The Properties of Passion

Can we look at Baroque and Romanticism not as static entries in an art history textbook, but as something alive—breathing, yearning, and constantly shifting? What if these styles aren’t just “periods” but ways of thinking, ways of wrestling with the chaos of existence? I am not certain, but is it not worth asking?

The Baroque seems to ask: How do we survive chaos? Chaos is too vast and too insistent to ignore. So Baroque strives to contain it, to mold it into something comprehensible, even beautiful. At the same time, Baroque aimed to “stir the soul.” Quantz captured this perfectly when he said, “The soul moves to the rhythm of our deepest emotions, inviting us not just to exist, but to truly live.” But can the chaos of our emotions really be tamed?

Musically yours 

Leon