – the mining industry and the petrochemical sector – to western companies added to the humiliation.

One of Putin’s goal is to redress these historical errors, to give Russia a new self-confidence and to restore Russia’s political influence vis-à-vis the European Union and the United States. A multipolar world where the US predominance is balanced by the BRIC states (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and the European Union. His personal ratings seem to justify this approach. Putin in popular in Russia, no matter what Western pundits say, and coercion from abroad i.e. sanctions tends to boost his popularity rather the to diminish it. Russian nationalism is not to be underrated.

“Don’t push us around!”

The Russian president has a central message: Stop trying to push us around! His wish to play an active and constructive part in European affairs seems genuine and his motive – mutual economic benefit – makes sense. However, his argument fails at a crucial point. If he wants the US and the European Union to consider Russia’s national interests, Moscow must also acknowledge the national interests of Eastern European countries that wished to join the EU and NATO. They made a sovereign choice, it is not something they were lured into by devious US generals or EU bureaucrats in Brussel. The Russian concept of “spheres of influence” belongs to the 19th century and makes no sense whatsoever in a globalized world with multiple political, economical and social interdependencies.

No doubt, mistakes were made in Brussel and the European Union’s foreign policy is always a difficult compromise and often contradicted by national foreign policies of its member states. And yes, the US poured millions of US dollars in lobbying efforts to support opposition groups in Russia, in Georgia, in the Ukraine – if not a provocation, at least a deliberate challenge for Russia. However this can be no excuse for the occupation of the Crimean peninsula. A central tenet of the European order after World War II – the respect of national borders – has been violated by Moscow in the name of national interests, once more. Hungary in 1956, Prague in 1968, the Crimea in 2014. I see a certain pattern there: Russia uses force, where policy failed. You can do that, but you cannot complain about Western meddling in Russia’s traditional sphere of influence at the same time.

About taking sides

How could a journalist miss these contradictions? I don’t know. Privileged access obviously has made Seipel loose his objectivity and the last chapters of the book are nothing less than an apology for Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula and its support for rebellious armed groups. The bashing of other journalists for their “Russia bashing” doesn’t really add to Seipel’s credibility.

The only useful and interesting parts of the book are the chapters about Russia’s oligarchs. The author provides interesting details about the total failure of the government under president Yeltsin and the reaction of alternative power centers formed by corrupt politicians and government officials on the one side and unscrupulous businessman on the other side. The conflict of interests of US president Donald Trump make the later appear like an absolute beginner in comparison.

This said, it is now my turn to come up with a deliberate provocation of Russia and it takes the shape of a Lithuanian composer of the name of Mikalojus Ciurlionis who has written at the end of the 19th century symphonic poems, organ and piano works often inspired by the national awakening of Lithuanians living under Russian rule until 1917:

Lithuania masterpieces on cassette tapes

A Respectable Woman, an Outstanding Talent

R. Larry Todd: Fanny Hensel. The other Mendelssohn. ISBN 978-0-19-936638-2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If there ever was a good biography of Fanny Mendelssohn, it is this book. Fanny Mendelssohn was an outstanding pianist and composer and happened to be the sister of Felix Mendelssohn, one of the great composers of German romanticism. This book is not exactly a page-turner, but it’s not meant to be a page-turner. Its scientific value for anyone interested in Fanny’s life and works cannot be praised enough. Todd’s painstakingly meticulous research led to a work loaded with innumerable details on Fanny’s relation to both her brother and her husband Wilhelm Hensel, with multiple quotes from her letters and diaries and with a rigorous analysis of Fanny’s compositions. A treasure trove for musicologists and freaks like myself.

If Fanny Mendelssohn is known by insiders only today, it has of course to do with women’s social position in the 19th century. A woman from a respectable family like the Mendelssohn’s would not embark on a career as a professional composer or pianist or any other career for that matter. She would marry a respectable man and raise children and devote herself to fashionable leisure activities. Composing and performing were acceptable only in a private circle, but publishing works under her own name or embarking on concert tours – that idea seemed unacceptable to both Fanny’s father and to her brother.

How ambiguous however Felix’ feelings about this were, becomes apparent when Todd explains how he encouraged his sister to perform her works at charity concerts and organize weekly concerts at their home. The “Sunday Concerts” attracted Berlin’s elite and were semi-public cultural events that not only put Fanny into the limelight but also gave her the opportunity to mingle with the brightest artists of her time, notably composers and musicians that would consider her as a peer.

On my music blog I will give female composers this year considerably more space and as an introduction to Fanny Mendelssohn’s work I suggest you enjoy some of her song cycles, a genre in which she excelled and outranked her brother:

Longing for Italy, home of Beauty

Truth against Falsehood – Why Shakespeare Matters

William Shakespeare: Hamlet. ISBN 978-0-19-953581 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.” I have read Shakespeare’s play “Hamlet” for the first time as a teenager ahead of seeing the piece in Stratford-upon-Avon and re-read it recently while brooding over Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s incidental music inspired by the play. Through the piece, the current US president came to my mind. What wretched creatures mighty men often are!

Claudius, King of Denmark, murderer of his brother, Prince Hamlet’s father, and usurper of the throne – his pitiful existence, based on a self-perpetuating lie, is exposed first by the ghost of the murdered king, than by a band of theatre actors and finally by Hamlet himself. But it is through his own words that the King of the Great Lie gives evidence of his moral mediocrity. “Madness in great ones” are Claudius’ words to characterize Hamlet. But Hamlet, Bearer of the Truth, only feigns his madness to execute his revenge on Claudius. Claudius turns reality upside down just as Donald Trump does: Anything contradicting the present US president’s mindset is labeled by him as “fake news” and considered a threat.

In reality, Trump’s presidency is “fake politics” right from the start. He didn’t win the popular vote and the crowd at his inauguration wasn’t exactly impressive. Trump’s ascendance does not reflect the will of the majority of the US electorate, it is the result of an outdated election system. Trump’s political achievements so far are ridiculous compared to his declared ambitions, and this is hardly surprising since Trump never had any real political agenda. He is exclusively interested in promoting himself. He is a salesman selling himself as a brand through Twitter. To succeed in this endeavour he hijacked politics and pretended to stand for certain political ideas that were popular among those who were most prone not to elect his rival Hillary Clinton. Or, as Hamlet puts it to his friend Horatio: Let candied tongue lick absurd pomp!

Donald Trump is no president and his political project is an empty shell. Much talk, little substance. Shakespeare had a keen awareness for the trappings of political power in the 17th century which are essentially the same 400 years later: Vanity, without which you cannot run for office, slyness to seduce the masses, falsehood to discredit any rivals and deflect any criticism, ruthlessness to stay in power, arrogance as you get used to be in power. Sounds familiar? It should.

Shakespeare’s play pitches truth against falsehood, Hamlet against Claudius. Both die in this moral struggle, but Hamlet is the moral victor since he saves his friend Horatio from certain death. Truth, deceny, loyalty and friendship – these are the virtues to guide us through difficult times. What was true in the 17th century is of utmost relevance today. People should spend less time on social networks and read Shakespeare instead. Present writer included.

As I already mentioned Tchaikovsky’s incidental music renewed my interest in “Hamlet” and stimulated my writing:

Murder, madness and stirring melodies

PQ-QP = h/2πi – Uncertainty as a Fate

heisenberg

Ernst Peter Fischer: Werner Heisenberg – ein Wanderer zwischen zwei Welten. ISBN 978-3-662-43441-3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Writing a biography of a physicist presents a challenge: Should the book focus on the person or the science? Should it try to describe a human being’s life or should it explain that person’s scientific idea? At best it tries to reconcile both, but this effort quite often fails since most recent scientific discoveries are quite complicated to explain to a layman who might have a stronger interest in the person than in his ideas. Retracing the life of Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), one of the founders of quantum mechanics, is a mission that seems right from the beginning doomed to fail.

The first chapters of the book are bound to discourage the reader. The language is clumsy at times, pompous at others. Bits of philosophical ideas about science, literature and music mix with leaps back and fro in Heisenberg’s life – a complete mess. The author tries to show off with his knowledge of German Romanticism and connects Heisenberg’s scientific ideas to Heisenberg’s Romantic outlook on the world wherever he sees fit which is confusing and totally unnecessary. However after some 80 pages, the author finds a straightforward way to explain the thinking of Heisenberg as it evolved with time and one of the rather interesting aspects of Heisenberg’s scientific studies.

Heisenberg discards the idea that there is something like an “objective reality” in natural sciences that one can observe, measure and describe. He suggests that man should try to explain natural phenomena with a theoretical model and warns at the same time that man is tempted to be guided by past experiences when building models instead of being creative and coming up with radically new models. Thinking out of the box, transcending traditional paradigms – this seems to be the supreme effort for a scientist, but also for man generally. We don’t like to change our basic assumptions of life, do we? Once you start asking questions, life can become quite messy, uncomfortable, even life-threatening.

Given that Heisenberg’s expertise was quantum mechanics and the mathematical models necessary to understand them, I cannot ignore the formula in the headline: PQ-QP=h/2πi. You do not need to understand it, but you need to understand its meaning for physics and philosophy. Basically the formula asserts a fundamental limit to the precision with which certain pairs of physical properties of a particle (a part of an atom, e. g. an electron), such as position and momentum can be known.

Taking a step back it means that the scientists changes the object of his study as he studies it, for example by trying to measure its momentum or determine its position, and thus falsifies his measurement by doing it. When talking of atoms, there are things we cannot know with precision – this was Heisenberg’s revolutionary idea. It introduced an element of uncertainty and threw over board another basic paradigm of classical physics: the law of cause and effect, which does not apply necessarily to subatomic particles. Things within the atom can happen randomly. A frightening thought? Don’t worry. Your coffee-machine is not going to break apart spontaneously, at least not because of quantum physics. However Heisenberg’s scientific breakthrough makes your iPhone and computer work, as it led after many more years to the invention of the semi-conductor. Intel inside – crystals and hopping electrons!

The book explains all this reasonably well, and at the same time gives an idea of what Heisenberg’s thoughts and feelings were when the Nazis rose to power, when the SS abused him as a “white Jew” promoting Jewish physics (Albert Einstein’s relativity theory) and how Heisenberg did not build a Nazi atomic bomb. If it weren’t for the botched introduction, I’d give the book four stars. I am glad that the author got around to solid story-telling and quantum theory for dummies. I am also glad I did not give up too soon.

Heisenberg was a keen amateur pianist and cellist. “One cannot live without music. But when I listen to music, I sometimes get the absurd idea that life could have a meaning”, he wrote in 1924. In his leisure time, when he was not crunching numbers or developing models, he liked to study challenging music written by Robert Schumann, for instance his piano cycle “Kreisleriana” (Op. 16), or Ludwig van Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas.

Satire and passion for the benefit of mankind

Two cello sonatas to please the king