The scene gathers like music itself: a square alive with breath and brass, pipers marking midnight as fireworks scatter their colours across the black canvas of the sky. Notes rise like sparks, weaving with laughter and coffee steam, while dawn brings the sound of Vienna’s violins. The old year folds into silence as the new one takes the stage, a concert of light and renewal.
New Year’s Concert by Petra Vergunst
What is a new year without a new sound?
Now we walk the lamp-lit streets
to join the thousands of celebrants
at the square
anticipating fireworks
as pipers mark the last breath of the year past
at midnight bristling colours will
illuminate next year’s black canvas
Tomorrow, in a drunken dizziness
we shall sip coffee and watch
the Vienna orchestra
set the tone for the year to come.
No, let’s not waltz…
No, let’s not waltz through this new year
to the same tune as last
marble dancers may marvel
to another melody as well
let’s disentangle the pulse
brush aside sweeping violins
and reassemble those twelve notes
high and low, in a different order
resolve around novel harmonies.
What would be a new year
if we were not to sound out
new arrangements of colour
in the fireworks display?
Print Illustration Used with the Image
Frans Snyders (1579-1657), Study of Birds
Style: Baroque | Genre: Animal Painting | Medium: Oil on Canvas
Snyders assembles a vivid array of exotic and native birds, parrots, eagles, cockatoos, and songbirds, perched in a lively composition. Characteristic of Baroque animal painting, the work emphasizes texture, color, and natural vitality.