Last weekend, I went to Mount Vernon to the beautifully restored Lincoln Theater to see the Metropolitan Opera's rebroadcast in HD TV of Jacques Offenbach, The Tales of Hoffman.
Complex opera with the main character the writer Hoffman telling the tales of the three unhappy loves in his life, from his perspective while in the company of his muse, impersonating his best friend.
Yes, a complex and complicated storyline with different loves and villains.
Battling for Hoffman's creative soul, the muse tries to protect Hoffman from himself and the woman around him.
In driving Hoffman away from love, the muse propels him onto greater artistic achievements.
What consequences does the muse invoke for her writer, or even herself when she envelopes his life with protections from that lived life ?
After the opera, driving back to the ferry, I thought about the word muse.
Such a small word with great meaning and reverence.
Where and what was it's root?
What kind of classical mythology was involved?
Muse
 (myōōz)  noun.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin Mūsa, from Greek Mousa; see men-1 in Indo-European roots.] |
| (myōōz) verb. mused, mus·ing, mus·es v. intr. To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation. v. tr. To consider or say thoughtfully: mused that it might take longer to drive than walk. n. A state of meditation. |
My wish for the New Year is to find your muse.
To thinking thoughtfully, musing over and doing no harm.
To thinking thoughtfully, musing over and doing no harm.
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