One of my favorite classical singers, Patricia Janečková, died on Monday at the age of 25.
A Brief Life
About ten years ago, or a little more, I was searching for a good rendition of “O mio babbino caro” on YouTube, which is difficult. Though it is one of my favorite pieces of music, it is often sung in ways that make my skin crawl.
I discovered Patricia Janečková then. A young classical Slovakian soprano, she sang “O mio babbino caro” better than anyone else I’ve discovered. Her rendition of Ennio Morricone’s Theme from Once Upon a Time in the West – another of my favorite pieces – also surpassed the original.
She had a good career in her region of the world. Since early 2022, she had been fighting cancer. She got married in June 2023.
She died October 1, 2023 at the age of 25.
It feels strange to me. She was a few years younger than me, and she had created incredible art from a young age, and she developed great skill, and now she’s gone. Hopefully with the Lord, but I don’t know where she was at spiritually. Her recordings remain for now, and even if classical sopranos are not usually your cup of tea, I do recommend listening to her.
For sublime art is worth creating and appreciating.
Art and Immortality
Yet I do not believe that great art alone gives us any form of true immortality. The reality is that on the new earth, while “O mio babbino caro” may be performed, the renditions there will surpass any recording done on this earth.
And if – as some say and I do not believe – there is no God, no life after death, nothing beyond the natural world, then eventually “O mio babbino caro” will sink beyond the horizon forever, never to be played, heard, or remembered again. It will follow Puccini and Foranzo into nonexistence. And Janečková will precede both of them in being forgotten. Humanity remembers composers longer than singers. Yet all will come to nothing and be forgotten, so that one day the composers, the singers, and the listeners will all fade forever from the memory of all beings in the cosmos.
I do not believe we live in such a bleak universe. There is hope for immortality. And not the false immortality of the artist that perishes with the last time anyone thinks of their art. Not the false immortality where the artist herself never again lives.
No, in this universe riddled with cancerous growths, I am convinced there is hope for true immortality. True immortality where dead singers will sing again. True immortality where praises to the Author of Life will never cease.
Future and Fantasy
Will “O mio babbino caro” be sung again after this earth passes away? Will the “Flower Duet” from Lakmé echo into eternity? Will Handel’s “Lascia ch’io pianga” be sung in a hall of heaven?
I wish I knew. Perhaps they will be. Perhaps such pieces will be so far surpassed that we will not miss them. Perhaps we will put new words to the pained music of the old world.
After all, “Nella Fantasia” is set to Ennio Morricone’s composition “Gabriel’s Oboe,” which he wrote for the heart-wrenching film The Mission. The Mission tells a story of redemption and faith amid man’s inhumanity to man. “Nella Fantasia” dreams of a fantasy where the world is just, full of humanity living peacefully and honestly – where souls are free, the nights are not as dark, and a warm wind blows over the cities.
Is it a mere fantasy?
We must ask ourselves whether we live in a world where dead singers will sing again.