What is to give light must endure burning. ~ Victor Frankl
At last, I have finally completed the music and video of “Light,” the second piece of The Four Elements. As I did with “Breath” I am offering a free mp3 download of “Light” for the first week of release, which you can find on my Facebook Music Page or at CD Baby. (After midnight EST, Sunday, August 26, it will revert back to a $.99 download.)
Since I’ve previously written about the creation of this piece in Fire and Light: When the Idea is Too Big and At the Speed of Light, today I simply present the video, the lyrics, and a few acknowledgements. Enjoy!
A special thanks goes as always to my creative partner and husband, Bill Purse, who not only engineered and produced the audio recording, but also played bass and sang. Another thanks to two of my former students, Mike Elliott and Rob Balotsky, who played electronic percussion for the piece, no mean feat considering the odd time signatures and shifting rhythms. A final thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope Program and NASA video sources for such inspiring images of our world and our universe.
Lyrics to “Light” ©2011 Lynn Emberg Purse
Light, Light
Solar plexus, solar flare
Fire burning through the air becomes
Light through the leaves, Light through the clouds
The edge of dawn, the hem of night
chasing shadows in the race to light.
Light, Light.
Gathered on the waters, reflected by the moon.
Even once removed, its power streams into the night, light.
Light, Light.
Lux aeterna, Lux aeterna, Lux, Lux
composerinthegarden 
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Amazing! You are so talented!
Thanks for visiting, Rebecca – glad you enjoyed the music!
I love your series. A light, we must remember that human beings actually grow on light too. Babies not exposed to light do not do well at all.
Thanks, Jean – I’m glad you are enjoying the music! And thank you for the comment on babies and light; the same is true of the elderly – the “sundowning” effect on the disturbance of circadian rhythms. Viva la lumiere!
Fabulous ! Wonderful to hear, and wonderful that you are progressing so well. Thanks
Thank you, Claire! Glad you enjoyed it!
Congratulations on finishing part two of your series. In your previous post you talked about etymology, so you may be interested to know that historical linguists have reconstructed the Latin word for the moon, luna, as having been originally lux-na. The ancient ancestors of the Romans must have conceived of the moon an an object of light in the night sky.
Thank you, Steve, for the congrats and for the insight. And as you probably know, I LOVE etymology – always a fascinating foray into the origins of a word and reveals new aspects of the familiar. How fascinating – perhaps the “x” in lux-na was silent, or became so. At least we can see that connection – love it! And for those who don’t know, lux aeterna is Latin for “eternal light.” So many cross connections. Thank you, Steve, for taking the time to share this. 🙂
The x in lux-na wouldn’t originally have been silent but would have become so. The Roman letter x represented the consonant cluster ks, and you can see how three consonants in a row, ksn, would eventually in casual speech have been one too many. Compare the way English has stopped pronouncing the k in the words knife, know, knee, knot, etc. Viva etymology!
Absolutely beautiful! The music is gorgeous, and I really like the video, too. Bravo, Composer! 🙂
Thank you, Tracey; I’m so glad you liked it!
It’s a keeper! I’m so thrilled to have found you and your blog because your creativity and talent just “blow my mind!” I am always up lifted and transported via your music. What a gift. Never, ever stop.
Eleanor, thank you so much for the words of encouragement. Not only do you always lift my spirits with your visits here, but you tickle my funny bone and make me think every time I read one of your posts. Thank you!
This is so beautiful, Lynn, and such a gift. Thank you. 🙂
Thanks so much, Robin!
I can only say that listening and watching your music & video gave me goose bumps…
Diversifolius, thank you – that’s a profound compliment!
So lovely. I was touched by it. When your voice blended with the image of our Galaxy, i felt tearful at the beauty of both. We are of the Light and I will spread your Light as far as I can.
peace and great Light to you.
jeanne
Jeanne, I am deeply touched by your words. Sometimes, when we create things we have no idea how they will affect others. I am so glad that this music touched your heart. Peace.
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Lynn, this is a work of such beauty. I want to listen to it standing in the field with my arms stretched up to the skies. The beat is still resonating within me as I write this. Namaste, Namaste.
Joss, what a beautiful comment! I’m so glad the music touched you – I hope you do listen to it just that way, I love that image. 🙂
I will be out there, with my ipod today!
🙂
Finally got a chance to listen to / look at the piece. Lovely! Looking forward to the other two…
Thanks, Vlad, glad you enjoyed! Hopefully, it won’t take so long to finish the other two – I’ve already begun working on them 🙂
The pings, pops and quarks of the middle energy of ones creativity are the most difficult to express, however, it holds the most chance for serendipitous encounters and captivates the spirit of mindfulness in unimaginable ways. For its creativeness I applaud you.
Light is one of those phenomenons that seems at first glance the easiest of the elements to explain and see, yet it seems to be the one element science watches the closes, eyes fixate out there in the darkest reaches of the universe an the one element whose knowledge base is updated the most often in quest to solved infinite mysteries.. For me this music captured and painted the energy of light to a ‘T’. ……..Sorry, I couldn’t just say I liked it.
Hudson, that is one of most creative responses I’ve ever received – deeply appreciated! I love the science as well as the mysticism of light – I guess it is just my right brain/left brain thing 🙂
Beautiful! Thanks for offering the download. I will let you know my reflections after hearing it.
Thanks, Mimo, I hope you enjoy it!
Lovely. Thanks for the download!
Thanks, Paula, for the comment and the download!
Excellent … and fits in well with the others. 🙂
Thanks, Frank; I always appreciate your visits and comments. And thanks for visiting and commenting on the Facebook page!
Terrific, Lynn–an excellent complement to “Breath.” I’m very much looking forward to the other two components of the Elements suite!
Thanks, Kerry! I’ve already started on the next piece; hopefully it won’t take so long!
Very pretty and inspirational – and as always – nice to have the imagery of the video. Cheers!
Thanks, David, your comments always mean a lot!
Such tender and exquisite imagery in your words and video, Lynn…and the flowing peace of the music is so meditative…thank you for this sensitive journey!
Oh Catherine, your comments always make the effort worthwhile. Thank you as always.
Can’t wait to hear and see this, but my computer is with a tech. I’m using Bob’s & it’s not a pleasant experience. I have to replace my hard drive. The tech thinks it was a lightening strike, which had to come through the cable, because we have a whole house surge protector–to protect the organ as well as everything else in the house.
Looking so forward to your visit to Charlotte! Any new plans?
Nancy
Ouch, Nancy! We had some lightening/power outage damage here last month; we just bought a battery power backup for some of our gear. Hope you enjoy the music once you are online again.
Love it! Light words to light up the world thank you.
Thanks, Carol, I thought you might like this one 🙂
Lynn I liked it so much I wrote my whole blog today about it http://piecesofstarlight.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/sparks-of-creativity-and-tender-burning-in-black-and-white/ I hope you like it.
Carol, thank you, the post is wonderful! I am deeply honored and I hope others track back to your post!