Chaos and harmony

In Greek mythology, Chaos is the god of darkness, void and confusion. In the 8th century B.C. Hesiod worded it like this: „The first power to come into being was Chaos, then arose Gaia, broad-bosomed earth, which serve as the ever-immovable base for  all the immortals who dwell on the peaks of snowy Olympus.” Similarly, the story of creation of the Bible also comes forth from darkness. „In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” Chaos can therefore be regarded as the starting point of all creative acts: the Nothing that no matter what it brings forth, it will take shape. All forms of music could also be regarded as the tones born from the disorderly void, silence and then take shape and harmony comes into being.  Again in Greek mythology, Harmony is the daughter of the goddess of love, Aphrodite and the god of war, Ares, is in charge not only of peace in human relationships and of the order prevailing in armies marching into war but also of cosmic harmony.

The programme series of Festival Academy 2019 begins with the French Baroque composer Jean-Féry Rebel’s (1666–1747) work Chaos and is concluded a week later with the harmonious Violin Concerto in G minoralso written by a French Baroque composer,  Jean-Marie Leclair (1697–1764). But harmony created from chaos can be relived from day to day throughout the week-long Festival, especially, if we accept the fundamental principle that the act of creation is closely linked to love: after Chaos and Gaia, the next god born was Eros, love, as creative force lies in love. Festival Academy offers a perfect example for this ancient Greek myth, as love was certainly the creating force behind this event: love of music, love of teaching and of music-making, and what’s perhaps more important than these: love between the chamber music partners and for the audience, in other words, love for other people.