Greetings, and welcome to my blog!
Here’s where I introduce the theme of my blog, following which, depending upon whether or not your curiosity is sufficiently whetted to continue reading, I will meet you again at the end of the week with my first post proper!
So, what’s it all about, and what’s with the title? Let me explain…
In the history of aesthetics, the idea of “the sublime” has a long pedigree, and its meaning has been debated throughout the centuries by generations of artists, writers, poets, musicians and critics. These days, however, the word “sublime” has a pretty straightforward definition; in everyday language it simply means “excellent” or “exceptional” and can be applied to almost anything that can be refined to the highest point…such as a perfectly executed goal in football, or an exquisitely cooked meal.
In this blog, I will take as my lead this modern sense of “exceptional”, and apply it to the varied worlds of art, music, film, television, theatre, opera, and literature (anything you can see or hear and which I can embed or link to, basically). I will choose examples that I think stand out from the crowd (“occasional glimpses”) by virtue of their excellence or cultural significance, and write about them, hopefully in an interesting way, and by so doing, share them with you.
To give you an idea, here are, in no particular order, some sublime creations slated for upcoming posts: Barbara Bonney’s rendering of Schubert’s Ave Maria; the use of Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto in Brief Encounter; Jan Van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece; Tennyson’s poem The Charge of the Light Brigade. However, the sublime is represented in popular culture, too: also upcoming are pieces on Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of Badass Buddusky in The Last Detail; Jimi Hendrix’s influential performance of The Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock; and Cook and Moore’s comedy sketch Pete and Dud at the Zoo!
Of course, such things are subjective and you are under no obligation to agree with me! We all have our individual opinions and tastes, after all. However, my selections will most usually be tried and trusted gems of high artistic quality that are widely admired or acknowledged. Join me in my “occasional glimpses of the sublime”, and see if you agree…