Dear Cyndy,

Thank you for your letter and for the forwarded fable
of the Doberman and the panther, which nudged me to take
a brief look at some of the animal stories ascribed to Aesop.
The Doberman-Panther saga seems to me a tale about the 
subtleties of communication and language far more sophisticated 
than most of its classical antecedents. It isn't necessary for 
you to tell Elizabeth that the Doberman is the physics professor 
whose dominion is threatened by the panther graduate student who 
is put in his place by yet another quirky, implausible and yet 
incontrovertible corollary of an inapposite and semi-comprehensible 
quantum theory application. Or dialectically, that the panther is 
the physics professor intent on devouring the lazy upstart graduate 
student who is just smart enough to devise one theoretical monkey 
wrench after another to toss into the bureaucracy machine and stymie 
the professor's grant application. Sufficient unto the day is the
invidious theorizing thereof.

We share an affection for the aria "Wheree'r you walk, cool
gales shall fan the glade" from Händel's Semele, reflecting
on which, my first reaction was to construe the sentiment as
an exhibit of Jove's divine agape for a mortal whom he befriended;
an aria such as Jehovah might have dedicated to Mary. My error, 
if such it was, became apparent when I looked at an English
National Opera Youtube performance which stages the aria in
an hyper-erotic bedroom context. A bit of admittedly shallow
Internet research leads me to the hypothesis that Semele is
a work of art created without any specific interpretation in 
mind; that Händel wrote the music, but left the staging, 
the interpretation as oratorio or as opera to circumstances 
and to others.

As I review my familiarity - or lack thereof - with Händel's
operas, I'm embarrassed to recognize that I have never made
a concerted effort to surmount the barriers of my ignorance
of Italian, in consequence of which Rodelinda, Xerxes, Samson and 
many others remain outside my purview. Those that I'm fond and 
enthusiastic about are in English, the Messiah, Acis and Galatea,
L'allegro, Saul, Israel in Egypt, Semele ... Again and again I
promise myself to learn Italian, but maybe it's too late.

Now back to the novel. Best wishes to you and Ned! Believe it
or not, spring is on the way!

Jochen