Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

100. How prodigal and hasteful(sic) we are of our opportunities!

October 25, 1935 –

     The other day when I saw Arthur in the willow tree, feet resting on one pliant branch, hands gripping another, swaying up & down, wind in his hair, I suddenly thought: There! That is it – that’s what the “Cherry Tree” used to mean to me as a boy” I had forgotten!

Recently Franck’s symphony came over the radio- It is supposed to typify, I think, sort of a struggle of Faith, and it came to me as a revelation – is there a complete faith, or do these people whom I envy for their seeming security in a complete faith have to fight of unbelief? Is faith after all not a complete entity, but the struggle itself? The yearning to believe in a god? If it is, I believe. I see faith as a battle, raging all thru one’s life.

Nov. 17, 1935-

     Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony over the radio, played by Koussevitsky (Sergei Kossevitzky) & the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In spite of a little static, reception was well nigh perfect, sharp & sonorous, and I turned it up almost full strength, so that the room was drenched in sound. And for the first time it seems, I really heard this titanic creation. As is it, a thing that is only revealed little by little.

     The first two movements are earthy; I sensed the joy of rugged wild landscapes with sweeping winds & storm.