A Must-see Video!

This blog is going to be a little different than my last one. Rather than tell you about everything that's currently going on in my life, (since there's not much going on besides work everyday) I will instead share with you what one of my current favorite pieces of music is.

Lately, i have been very touched by an aria from the opera "Doctor Atomic" by John Adams. For those of you who know, or think you know, John Adams' music, you are probably rolling your eyes thinking, "Not another minimalist piece!" But, let me tell you, this is John Adams like you've never heard him before, so give him a chance (Dad!). This opera, although i have not seen the whole thing myself, is the story of Robert Oppenheimer as he creates and tests the first atomic bomb. Throughout the entire opera, Adams very powerfully portrays the inner struggle of Oppenheimer as he works on the Manhattan Project.

This particular Aira, entitled "Batter My Heart," is taken from John Donne's Holy Sonnet XIV and was actually found written in Oppenheimer's journal. The text is as follows:

Batter my heart, three person’d God; For you

As yet but knock, breathe,

Shine, and seek to mend;

Batter my heart, three person’d God;

That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend

Your force, to break, blow

burn and make me new.

I, like an usurpt town, to another due,

Labor to admit you, but Oh, to no end,

Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,

But is captiv’d, and proves weak or untrue,

Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov’d fain,

But am betroth’d unto your enemy,

Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,

Take me to you, imprison me, for I

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

This aria takes place at the very end of Act I of the opera.

Below is a video of the aria of which I speak sung by Gerald Finley and the Nederlandse Opera Musiektheater. I hope you are as touched and moved when you watch it while following along with John Donne's powerful words as i have been.

Thank you to everyone for coming back to read this blog!

BJ