Dear Nick,

Thanks very much for your thoughtful reply to my ruminations about Richard 
Strauss and his Vier letzte Lieder. You provide me with much to think -
and to write about.

If I were like my father, who died on March 2, 1987, then, having listened
to die vier letzten Lieder once, twice or at most three times, I would declare
"Das hat mit mir nichts zu tun!" (That has nothing to do with me!) with such
finality as to preclude further discussion.

If I were like my sister, who, on December 22, 2009, was found dead in the 
bathroom of her apartment in a Detroit high rise, which to her great 
satisfaction had been designed by Mies van der Rohe, and I had received 
your letter, then after having fleetingly listened to die vier letzten
Lieder, I would agree with you that they were profoundly meaningful and
solacing, - because my sister's most pressing need was to be integral to
any society in which she happened to find herself. For her not only music,
but also the graphic arts were instruments of assimilation to other human
beings.

Since I am like myself, your letter is welcome like a can opener with which
to open yet another can of worms, that I then pretend to be able to untangle.

The fundamental tenet of my epistemology is the thesis that all my knowledge
is consequence of assimilation, a reflection or an echo of a world otherwise
inaccessible to me, a world which unconsciously or otherwise has left its 
impressions on my mind, soul, or central nervous system - take your pick -, 
so that when I next encounter the phenomenon that originlly impressed me, 
I recognize strands of my experience and and declare that I have discovered 
true being, reality, Wirklichkeit.

Two years ago I summarized my epistemology in a sonnet:


             Erkenntnislehre

Nur äußerlich ist Wandelung verständlich 
denn innerlich verbleibt sie unbegründet.
Geburt und Tod sind öffentlich verkündet.
Des Geists Entwickelung bleibt unerkenntlich.

Zwei Arten Änderung bedeutsam sind:
den krausen Bart, die hohe Brust erwerben,
Kinder zu zeugen, zu werden taub und blind
zahnlos und alt und krank und schließlich sterben.

Ein andres ist des Denkens Fortbewegung
indem der Geist, erkennend umgestaltet
ein Abbild wird der weltlichen Umgebung
und ungeahnt Entwickelung entfaltet.

Wie sich die Haut verfärbt vom Sonnenbrand
So wird der Himmelsstern vom Geist erkannt.


             Erkenntnislehre
           Theory of knowledge

Nur äußerlich ist Wandelung verständlich 
Outwardly only can change be comprehended

denn innerlich verbleibt sie unbegründet.
for inwardly there's no causation.

Geburt und Tod sind öffentlich verkündet.
Dying and being born are publicly recorded

Des Geists Entwickelung bleibt unerkenntlich.
The spirits evolution stays uncomprehended.


Zwei Arten Änderung bedeutsam sind:
Two types of change are of significance

den krausen Bart, die hohe Brust erwerben,
the curly beard, or lofty breasts acquire.

Kinder zu zeugen, zu werden taub und blind
begetting offspring, then go deaf and blind

zahnlos und alt und krank und schließlich sterben.
toothless and old and sick, and finally to die.

Ein andres ist des Denkens Fortbewegung
A different matter is the thoughts' progression

indem der Geist, erkennend umgestaltet
in that the spirit changed by knowledge

ein Abbild wird der weltlichen Umgebung
becomes an image of its world's surroundings

und ungeahnt Entwickelung entfaltet.
unfolds itself in unexpected change.


Wie sich die Haut verfärbt vom Sonnenbrand
and as (the surface of) the hand is darkend by the sun,

So wird der Himmelsstern vom Geist erkannt.
The star's imprinted on the brain of man.

If I could turn the calendar back eight-five years,
and imagine that as a three year old 
the only music that reached my ears
had been composed by Richard Strauss, my mind would even now
not only welcome, but praise 
every note of his that I hear
as a fountain of my spiritual existence.

As it is, aside from your letter, and aside to my own
desultory attention to audio and video recordings of Strauss'
compositions, my knowledge of his life and of his work derive from
the Internet's Wikipedia. I come to no conclusion other than
that I am musically ignorant and incompent.

Jochen