Life is hard... On a more vain note, writing is hard. Maybe writing is an allegory for life... Along with sports, camping, grilling, auto-mechanic work, child rearing, animal training, etc. Ah. I guess it all can be hard, but nothing will ever come of it if you don't press on.
Anyway, metaphors aside... Good writing should reflect difficulties, and either the failures associated with them or the victories in spite of them (or because of them). How do you press on through the melancholy... through the adversity, yet pause in the lighter moments without sinking into escapism? Furthermore, how do you press on, knowing victory is assured? What does that feel like? How do you describe these feelings? Bedřich Smetana's Ma Vlast, Die Moldau beautifully reflects such pressing onward moods. The music is that of a journey tinted with melancholy, yet presses on, and in the end comes out victorious. In fact, I would say it is a deeper, truer victory.
Ma Vlast (My Homeland) has become a sort of anthem for the Czech people, the home country of Bedřich Smetana. I can feel what was like for a country stuck in between the west and the middle-east straining to hold its identity. Yet, the music also suggests the importance of both taking a break, and stopping to let sorrow have its turn. But, it the end, its picks itself back up, pushes forward, and triumphs.
So, if you are looking for inspiration to press on, or tying to find music that evokes the right moods for a character pressing on, listen to this piece. I like to listen to it as I walk stairs with a 50 pound pack on my back. (I definitely need motivation to press on then.) If you've listened, let me know what you think. Am I interrupting the moods right?
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