Continuing with the fishy theme since my camera and I haven't gotten back out on the street. I don't know what the species are here but the small ones form a remarkable group. Like some flocks of birds, they move en masse with amazing coordination. I know nothing of the biology of the behavior.
Tower Grove Park may look simple at first view, but there are many interesting and unusual details. The small building is at one of the automobile entrances. The official park map describes it only as Well House with no further explanation. A page on the website of the excellent local photo-historian, Chris Naffziger, calls at the South Entrance Lodge. https://stlouispatina.com/37889-2/ . He has a bit to say about the architecture but mentions that little else is known about the building. It is quite small but has a certain elegance.
Next around the circle of busts is Richard Wagner, who seems to be contemplating the destruction of the cycle of major and minor keys, and perhaps tonality itself. The story is that he was not a nice person, egotistical and sometimes bullying. Not to everyone's taste, but, still, some of the most moving nights I have had in the musical theater, were at performances of his work: the Flying Dutchman at the Metropolitan Opera, Jon Vickers, singing Parsifal in Chicago and the big iconoclast, Tristan und Isolde, when I was in Los Angeles on business. (I was alone at that last one and happened to walk out to the parking lot with a member of the orchestra who looked at me and asked, "did you actually like that?" I did.)
A few steps from the pond and fake ruins in the picture I posted yesterday is an ornate octagonal bandstand. It is surrounded by six marble columns topped by busts of composers popular with the people who laid out the park: Wagner, Mozart, Rossini, Gounod, Tchaikovsky and this chap. The busts are a bit crude, possible made of cement.
While Beethoven had much hardship in his life, by no means was he always gloomy. Listen to the 7th Symphony, Op 92, the triumphant finale of the 5th Symphony, Op. 67, the "Spring" Sonata for violin and piano, Op. 24 or the ecstatic reunion duet of Floristan and Leonora in his only opera, Fidelio..
I was totally out of material. Yesterday was mild and there was lovely winter light. I headed for Tower Grove Park, my favorite in our area. Not flashy, just quietly beautiful. There is a pond bordered with consciously fake ruins, a 19th Century romantic fantasy. You do see lots of wedding photography here in the warmer months.
