MaeHwaChoOrkDo by JernGi(In the middle of the 19th century, watercolor, 29x33cm, National Museum of Korea, Seoul)
MaeHwaChoOrkDo is one of my all time favorites. This painting depicts JernGi (1825~1854) himself coming over the bridge to visit a friend of his living in the midst of the mountains. In this painting, the lovely petals of plum blossoms, which flower in late winter, look like snowflakes and JernGi is carrying an instrument called GerMunGo, a traditional Korean string instrument which was preferably played among male aristocrats of the time because of its deeply resonating sound, on his shoulder and the man in green sitting in the house is his best friend, Orh KyungSerk.
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*~The following are from my Diary for January 4th, 2010~*
For the past few days, it has been very cold and yesterday, although here it snowed just a little, it recorded the highest amount of snow in Seoul, and consequently the metropolitan traffic on the road was paralyzed and everything turned into a chaos. This should be an absolute nuisance for the people there but to me, it was a reminder of this masterpiece by VIVALDI, the fourth concerto, WINTER of the FOUR SEASONS.
THE FOUR SEASONS (1723) is a series of violin concertos by ANTONIO VIVALDI (Venetian, 1678-1741) who was an ordained priest called THE RED PRIEST due to his bright red hair and who also lead an amorous life.
It is so amazing that VIVALDI could depict all the seasonal shifts and images with just a few of strings and a harpsichord. As the FOUR SEASONS consists of 4 individual concertos, the whole FOUR SEASONS contains 12 movements, just like 12 months in a year.
Especially the fourth concerto, WINTER is so adorable and fun to listen to. The first movement is full of amusing descriptions of people on the icy road in the cold wind. In the second movement, I feel melted and mellow by the warmth which only winter could give us and the music is so beautiful. The third movement gets faster again with the harsh storms of winter but at the end of it, it leads us to spring..
THE FOUR SEASONS (1723) is a series of violin concertos by ANTONIO VIVALDI (Venetian, 1678-1741) who was an ordained priest called THE RED PRIEST due to his bright red hair and who also lead an amorous life.
It is so amazing that VIVALDI could depict all the seasonal shifts and images with just a few of strings and a harpsichord. As the FOUR SEASONS consists of 4 individual concertos, the whole FOUR SEASONS contains 12 movements, just like 12 months in a year.
Especially the fourth concerto, WINTER is so adorable and fun to listen to. The first movement is full of amusing descriptions of people on the icy road in the cold wind. In the second movement, I feel melted and mellow by the warmth which only winter could give us and the music is so beautiful. The third movement gets faster again with the harsh storms of winter but at the end of it, it leads us to spring..
4 comments:
Jen,
Wonderful pictures and wonderful sounds.
Keep up the good work.
Tom
You know, I've listened to The Seasons probably hundreds of times over the years and I never recognized the 12-part organization. So clever of Vivaldi.
I was wondering about the figure in the window. I couldn't make out whether it was male or female. I assumed it was a wife etc. but apparently not.
One of my all-time favorite places to visit is the Freer & Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. As a summer student in D.C. years ago I often spent week ends wandering around the National Gallery of Art or the Freer. They had a pretty good collection of Asian art even then. I have not been there for years. They have expanded the collection beyond what I remember. You might find some of these exhibits of interest. http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/default.htm
Thanks Tom, It’s nice of you to say so. :) *bisous*
Yes, Bob Moreover, Vivaldi even wrote sonnets for The Four Seasons as Gil Shaham commented. How poetic Vivaldi was, too~! :) *bisous*
Reportedly, it’s his best friend named Orh KyungSerk and in the painting (here, this painting is so small it’s difficult to recognize though) he is playing the PiRie, a traditional Korean wind instrument and we can expect them to play duets. And thanks for the link, I will surely explore the virtual museum thoroughly with pleasure. I also know some Korean art exhibitions on the Met museum;
Korean Painted Screens
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={9B306940-0E1E-4645-BC9C-FF881CDA2817}
Korean Ceramics
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/korean/korean_images.html
Art of the Korean Renaissance
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId=%7B5CCD5232-A073-4DBE-A06D-36D32D933A74%7D&HomePageLink=special_c2a
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