By Ati Metwaly for Ahram Online, 31 Oct 2015
Between 23 and 25 October, the Cairo Symphony Chamber Orchestra joined by the Per Poc Puppet Theatre from Spain [and] performed <i>A Midsummer Night’s Dream</i> to the music by Felix Mendelssohn
Ars longa, vita brevis or “Art is long, life is short”. Though Hippocrates was referring to the wonders of the “medical craft” rather than pure art, let us interpret the aphorism attributed to the ancient Greek physician in a renaissance man’s frame of mind. Let us look at it through the prism of the humanities at large, a human culture which lies at the most vibrant intersection of numerous academic disciplines, be they history, languages, philosophy, music or art.
The humanities encompass countless wonders, ars longa is boundless, embodying myriad lives, toying with thoughts and currents, always bringing them to the same humanities communion. This is when all the disciplines nurture and complement one another, direct, question and answer each other, allowing us to taste their elixir and pass it to the next generation. In this fascinating inter-disciplinary network – centuries filled with creative minds – it goes without saying that we also find novelists, poets and composers. And this is where greats such as Shakespeare, Moliere, Goethe, Dante, Byron and Hugo stand side by side with the eminent composers: Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven, Mahler… They look at and inspire one another.
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