I guess it’s a good thing when one’s emotional and intellectual reactions to a program threaten to overwhelm one’s ability to listen analytically and evaluate.  That’s what art is for isn’t it?  Anyway that’s pretty much what happened to me today listening to a program called Songs of Love and War in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.  The songs were all pieces more or less inspired by the catastrophes of the first half of the twentieth century; the wars, the rise of Nazi power, the occupation of France.  These are all events that have many layers of meaning for me.  I have studied them and the music and literature they generated for decades.  I have known, often well, people who played roles in these events.  I have deeply held views.  You have been warned!

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