The
solution:
Did
H.C. Andersen know the solution? Did his musical friends, such as Hartmann, help
him solve the puzzle, and perform it during an evening of poetry and music? We
don't know the answer. But now, it can be performed. Who knows – it may be the
first time since H.C. Andersen's and Mendelssohn's time, or maybe, even, the
first time ever in
-
Seeing the unseen -
Thus,
Mendelssohn’s puzzling musical gift underlines
the fact that our ability to understand the metaphors presented to us through
the visible world of our senses, is predicated upon our being educated to
understand the invisible principles of human knowledge, developed throughout the
history of mankind, that comprise the concept of culture.
In
H.C. Andersen's famous fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes," the
swindling weavers provocatively state that only those of King's subjects who are
stupid or unfit for their jobs, are not able to see the invisible clothes, which
aren't there. Here, only those trained by Bach, can see the invisible voice,
which is there – can “see the unseen.” Others, to whom Bach is still a
stranger, would only “see the seen” – that which was explicitly written in
H.C. Andersen's album.
If we are to educate young people to see the unseen, to understand the metaphors, strewn like pearls, throughout the music and literature of our western classical cultural heritage, and that of other great cultures, to experience that "aha" which is the essence of metaphor, we need to revive and modernize a classical educational program based on reliving the greatest discoveries of the past.
End Epilogue
