Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Capriccio Italien Op. 45

I believe one of the most influential works of Tchaikovsky, in my view his opus magnum, should be his opus 45 Capriccio Italien. In composing this inspirational piece Tchaikovsky was saliently incited by his experiences during his stay in Rome between 1870 and 80.  Drawing from his admiration of Italian folk music which he had found abundant time to familiarize himself, he blended Italian Capriccio's free measured tunes with gripping valse melodies.

The piece starts off with a brass fanfare what was apparently a referral to frequent performances that were occasioned nearly every morning by the hotel Tchaikovsky stayed during his times in Rome. Moreover there are noticeable fanfares and tarantella tunes throughout the composition which adds a delicate twist to it.  Nevertheless composer's signature sharp descents and ascents, which maintain a steady flow end-to-end, reminds you of his musical philosophy in every occasion.

Final revision of the composition was completed in Russia, hence the first live performance of the song took place in December 18th 1880. Apparently the performance was received in exuberance by the audience and had to be repeated.

Eventually, Capriccio Italien, with its impeccable flow, exquisite melodies and grandeur, has been my favorite Tchaikovsky composition, and one of the best in my all time list. I would like to attach a clip of its performance hoping that you will also enjoy it as much as I do. 

1/2 Capriccio Italien - Tschaikovsky - TMEA Region 26 Concert

2/2 Capriccio Italien - Tschaikovsky - TMEA Region 26 Concert

Learning to Live

I need to live life
Like some people never will
So find me kindness
Find me beauty
Find me truth
When temptation brings me to my knees
And i lay here drained of strength
Show me kindness
Show me beauty
Show me truth

The way your heart sounds
Makes all the difference
It's what decides if you'll endure the pain that we all feel
The way your heart beats makes all the difference
In learning to live
Spread before you is your soul
So forever hold the dreams within our hearts
Through nature's inflexible grace
I'm learning to live

Comfortably Numb

There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but i can't hear what you're sayin'.

When i was a child i caught a fleeting glimpse,
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now.
The child is grown, the dream is gone.

I have become comfortably numb...

My Boy

I don't know how it feels to have a child, yet I believe that having a pet must be the closest you can get to such experience.

My life changed since July 11th 08, when our boy Felix, named after Lucius Cornelius Sulla "Felix", a German shepherd joined our family. He was immediately the center of all attention and love, just as a new born would be. For the following days and weeks, me and my brother spoonfed him and coddled when he was sick.

It has been more than 4 months now since I left Turkey to continue my degree in Finland. Felix was 2 months old back then, he was still a puppy running around ransacking the house with a cunning smirk on his face.

Today, I was able to have his latest photos, which invoked a dampened joy in me. My little boy, it seems is now a full grown man. He now has his own place where he hangs out. Moreover, his feeble body and childish cunning grin is replaced by a dignified firm posture and austerity. I can't help but regret the time I spent away from him, missing all the good times while he was growing. Yet, on the other hand, I am very proud of him as he bode through quite a hassle compromising surgeries and dreadful illnesses. In the midst of such hazy feelings, one thing I thing I am sure of is that he is indeed "My Boy"!

Aesthetic Masculinity

I am sure people will be confused about the orientation of this blog, philosophy on one hand, cars and women (ohh its coming...) on the other. Yet, first of all every aspect of life is the concern of philosophy and looking at this beauty, the new Aston Martin One-77, one cannot help but ponder in awe on the aesthetic qualities of our world.

Present unique project by Aston Martin is disposed to be the most ferocious and powerful machine ever made by the brand. Something Aston admirers were waiting for so long to be realized. This capricious beauty is also destined to replace Bugatti Veyron as the most expensive car in the world, projected to have a price tag around £1,000,000 excluding VAT (approx. 2 million USD).

The specs about what will be under the hood are released as follows; 7.3 liter V12 engine with 700 hp providing 533 lbs-ft torque which will enable the car a top speed of 220 mph. Although these figures are far less impressive than what Veyron is putting out, Aston Martin emphasized that they were not aiming to produce the fastest, yet most elaborate and technologically advanced machine that will serve as the flagship production of the company.

I am sure looking forward to see one on the street some day... What are the chances for buying it???

Writing For a Reason

Well my friends, for a long time now I have been feeling a void in me, which some people may ascribe to absence of faith or recursive self contemplation. Whatever the cause for this troubling feeling may be, I will seek the remedy in writing. Since I don't know when, I've always felt an almost whimsical urge to write something and express my thoughts. Evidently I was never brave or stout enough to take on such a task, until today. However, a pessimistic and self-scorning person as I am, it completely passes beyond my comprehension as for whatever reason you may be interested to read what I will put down, or even worse; what you may gain in the slightest possibility from my reflections. Nevertheless, apart from drawing your pity and solace, it will be a reward enough for me if I can incite you to think over the topics or ideas I will aim to cover in this blog.

I suppose, I have overstrained you with petty self-bickering (funny enough, I am keeping on with it), so I will cut to the chase and unravel the essence of what I am going to write in this entry of my blog. Since it is a special occasion; being the first entry, I would like to tell you more about myself... (Narcism is a talent!) Well, to put it more clearly, for those of you who haven't closed the page yet, grasping this opportunity, I would like to start writing by honoring the people; historical figures, thinkers, authors and scientists, who one way or another had an impact on me by shaping my thoughts, lifestyle, perspective on life and pretty much everything that adds up to constitute what you know as me to this day... (I know I am not a very impressive work of art but deal with it) Further, I hope I may draw your attention to these prominent minds in history, giving a nudge for you to delve further in order to learn more about them.

Hence, I will start my quest with a figure who I believe had the foremost influence in shaping my thinking and perception of the world; Arthur Schopenhauer.

Considering the fact that I presented myself (above somewhere) as being pessimistic, therefore I believe it will be more appropriate to talk about Mr. Schopenhauer first; for himself being the vanguard of pessimism. He believed that the life is a continuous strife, suffering, desperation and noxious lust for satisfaction which according to him leads nowhere but to oblivion. Although he lived his life of considerable wealth and conspicuous merrymaking, he greatly admired asceticism and saintliness. Hence postulating that happiness in life can only be achieved by complete withdrawal from everything mundane; encompassing pleasures, desires and material possession. At first glance his standing point disposes itself as mere rhetoric which can be undermined as words from a man who was exhausted by his flamboyant life. Nonetheless, once you start to familiarize yourself with his philosophical premises then you get to see the underpinning axioms and predicates which serves as an intelligible foundation to his pessimistic view of life.

The world, seen by Schopenhauer as "Will" and "Representation" (which was also designated in his principal treatise "The World as Will and Representation") constitutes the fundamental drives of his philosophy. He believed that what Kant described as "Thing-in-itself" has a uniform existence in whole universe, which he attested as Will. Normatively, this Will had to underpin all the occurrences in the universe which according to Schopenhauer is purposeless, irrational and seeking self-perpetuation. Hereby we have the main maxim of Schopenhauer from which we can draw on his thoughts. Firstly, seeing the universe as purposeless and irrational; Schopenhauer is the first philosopher to deny the existence of God or any Divine being. Secondly, his view of Will as aiming for self-perpetuation accentuates the notion of strife for survival (mark that the Theory of Evolution wasn't present at his time), therefore conceptualizing all human action as resulting from and leading to the Will of procreation, survival and satisfaction of desires. This preposition may be helpful to explicate his perfunctory view of "Love" which according to him was the result of biological dynamics that cannot be surmounted. Besides, to him it is the superfluous Will to satisfy our desires that distracts human beings from seeing into the essence of being. Only if we can gain an insight to the nature of Will and its purposelessness, then according to Schopenhauer we may be able to experience salvation to some extend; yet this cannot be achieved voluntarily. Only those of artists and saints (not in religious conception) with their innate higher conscious (conversely with Nietzsche's übermensch) may be able to grasp the reality of Will and resign themselves from earthly desires. Consequently Schopenhauer demonstrates a great admiration for artists. He values art and music as only mediums to transcend the ephemeral occupations of life.

If we move forward from this point on, arriving to, which I believe to be his most inspirational work; "Essay on the Freedom of the Will", I would assert that the ideas he drew here to be so simple yet fascinating at the same time. Firstly I should distinguish what is meant by "Will" in this essay is the will of human beings, different from the Will mentioned above which is the underlying driver of whole universe. Reaching to the conclusion of human beings can have no Freedom of Will, he draws a distinction between physical freedom and freedom of conscious. According to him, human beings are bound to act upon external stimuli, and their actions are determined by past experiences, characteristic attributes and finally by the Kantian Concept of Ordering Mechanisms (time, space and causality).

"Let us imagine a man who, while standing on the street, would say to himself: "It is six o'clock in the evening, the work day is over. Now I can go for a walk, or I can go to the club; I can also climb up the tower to see the sun set; I can go to the theater; I can visit this friend or that one; indeed, I also can run out of the gate, into the wide world, and never return. All of this is strictly up to me, in this I have complete freedom. But still I shall do none of these things now, but with just as free a will I shall go home to my wife." - Schopenhauer, On the Freedom of the Will


As you can see in the example above, men are restrained by causal relations of their actions. What you call as free will is actually you reasoning, in a statistical way,on the best consequences of your various choices. Substantially this reasoning process will be guided by primal fear, anticipated benefits or extend of your capacity depending on the situation. Henceforth it is not you as an independent individual that decides on what to do, it is the constraints of your environment and context which you act upon, whereas you may enjoy the physical freedom to execute your decisions. Even if we imagine that you being able to strip yourself off any imposition posited, you will be still subject to the spatial and temporal qualities of the universe you exist in. If this last sentence seemed all to complicated , just ask yourself if you can imagine an existence which doesn't involve linear time, 3d spatial qualities and causality. I tried and I still believe it is impossible... This is what it is called in a Kantian sense, a priori, that is innate to our existence.

Reading Schopenhauer I think had an immense effect on how I conceive the world and act upon it. Although his "Metaphysics of Love" didn't render me immune to falling in love desperately, his thoughts on free will and world as we perceive it gave a lot of insights which I believe still underpins most of my actions and ideas.

Eventually, for those of you who painfully could make it to the end of the page, I should express my sympathies and gratitude. I certainly hope that I provided some interesting insight to this eccentric yet influential figure of philosophy, whom hopefully you may continue to get acquainted further yourselves. I will try to continue posting on several issues and figures of my interest and will be very glad to receive comments on whatever topic you may like. Next post will hopefully be about Julius Caesar and Charles Darwin.