As Janine Jansen performs Massenet's
“Meditation” on her Stradivari,
study a single violin string—its
quivering to bow’s caress, its carry
of emotion to your ear and through you.
Consider its history: Cremona
sheep centuries ago, each gut scraped to
strands, steeped in water and lye, dried on a
line, twisted and refined to a thin E.
How does this resemble your life or mine?
Quivering with caress. Our history
of emotion—steeped, twisted and refined
to surrender’s thin line—heart’s frustration
giving way to prayer and meditation.
Roger Armbrust
March 24,
2014
