The Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything

I've been exploring the role that art plays in our lives both individually and collectively. Don't worry, this isn't going to be some pretentiously wordy proposal, but the title of your event caught my eye and aligns with a concert I've been planning involving Painting, Poetry and Bach. I have a small projector that I would like to use to show the art of the Baroque and explain the emotional aim of the art as it related to the events unfolding in Europe. This sets the audience in the realm of Bach's monumental D Minor Partita. Next, I will present the four dance movements of the partita with relevant slides to connect the audience visually again with defining qualities of each movement. A brief intermission will follow before the monumental Chaconne, a remarkably personal work by a composer about whom very little is known. The piece has been aptly called "Apotheosis in D Minor". Either before the Chaconne or at the end of the program, I would also like to present an abridged reading of Walt Whitmans "Song of the Open Road" as I think it relates to the themes discussed and presented visually and musically. All of this should lend various perspectives on our place in history and in our lives individually.