In today’s era when technology refutes geographical distance, music helps me to cross the distance within. Music connects me to my inner self. I love spending my evenings sometimes filled with music; only music. It is to me is a tremendous mysterious element, a force of nature that I have to bow before. Recently, I got an opportunity to spend a musical evening with the San Francisco Symphony. I listened to Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique at the Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco and went through layers of emotions within. Remembering a beautiful quote by Charles Darwin,
If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once a week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would have thus been kept active through use. The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.
In today's era when technology refutes geographical distance, music helps me to cross the distance within. Music connects me to my inner self. #Travel #Music #SanFrancisco Click To Tweet
Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco
Before I write about the magical evening that I spent at Davies Symphony Hall with the San Francisco Symphony, I would urge you to do a simple thought experiment. Look at the pictures of the beautiful Davies Symphony Hall and imagine! You are sitting there with the hall filled with music. The penetrating and soft tune from a violin; the varied melodies from a flute; the flowing tune of a harp or the sound from a clarinet which will swell, decrease and die away slowly. How would you feel?
How would you feel when you will listen to the effects of unrest, excitement and terror, all produced by the tremolo or the dramatic effect produced by the timpani?
Would you not go through layers of emotion within, just like I did? Unsurprisingly, I reach helplessly for words like “divine” or “miraculous” to explain my feelings.
Mendelssohn’s exhilarating Violin Concerto
Mendelssohn’s exhilarating Violin Concerto was performed by violinist Blake Pouliot and conductor Brett Mitchell. They took me to a distant land which was full of wonder and I wandered around freely. They unlocked me and I met me.
Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music.
George Eliot
(Credit: San Francisco Symphony)
Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique
Symphony Fantastique is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is an important piece of the early Romantic period.
Overview
In 1827, Berlioz saw Harriet Smithson for the first time, playing Ophelia in a production of Hamlet. Hopelessly smitten, he turned his entire life upside down to meet her. Frantic months turned into years when he suddenly heard rumors about Harriet and another man. Believing himself cured, he wrote a ‘fantastic’ symphony complete with a special theme, the idée fixe, to represent his former obsession.
Love cannot express the idea of music, while music may give an idea of love.
Hector Berlioz
Aftereffect of a beautiful concert in San Francisco
Now even when a few days have passed, I can still hear the music with my eyes closed and with no effort. And almost instantly, my anxieties and humdrum of daily life take a sidetrack. Music is magic. Music is power.
One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.
Bob Marley
Practical Tips for visiting the San Francisco Symphony
- Do you want to plan a beautiful musical evening and gift it to your friends or family? Then refer to the San Francisco Symphony Calendar.
- Look at their seating chart and choose your favorite seat.
- If you are all set to immerse yourself in classical music, then buy a ticket to any of their concerts.
- Don’t forget to look outside the 1st floor. The San Francisco city hall sparkles at night.
Travel Realizations
No matter how expensive the sound system we use in our car or at home, they can’t give us the feeling of listening to a concert from inside a hall. I loved sitting amidst an audience mesmerized by the charm of music. Even my three-year-old daughter watched and listened to the concert till the end, patiently and lovingly. In the cult of continuous production and consumption, it is painful but possible for human beings to become a production machine. Once we become that, it is hard to return to a realm where happiness and joy are unbound. Music always helps me to wander in a realm brimming with joy and peace and stops me from swimming in the sea of relentless productivity.
Music always helps me to wander in a realm brimming with joy and peace and stops me from swimming in the sea of relentless productivity. #Music #Travel #SanFrancisco Click To Tweet
If you live in the San Francisco Bay area or are visiting the city, spend an evening with the San Francisco Symphony. Each and every moment will be a treasure. If you love to float in the medicinal air of music then listen to the San Francisco Symphony orchestra.
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