What are you listening 2 now?

[prémont]

"Providence" means divine intervention, and the fall of a sparrow is the most  inconsequential thing. So Hamlet is saying that even the trivial events are the result of God's careful management of the world.

Or just the result of God's will.

I have no idea what "special providence" is. Possibly a technical term in 16th century theology.

I asked chatGPT about this term and got this interesting answer:

Meaning of "special providence"

The phrase refers to the idea that God's care extends to even the smallest events, including something as minor as a sparrow falling from a branch. This reflects a belief in divine oversight—that events happen according to a purposeful order, not by accident.

Shakespeare is echoing a biblical idea from Matthew 10:29:

"Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father knowing."

How Hamlet uses it

By saying there is a "special providence" in even the simplest events, Hamlet is expressing:

Acceptance of fate or divine will

A calm resignation about what is to come

A sense that death or danger is part of a larger order

Right after this line he says:

"If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now..."

He is essentially saying, Whatever is meant to happen will happen, and it is in God's hands.

And I think "Since no man of aught he leaves / knows aught, what is 't to leave betimes?" is strange. Aught means "anything" and betimes means "early." It's the two aughts which make it hard for me to get my head round. I've not checked the manuscripts for this line.

I take this to mean: Since no man of importance knows anything (about what's going to happen), how can he know when to leave before it's too late.

I find it more difficult to grasp the meaning of the word "leaves".

[71 dB]

TV: Yle Teema & Fem: Radion sinfoniaorkesterin konsertti 

Jukka Tiensuu: Teoton, Concerto for Sheng and Orchestra
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 43

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Wu Wei, Sheng (Chinese mouth organ)
Nicholas Collon, conductor

I had never even heard about the instrument Sheng. It looks like the child of harmonica and church organ. 

[ritter]

...

I had never even heard about the instrument Sheng. It looks like the child of harmonica and church organ. 

Indeed! 

[Mandryka]

Or just the result of God's will.

I asked chatGPT about this term and got this interesting answer:

Meaning of "special providence" - though their etymology comes from the 19th century unfortunately.

The phrase refers to the idea that God's care extends to even the smallest events, including something as minor as a sparrow falling from a branch. This reflects a belief in divine oversight—that events happen according to a purposeful order, not by accident.

Shakespeare is echoing a biblical idea from Matthew 10:29:

"Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father knowing."

How Hamlet uses it

By saying there is a "special providence" in even the simplest events, Hamlet is expressing:

Acceptance of fate or divine will

A calm resignation about what is to come

A sense that death or danger is part of a larger order

Right after this line he says:

"If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now..."

He is essentially saying, Whatever is meant to happen will happen, and it is in God's hands.

I take this to mean: Since no man of importance knows anything (about what's going to happen), how can he know when to leave before it's too late.

I find it more difficult to grasp the meaning of the word "leaves".

I just checked the second edition of the OED -- they mention "special providence" explicitly



"Betimes" is more complicated than I thought

[ritter]

First listen to Jean Françaix's 1939 oratorio L'Apocalypse selon St. Jean, in this live recording from Linz in 1997.



A Gramophone review that can be found online is dismissive of both the work and the performance, but I must say I'm enjoying this quite a bit, and find Françaix's setting of the fascinating subject matter and striking text quite successful and rather beautiful. Effective orchestration, rich melodic inventiveness, solid vocal writing and a smoothly flowing narrative. This significantly exceeds my expectations, and greatly enhances my appreciation of this composer.

[Linz]

Anton Bruckner Symphony No. 6 in A Major, 1881 Version. Ed. Leopold Nowak
China NCPA Orchestra, LÜ Jia

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Hovhaness, A.: Symphony No. 2 ,"Mysterious Mountain" / Prayer of St. Gregory / And God Created Great Whales (Seattle Symphony).

[Linz]

Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 2 in C Minor Resurrection
Heather Harper, Janet Baker
Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer

[Karl Henning]

First listen to Jean Françaix's 1939 oratorio L'Apocalypse selon St. Jean, in this live recording from Linz in 1997.



A Gramophone review that can be found online is dismissive of both the work and the performance, but I must say I'm enjoying this quite a bit, and find Françaix's setting of the fascinating subject matter and striking text quite successful and rather beautiful. Effective orchestration, rich melodic inventiveness, solid vocal writing and a smoothly flowing narrative. This significantly exceeds my expectations, and greatly enhances my appreciation of this composer.

Nice! I've been reasonably impressed with such Françaix as I've heard, though it would not be sufficiently daring for a certain critical mass of Wergo clientele.

[Karl Henning]

Hovhaness, A.: Symphony No. 2 ,"Mysterious Mountain" / Prayer of St. Gregory / And God Created Great Whales (Seattle Symphony).

I'll say again that the whale piece vastly exceeded my expectations and I love it.

[Todd]

[prémont]

I just checked the second edition of the OED -- they mention "special providence" explicitly



"Betimes" is more complicated than I thought

The use of the concept "special providence", which as I understand it refers to a unique situation where God intervenes, is difficult to understand in the context of a sparrow falling to the ground - an event which seems to be rather common.

Other than that I don't see anything which contradicts my interpretations above.

Still, though, I don't understand the meaning of the word "leaves" here ("Since no man of aught he leaves / knows aught......)

[JBS]

The use of the concept "special providence", which as I understand it refers to a unique situation where God intervenes, is difficult to understand in the context of a sparrow falling to the ground - an event which seems to be rather common.

Other than that I don't see anything which contradicts my interpretations above.

Still, though, I don't understand the meaning of the word "leaves" here ("Since no man of aught he leaves / knows aught......)

The way I learned it, special providence is God guiding matters on an individual basis, while general providence is God guiding matters on a more general species-wide or area-wide basis.

As a parallel with agriculture, special providence is taking care of each plant one-by-one--watering each one with a watering can, for instance--while general providence is merely taking care of the entire field at once--turning on the irrigation system.

[JBS]

TD
Moving on to another Reger set

CD 1

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Vincent Lübeck organ works.

[Daverz]

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 - Altinoglu/Frankfurt Symphony

Gave my subwoofers quite a workout.

[Que]

[Iota]

Still, though, I don't understand the meaning of the word "leaves" here ("Since no man of aught he leaves / knows aught......)

Fwiw, as nobody seems to have suggested it, a simple reading of that says that nobody knows anything about what they leave behind them, as by that point, being dead, they will nothing about anything. But of course, as I say, only a simple reading amongst many.

[Mandryka]

The use of the concept "special providence", which as I understand it refers to a unique situation where God intervenes, is difficult to understand in the context of a sparrow falling to the ground - an event which seems to be rather common.

Other than that I don't see anything which contradicts my interpretations above.

Still, though, I don't understand the meaning of the word "leaves" here ("Since no man of aught he leaves / knows aught......)

The Arden Hamlet, third series, glosses it as "Since no-one has any knowledge of the life he leaves behind him, what does it matter if he dies early."

There is some good textual apparatus in the Arden Hamlet second series -- as nearly everything else within this play, the text is problematic!

[Que]