Music in the heavens (and in the other place)
Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 6:22 am
Last Tuesday I went to a concert where pan flutist Dana Dragomir was playing her instrument, the syrinx.
Do you know the story of King Midas and Pan? King Midas had done a favor to the wine god Dionysus, and as a reward, Midas asked to be given the gift of turning everything he touched into gold. A most foolish request, indeed! Imagine always having to wear clothes made of pure gold! Imagine sleeping on a bed of gold, below a blanket of gold, resting your head on a pillow of gold! Imagine eating bread made of gold and drinking liquid gold!!!
Imagine touching someone you love, instantly turning that person into gold!!!
Fortunately, Midas got rid of his accursed gift. Now he hated riches and splendor, and he started walking the fields and the woods, listening to the music of the god of the wild untamed nature, Pan.
Pan played his pan pipes, the syrinx. His pipes are named after a lovely water-nymph, Syrinx, whom Pan fell in love with. She fled from him, however, and her sisters changed her into a reed.
So King Midas loved when Pan played his syrinx. Everyone loved to hear the music of Pan, and once Pan challenged Apollo, the great god of the lyre, to a contest. Though everyone loved the pipes of Pan, everyone but King Midas thought that Apollo made greater music than Pan. Midas spoke up in defense of Pan, and to punish him, the offended Apollo turned Midas's ears into donkey's ears! Read about it here!
Midas was very ashamed of his stupid ears, and he tried to hide them under a turban. But his barber discovered the ears. The barber was scared of telling anyone about the king's asinine accessories, but he had to vocalize his knowledge somehow, so he dug a hole into the ground, spoke the secret into the ground and covered up the hole. But a clump of reeds grew nearby, and when the winds blew through them, they whispered "King Midas has donkey's ears! King Midas has donkey's ears!".
And so the reeds are back into the story! The reeds were the source of Pan's musical instrument, and King Midas chose Pan's reed pipes over Apollo's lyre, but the reeds told Midas's secret to the world!
Pan is, of course, a lower-class sort of deity. He does bear a striking resemblance to a certain Lord of Darkness and symbol of evil in western culture and religion.
Perhaps because of Pan's low status, his favorite musical instrument, the syrinx, hasn't made into heaven as a constellation in the sky. Compare that to Apollo's instrument, the lyre, which sits prominently in the northern sky as constellation Lyra adorned with the lovely blue-white jewel Vega.
Well, as I said, I was at a concert listening to a pan flutist, Dana Dragomir, playing her instrument. The man introducing the concert said that the syrinx and the lyre are the two oldest instruments in the world! I'm not sure I believe in that, but it was interesting to have the two instruments compared.
Now listen to Dana Dragomir playing a tune by Benny Andersson, composer of all the ABBA music, Mio, min Mio (Mio, my son Mio):
Ann
Do you know the story of King Midas and Pan? King Midas had done a favor to the wine god Dionysus, and as a reward, Midas asked to be given the gift of turning everything he touched into gold. A most foolish request, indeed! Imagine always having to wear clothes made of pure gold! Imagine sleeping on a bed of gold, below a blanket of gold, resting your head on a pillow of gold! Imagine eating bread made of gold and drinking liquid gold!!!
Imagine touching someone you love, instantly turning that person into gold!!! Fortunately, Midas got rid of his accursed gift. Now he hated riches and splendor, and he started walking the fields and the woods, listening to the music of the god of the wild untamed nature, Pan.
Pan playing the syrinx.
Painting by Arnold Böcklin.
Painting by Arnold Böcklin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(god)#Mythology wrote:
The god, still infatuated, took some of the reeds, because he could not identify which reed she became, and cut seven pieces (or according to some versions, nine), joined them side by side in gradually decreasing lengths, and formed the musical instrument bearing the name of his beloved Syrinx. Henceforth Pan was seldom seen without it.
King MIdas with donkey's ears.
Source: http://www.cakitches.com/clothing-acces ... -ears.html
Source: http://www.cakitches.com/clothing-acces ... -ears.html
Midas was very ashamed of his stupid ears, and he tried to hide them under a turban. But his barber discovered the ears. The barber was scared of telling anyone about the king's asinine accessories, but he had to vocalize his knowledge somehow, so he dug a hole into the ground, spoke the secret into the ground and covered up the hole. But a clump of reeds grew nearby, and when the winds blew through them, they whispered "King Midas has donkey's ears! King Midas has donkey's ears!".
And so the reeds are back into the story! The reeds were the source of Pan's musical instrument, and King Midas chose Pan's reed pipes over Apollo's lyre, but the reeds told Midas's secret to the world!
Pan. Source:http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/S22.1.html
Pan is, of course, a lower-class sort of deity. He does bear a striking resemblance to a certain Lord of Darkness and symbol of evil in western culture and religion.
Perhaps because of Pan's low status, his favorite musical instrument, the syrinx, hasn't made into heaven as a constellation in the sky. Compare that to Apollo's instrument, the lyre, which sits prominently in the northern sky as constellation Lyra adorned with the lovely blue-white jewel Vega.
Well, as I said, I was at a concert listening to a pan flutist, Dana Dragomir, playing her instrument. The man introducing the concert said that the syrinx and the lyre are the two oldest instruments in the world! I'm not sure I believe in that, but it was interesting to have the two instruments compared.
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Ann
