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I listened to your video twice.

While I think I have some idea (or perception) of what I think you may be saying, I think I'll have to reflect on it. By reflecting, I hope I can grasp a bigger picture of what may be going on.

Of course, a lot of this is my own perception, and may or may not be like anything you were intending when you wrote this.

While listening to this, what came to my mind was this: when we sleep or take a nap, the outer world seems to just...fade out of our awareness.

Where does the outer world go?

When we wake up, the outer world come rushing back to our awareness.

That is the most in depth break down of Rens work that I've encountered. Just, wow. While I do not possess Ren's creative skill, actually, any such form of creativity beyond taking ideas and stretching them far beyond their logical limits until they teach a lesson....such that it is.

Clearly Ren has had a great impact on you, and I am sure that if he seen the care in which you ran down his music I am sure he would feel something that might help him through his darker days.

Lastly, I am not even remotely the kind of person that gets art in the way you so clearly do. I've never been to a museum beyond the childrens variety when I was much much younger. I've never read any of the books that will undoubtedly be discussed here, but after reading your post, whether it inspires me to action or not, I feel the urge to start exploring.

@Kirk Barbera, have you read The Betrothed by Manzoni? It is similar to La Forza. Indeed, Verdi was inspired by Manzoni and dedicated his Requiem to him. The Betrothed is a story of two young lovers who are separated by a lusty lord. I attached a document with an excerpt of the most famous passage as they are fleeing their home. It compares a person who willingly emigrates to Lucia who is forced to leave in exile.

Again, the idea of consolation recurs. “He who gave you so much happiness is everywhere, and never disturbs the joy of His children, unless to prepare them for one more certain and durable” (Manzoni 131). I still can find secular meaning in this passage. Despite the suffering we may endure in the short-term, it can be in service of greater enjoyment in the long-term. (Christians mean the afterlife as the long-term, of course.) The ends we seek provide purpose and hope for the difficulties and challenges involved in gaining them. 

I can relate to this passage personally. I grew up in the mountains, then l lived on the great plains for five years for work. Needless to say, this art provided me some comfort and consolation. Happily, I have returned to the mountains now.

(I also included a passage describing the legal system, which is more philosophy than literature but still interesting. It is a system with non-objective, arbitrary laws enforced by corrupt judges and their henchmen “bravoes.” It gives a notion of why the lord thinks he can get away with his deeds.)

@Michael Fusco Thanks so much for sharing. I had not seen either of these before. And I have just started exploring Valezquez.

I completely concur with the notion of comparing art pieces. This is a really helpful way to explore art (and yourself really).

But I do have to interject one disagreement here and I think this is important for artistic exploration. One must be cautious about bringing in too much of a backstory that is not necessarily a primary focus of a work of art.

For instance, in the painting, I can't see how that painting has as its subject "infidelity." All I see is a man with a laurel wreath, and a divine glow saying something to a group of men at a forge and shocking them. There's another man in the corner looking in on them. The subject seems to be the revelation of something and the reaction of the men. I'm sure with more analysis I can refine this better. But that's my first reaction to the painting.

What you are doing is taking a backstory and infusing it into the scene. But I can't see anything in this painting to suggest specifically infidelity. Compare the painting to the Rigoletto piece and that's a big difference. There's clearly infidelity of some sort going on there.

Now I do think you're correct in comparing them in the more abstract sense of "discovery of some shocking bit of information." Or something like that. Certainly, in both cases this is occurring. Though in the painting I don't know what the revelation necessarily is. In the opera we can tell it is a philandering lover.

This gets to the heart of something really important about artwork. That is, the exploration of what the artist is conveying. We all come in with all of our conceived notions and viewpoints. This is part of experience itself. And when we look at a work of art, the challenge, and joy, is attempting to experience what the artist is conveying to us.

So thanks for sharing these. I think they are worth our attention and exploration!

The coda in the above is a repeat of the theme from the "Triumphal March" / " Gloria all'Egitto" introduced earlier in the act. (Link below to that piece, which is a bit easier on the ears for the uninitiated.) I think Verdi including it again suggests, at this point, the state seemingly overpowers the individual... until Act IV when Aida has her own spiritual victory.

https://youtu.be/W1MT91aumYY?feature=shared