(Translated from the Chinese version with the help of ChatGPT.)

A while ago, while listening to Bach, I decided I wanted to systematically fill in some gaps in my knowledge of music—music theory, history, and so on. I remembered that I had saved Introduction to Classical Music on Coursera years ago. It was quite good, and I had worked my way through part of it on and off.

Recently I finally had some free time and opened it again, only to discover that the free audit option was gone!

(Translated from the Chinese version with the help of ChatGPT.)

I visited the museum toward the end of last year. The experience hit me so hard that I kept putting off writing about it. Today I went through the photos again, along with some of the articles and videos I had seen before, and finally put some thoughts together. It is still a very heavy feeling.

On September 11, 2001, the attacks happened on a Tuesday morning in the U.S., while it was already nighttime in China. I think it was the next day at school when a classmate told me that the World Trade Center in the U.S. had been bombed. I remember saying, “No way?” I can’t remember whether it was at school or at home when I saw the towers burning on the news.

(Translated from the Chinese version with the help of ChatGPT.)

Following up on the previous post, this time we begin with the first category of Bach’s works: sacred cantatas (YouTube Music playlist).

I will go through Bach’s masterpieces roughly in BWV order. A disclaimer first: this is simply a hobbyist’s personal sharing, written in the spirit of “sharing joy makes it greater.” There are certainly subjective opinions and places where my understanding may not be academically rigorous.

(Translated from the Chinese version with the help of ChatGPT.)

I recently learned a new Chinese idiom from one of Li Tianhao’s videos: 曲突徙薪 (qū tū xǐ xīn).

Here’s what it means.

Literally, 曲 means “bend,” 突 means “chimney,” 徙 means “move,” and 薪 means “firewood.” The idiom describes bending a straight chimney and moving the firewood away from the stove. Figuratively, it means eliminating the causes of a disaster before it happens—taking preventive action rather than dealing with the consequences.

(Translated from the Chinese version with the help of ChatGPT. The Chinese version also contains the OCR English label texts for exibition objects.)

Why I Went

Earlier this year, I started seeing promotional material from the Met about a major Raphael exhibition, which started in late March. I finally decided to go on Sunday, May 3rd. That gave me about a week to cram for it, so I spent my evenings reading articles and watching videos¹ about Raphael and the Renaissance.

(Translated from the Chinese version with the help of ChatGPT.)

Why This Book

My surname is Feng—a pretty rare one. Outside of relatives, I don’t think I’ve ever met another Feng in real life¹.

A few days ago I was watching a video that mentioned a Tang dynasty miscellany called Fengshi Wenjian Ji (“What the Feng Clan Saw and Heard”). That immediately caught my attention. Not only does it share my surname, it also sounds exactly like something I’d name this site.