From an article about Chopin’s bicentennial this year.
The astronauts who blasted into orbit on the Endeavor space shuttle Feb. 8 carried with them a CD of Chopin’s music and a copy of a manuscript of his Prelude Opus 28, No. 7 – gifts from the Polish government.
The Endeavor commander, George Zamka, who has Polish roots, told the Polish news agency PAP ahead of his trip to the International Space Station that listening to Chopin in space would enhance the majesty of the cosmos.
I like Chopin too, but this seems excessive praise.
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:49PM
I think that if you just “like” Chopin, you probably don’t get it. For some people (not me), Chopin is a way of being, to which the “majesty of the cosmos” pales in comparison.
May 28th, 2012 at 9:56AM
I think that listening to Chopin could enhance the majesty of the cosmos, or indeed listening to the music of any composer about whom one feels as passionately as Zamka does about Chopin. No doubt some people would feel the same about – well, I don’t know – declaiming the Psalms, or reading Dickens aloud.
May 28th, 2012 at 10:30AM
Corrina: You could be right.