Fine Arts Study: December 2011

Composer: George Frideric Handel

We spent some time with Handel last December, but we’ve added a few things to our studies this year.

Watching: Handel’s Last Chance

(We recently added this 6 DVD set to our collection. We’ve watched and loved the artists and inventors sets.)

Reading: Handel, Who Knew What He Liked by M. T. Anderson

We are still enjoying all our other books and CDs (at the link above), especially our Handel’s Messiah Family Advent Reader.

 

Artist: Norman Rockwell

Reading: Norman Rockwell: Storyteller With a Brush by Beverly Gherman (Have I ever mentioned how much I adore really great picture book biographies? Put this one on the list!)

(We also have a couple great over-sized books of Norman Rockwell illustrations to pour over.)

Watching:

And the perfect blend of art and poetry for this December:

Norman Rockwell’s Christmas Book--filled with Christmas poetry by Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll, and more. Synchronicity!

 

Christmas Poetry

Memorizing:

Christmas Bells

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
    And wild and sweet
    The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
    Had rolled along
    The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
    A voice, a chime,
    A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
    And with the sound
    The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
    And made forlorn
    The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
    “For hate is strong,
    And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
    The Wrong shall fail,
    The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”