For centuries, it was unquestioningly assumed that Parmenides‘ poem was an allegory. More recently it has been suggested that the work is in fact a description of an actual experience, the experience being nothing less than an altered states revelation of divine truth as imparted by a goddess. After introducing Parmenides and his life and times, the evidence for his poem being the transcribed record of a revelation is examined in detail.

Thereafter, Alexander Curtis explains the nuts and bolts of Parmenides‘ thinking with innovative graphic diagrams being used to illustrate key points.

Throughout the work, the relevance of Parmenides‘ philosophy for us today is pointed out and at the end, there is a loose and lively translation of his otherwise challenging poem. This takes Parmenides out of the stifling tradition of academic philosophy and re-instates the seminal, uncompromisingly radical nature of his thought. The notion of truth and how truth is seen and experienced leads to the work of Sappho, who whilst not a philosopher, did try to lead her life according to principles that derive from philosophy and was concerned with searching out the good, the true and the beautiful. To this effect, a selection of new restorations of Sappho’s poems by Albert von Schirnding have been translated by the author into English and form the basis of an introduction to Sappho and her life and times.

Not only drawing from archaeology and the anthropology of human origins, this book utilizes the insights of modern genetics, linguistics and philosophy. Based on an analysis of tool use and the notion of intentionality, a theory of art is arrived at that enables the divide between the sciences and the humanities to be bridged. This provides a platform from which the Venus of Willendorf can be investigated. The work is illustrated with copies of Gravettian Venus figurines, maps, drawings and diagrams as well as with an innovative series of photo-montage collages.

Research shows that the Venus of Willendorf and her 160-odd sisters were not pin-ups. Instead they were part of a culture in which time was followed with reference to the moon and woven textiles were known and appreciated.

Clay was used to make images that were used for pyrotechnical displays and in art, people had a sense of aesthetics that was in no way inferior to ours.

This latter point is established empirically and is backed up by an explanation of why it is that human beings are responsive to the ratio known as the Golden Section.

Although fundamental, this question is never asked. The answer however is simple and continues the analysis of tool-use begun at the beginning.

Embodying the kind of knowledge known by mid-wives, Gravettian Venus figurines reflect the bodily changes that take place over the lifetimes of most women. As such they are a search for identity, with the blank faces posing questions such as: “Who am I?”, “Where do we come from?” and “Where are we going?”

At the end of the book, there is a paper model of the Venus of Willendorf and the search for rationale of the world is extended out into our own times. Even though it only consists of four shapes, the paper model is challenging for grown-ups and requires a high degree of coordination and patience. Accordingly it is not suitable for children.

Following on from Plato, during the Renaissance, geometry was seen both as a discipline that enabled a scientific understanding of the world and as a way by which man might approach and apprehend the ineffable nature of God.

In the Wachau, in the monastic Charterhouse of Aggsbach , this view was challenged and resulted in the Controversy of the Doctrine of Ignorance, in which the monks at Melk also played a role. Yet further South, in Borgo Sansepolcro, the artist and mathematician Piero della Francesca was using complex geometrical constructions as the basis for a new form of painting.

Secretly, these paintings showed how, via a ratio that for centuries was only ever referred to in obscure terms, the bounded and earthly might be overcome. Hidden and yet discernible for those with eyes to see, in a written work, he hinted at how this geometrical key might be constructed. Prepared for printing by the mathematician, Luca Pacioli, also from Borgo Sansepolcro, the work made its way to Krems, where the secret method of construction played a role in prompting a masterpiece of northern Renaissance sculpture.

Among the tracks of Versöhnung there are works for quartet, flute and piano. Where the opening piece, Trio, is composed using harmonics that derive from the Antique, this is merely the opening for an invigorating series of musical conundrums that challenge us not only to stop and listen but also to wake up. Following Trio is zu köstliche Sache, with the title being a quote from Haydn: „Life is such a delectible thing“. Together with zu köstliche Sache, Versöhnung provides unequivocal evidence that what is being heard, is polished and crafted music made by a composer who is part of a long tradition in which, for two and a half centuries, music has been written for performance by string quartets. Kunst kommt von können, or „art is born from ability“ and both pieces confirm this, standing up to and holding their own against the weight of a potentially over-powering tradition. Between the two pieces there are excursions into other realms. In Whistleblower the flute is put through its paces. In a meandering series of scales and arabesques, the percussive properties of the instrument are also exploited with the results being analogous to when string players pluck their instruments. In the minimal K.N.O.T., notes are staged so as to  fill out space and time in a way that allows them to be themselves. Although there is a structure to the piece, its subtle sophistication is such that it is not immediately identifiable. In the quartet, Vesöhnung, the composer exploits the possibilities offered by multi-phonics in which notes can be played so as to generate a number of different overtones that are heard simultaneously. To this effect, towards the end of the piece, the cello is marginalised and silenced, with its later return enabling a reconciliation with the multi-phonics which orginally lead to its being ostracised. This paves the way for the triumphantly euphoric, Zimmerreise, in which the piano and the tradition of piano music is celebrated.

In 1772, the English musician and music historian, Charles Burney (1726-1814) travelled through Austria, Germany and Bohemia and in Krems enthused at the high level of musicality that he found there. One evening, from a barge on the river, he chanced to hear four women singing privately in a house in Stein and was delighted at the competance with which the four voices of the polyphonic composition were sung. Ashore, he observed that in Krems „undistinguished citizens in taverns and farmers at work in the fields, will sing for pleasure, songs in two more voices“.  By featuring pieces of music that were composed in Krems, Stein and Göttweig, the aim of the compilation is to give a musical form to this testimony. The compilation starts with the fragment composed by Beethoven in Gneixendorf:

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Last Musical Thought, adapted for piano by Anton Diabelli, Wien, 1838, ÖNB

https://digital.onb.ac.at/RepViewer/viewer.faces?doc=DTL_7996722&order=1&view=SINGLE

Thereafter the earliest piece is by Adam Händl:

Psalm David von Heiligen Ehestandt verdeutscht und mit vier Stimmen zu singen, Wien, 1561, ÖNB

https://digital.onb.ac.at/RepViewer/viewer.faces?doc=DTL_4437726

followed by Johannes Baptist Gletle:

Deliciae Sacrae sine Novem Psami Vespertini, Krems, 1687, Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek

https://stimmbuecher.digitale-sammlungen.de/view?id=bsb00094179