Sir/Dame Harry Eyres

Passionate European, Hispanophile, poet, birdwatcher, tennis nut, amateur pianist. Author of Horace and Me, contributor to @NewStatesman, @worldoffinewine.

[Sir/Dame Harry Eyres @sloweyres]

Government by "likes" https://t.co/FYp47vHexa

[Michelle Obama @MichelleObama]

Barack: You told me all those years ago that you couldn’t promise me the world, but you could promise me an interesting life. Of course, you outdid yourself and managed to give me both.

Eight years in the crucible, and not once did you melt from the heat. Not once did you let it harden you. Instead, you used it to reveal your truest essence: your stubborn optimism and unflinching courage, your dazzling brilliance and unpretentious decency, your ferocious work ethic and absolutely unshakable moral fiber.

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

Edvard Grieg b otd 1843 - what a wonderful, unique composer! Of his youth, he said: 'I was a dreamer with absolutely no talent for competition.' But he found his own, unique way, expressing the universal while never losing sight of his folk roots - and gave/gives us such joy!

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

Wisdom from WB Yeats (b otd 1865):
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
“There is another world, but it is in this one.”
“What can be explained is not poetry.”

[Christopher Hale @ChristopherHale]

“Dear migrants, before I say any other word to you, I want to bow before your dignity.

“You are not numbers or case files.

“You are people — with a family and a home left behind, with dreams that no one has the right to scorn.” — Pope Leo XIV

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

Wonderful, loveable composer/conductor/supporter of other composers Oliver Knussen b otd 1952. Making himself clear about self-expression in music (!):
"I hate the idea of somebody sitting down and thinking... 'My cat’s just died. I’m going to write a Requiem Mass for the cat.'"

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

Richard Strauss b otd 1864 - such a master! "Anyone who wants to be a real musician must be able to set a menu to music." But also: "Melody as revealed in the greatest works of our classics is one of the most noble gifts which an invisible deity has bestowed on mankind."

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

My teacher Jane Cowan b otd 1915. Of her many tenets, two were perhaps the most basic. Technique: playing the cello must feel (and look) easy. Music: each part of the phrase/each clause has a main note towards and away from which every other note flows - exactly as in speech.

[The Tennis Letter @TheTennisLetter]

Novak Djokovic congratulates Zverev on IG for winning Roland Garros

Sasha, I have known you since you were 10 years old. You were battling on the practice courts with my youngest brother while I was competing against your older brother, Mischa, on the big stage in both junior and pro circuit. I've nurtured a respectful and friendly relationship with your entire family for many years. We had countless conversations on tennis tactics, strategic plays, life, family, business. We had fun time on and off the court. Knowing what you had to endure with your illness since the young age, overcoming the greatest mental hurdle within yourself and shutting down critics who thought you would never win GS, makes this Grand Slam win even more special and memorable. Seeing the tears of joy you had together with your parents, brother and other team members made me emotional. I'm happy that you made it and you absolutely deserve this success because you have worked so hard on every front to make it happen. Enjoy it and
молодец брат 🙌👏💪🏆”

[Rafa Nadal @RafaelNadal]

Congratulations, @AlexZverev on winning @rolandgarros! 🏆 So well deserved after all the hard work and perseverance. You’ve been chasing your first Grand Slam for a long time, and you absolutely deserve it!

And congratulations to Flavio as well for a fantastic tournament! 👏🏻

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

Robert Schumann b otd 1810! Is there a composer who confides in us so deeply, takes us more openly into his soul? His vulnerability, his tender poetry move us so deeply; but so also do his rhythmic invention, his intellectual mastery, his boundless imagination. Musical divinity!

[Saganism @Saganismm]

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

Wonderful conductor Klaus Tennstedt b otd 100 years ago! (Even Carlos Kleiber loved him: 'finally someone I can admire'). I remember some of his London concerts; the energy, precision and charisma were remarkable - spellbinding. And orchestras loved him! A true, sincere artist.

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

A very happy 60th to the wonderful Cecilia Bartoli - giver of joy!
"I feel music becoming more and more important. It's a big source of inspiration...Music also brings you peace."
"Music is a way to dream together, to go to another dimension."
"I am a person of the 18th century."

[Sir/Dame Harry Eyres @sloweyres]

Sad loss, of a man of great integrity.

[Sir/Dame Harry Eyres @sloweyres]

I couldn’t agree more, Steven. Stuck with the label “English composer”’and hiding behind that handlebar moustache, a volcanic core of feeling, not at all English in a way.

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

Edward Elgar b itd 1857! What a composer - such moving, deeply emotional music; but (to my mind) widely misunderstood. Yes, his musical language is English; but his vulnerability, his aching sensitivity, his warmth of heart and gift for soaring melody - these are universal.

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

Marilyn Monroe b otd 100 years ago! So talented, so tragic...
“I've never fooled anyone. I've let people fool themselves. They didn't bother to find out who, what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were loving somebody I wasn't.”

[Sir/Dame Harry Eyres @sloweyres]

Modest, yes. But also one of the greatest, most innovative composers of all time. And a thoroughly good egg.

[Steven Isserlis @StevenIsserlis]

Beloved Joseph Haydn d otd 1809! His modest creed:
“There are so few contented peoples here below! Perhaps my labours will be a source from which they can derive rest and refreshment... This is why I now look back with cheerful satisfaction on the labours I expended on this art."

[Novak Djokovic @DjokerNole]

An epic battle, Joao. And a hard-fought victory you deserve. Best of luck for the rest of the tournament and the incredible career you have ahead of you. 

As for Paris… tu as mon coeur 🫶🏼

[Sir/Dame Harry Eyres @sloweyres]

The baby and the bathwater: language and politics https://t.co/3i4zjSP0XW