Brad Kronen  

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  Date / Time: 8/13/2009 5:47 AM UTC

  The Mercurial Life of Richard Strauss - Song of the Day for Mercury from Brad Kronen's "Welcome to t
  

   The Muse of Controversy –

  The Mercurial Life of

  Richard Strauss

  Song of the day for Mercury

  From Brad Kronen’s

   “Welcome to the Solar System Series”

  

  "Ariadne in Naxos" by Evelyn de Morgan, 1877

   

  Mutability is the astrological quality that Mercury feels the most at home in since that is the quality of its rulership and exaltation.  When placed in any of the mutable signs, but especially in either Gemini or Virgo, Mercury is both comfortable while at the same time is as anxious as a thoroughbred racehorse awaiting the starting gate to open since it is in an environment that sets a pace the planet of thought and communication functions in best, that of lightning speed!

   

  Life, for the Mercury ruled person is measured by degrees of mental stimulation.  If something is one dimensional, dogmatic, or even universally accepted or “time honored” then the Mercurial person won’t find it that interesting or memorable and in many cases, won’t find it at all.  But if something has multiple dimensions, originality, and a sense of newness the Mercury ruled person will devour it until his or her voracious mental curiosity is quelled!

   

  I know this all too well being that I was born on June 11^th, a date when the Sun is in the mutably mental sign of Gemini.  With what has been stated above, my most admired composer is not an artist who has a body of work which across the board is deemed beautiful and whose music is “loved by all”.  That would be far too easy and thus mentally mind numbing to my Mercurial sensibilities.  The composer who I hold in the most high esteem lived a life that is controversial and created art that when first debuted to the public was found to be offensive and barbaric.  Therefore should it be of any surprise that he, too, was born on the 11^th of June as well?

   

  Exactly almost a century before me, Richard Strauss was born in Munich on June 11^th 1864, probably one of the most chaotic times in history for a European to choose to enter the world being that he would live through two World Wars and numerous overthrows of government in between. His life IS Mercurial beginning with his birth in the Mercury ruled sign of Gemini to his death taking place in the sign of Mercury’s other sign, Virgo on September 8^th, 1949.  His life also requires one to view it through a perspective that Mercury revels in – duality.  In one perspective, Richard Strauss can be viewed as one of the most innovative artists of the 20^th century with his compositions of symphonic music, opera, tone poems and lieder that range from ground breakingly shocking with his use of dissonance and morally defiant choice of subject matter to the most beautifully sublime.  In another perspective he can be seen as a weak willed opportunist who was willing to overlook the most blatant displays of evil mankind can make for the sheer purposes of convenience and self promotion when he became the head of the “Reichsmusikkammer” or Music State Bureau for the Nazi Party’s Third Reich.

   

  Mercury is not known for having patience and Strauss’ music follows suit.  From the first note of his opera “Ariadne auf Naxos” one is mentally stimulated and involved with both the music as it flows into various styles and with the cast of characters, many of whom are foil opposites of each other.  Ariadne’s aria “Es Gibt Ein Reich” or “There is a Realm” is one the greatest expressions of the Mercurial mind since it is a piece that describes the duality that exists in all of us when dealing with Love and its range of emotions along with the fact that the piece’s lyrics literally reference the god of duality, Mercury himself!

   

  The aria is sung by a character who in her own right is archetypal since she comes directly from Greek mythology.  Ariadne is the daughter of King Minos and in Greek myth she greatly aids the hero Theseus in defeating the Minotaur by giving him the golden thread he uses to stay on course as he searches for the bullish beast in the endless passages and turns of its lair. In thanks for this mentally brilliant plan, Theseus takes Ariadne and abandons her on the desolate island of Naxos where she wakes up deserted and utterly alone.  Ariadne represents antiquity in the opera and this can be applied to the individual psyche by looking at everything through the perspective of the past or in a solitary, one dimensional way. Upon awaking and realizing that her hero has left her with the likelihood that he will be pursuing other king’s daughters, Ariadne’s mind sinks to the lowest depths possible when she sings her opening lines:

   

  Es gibt ein Reich

  Wo Alles Reinist

  Es hat auch einen Namen

  Totenreich

   

  Or in other words: “There is a Realm. Where everything is pure. And this place has a name. Death.” The diva would rather die than face life without her man!  How many of us have taken such a melodramatic stance after breaking up with someone or like Ariadne after being dumped, quite literally!  She then bemoans the physical world and how pointless it is to remain alive and then just like a Mercurial mind changes thoughts, the music changes from a full orchestra to a solitary oboe, a pure and sailing sound that changes the dynamics of the piece when Ariadne sings:

   

  Bald aber naht, ein Bote

  Hermes! Heisen sie ihn!

   

  Or in other words: “But soon shall come, A Messenger. Hermes! He is here!”  The rest of the aria has Ariadne speaking of her salvation by this most agile of gods and the music builds and builds until it sails to a victorious crescendo on these words:

   

  Dies Lastende Leben

  Du nimm es von Mir!

   

  Or in other words: “This latest of lives, You will take it from me!”

  Not a sentiment you would picture someone jumping for joy over at first glance.  But if we look at Ariadne as a time honored representation of dogmatic thought since she literally IS a Greek myth, then her words begging to succumb to Hermes and having him escort her to the realm of the Dead transform her and the piece’s meaning as a whole when considering the creator of this dramatic scene is a son of Mercury!

   

  When the mind holds on to certain concepts for too long they become old and stale and have the potential to influence one’s entire mental perspective by making our thought processes inflexible to change and unwilling to attempt anything new or untried.  Ariadne’s pitbull like hold on the idealized love relationship she had with Theseus is so all or nothing and one dimensional that when he leaves her high and dry, she has no choice but to perish.  The same can be said of any way of thinking that is resistant to other perspectives, debate or even the changing times.  The whole thing needs to die!  Ariadne gains not only hope but a renewed sense in life by letting go and succumbing to who?  The god of Thought! Many times if we simply change our mental perspective and let go of some assumptions or thoughts considered to be set in stone, the world itself can take on an entirely new light!  Simple but god-like advice when looking at anything under Mercury’s domain!

   

  To tie this one in a curvy, ever moving silver-yellow bow – how’s this for art and life mirroring astrology?

   

  The version I chose of “Es Gibt Ein Reich” is sung by my favorite interpreter of the role of Ariadne, whom I saw perform the opera live – soprano, Jessye Norman. 

   

  “Es gibt Ein Reich” is an aria that sings about the god Mercury and was written by Richard Strauss, a Mercury ruled Gemini and is sung by Jessye Norman, a Mercury ruled Virgo! 

   

  Not too shabby, says this Mercury ruled astrologer!

   

   

   

   

   

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