[Joseonggwan's Global Humanities Journey] Why Did Yoon Jeonghee Listen to the Violin Performance Back Then?

When people reach their fifties, without exception, their parents begin their final voyage. While some pass away peacefully in their sleep, many struggle in the sea of suffering before departing this world. Watching such parents, one cannot help but feel that life is truly fleeting and futile.

Actress Yoon Jeong-hee (1944?2023) closed her eyes last January after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. As is well known, Yoon Jeong-hee endured a painful final chapter due to Alzheimer's. Having had a long association with the actress, I felt more sorrowful than anyone else about her passing. Patients with Alzheimer's nearing death can do nothing. Her husband, pianist Baek Geon-woo, shared his wife's final moments like this.

"My wife, actress Yoon Jeong-hee, who has been loved by the public for many years, passed away with a peaceful face as if dreaming while listening to our daughter Jin-hee's violin playing."

Actor Yoon Jeong-hee [Photo by Yonhap News]

For their mother, who was about to part with the world, the daughter played violin pieces in the hospice ward. Among the human senses, hearing is the last to survive. It does not matter much which composer's music it was. The daughter likely chose music her mother liked. What we should emphasize is that Yoon Jeong-hee listened to the violin music with her last remaining sense of hearing before passing away.

Recently, I happened to watch the French film Everything Went Fine on Netflix. I watched it without much expectation but was moved. After finishing, I carefully savored the dialogue and watched it again. Directed by Fran?ois Ozon, the film stars Sophie Marceau in her fifties as the protagonist Emmanuelle.

An eighty-year-old father (Andr?) suddenly collapses. He calls his daughter (Emmanuelle) and makes a request. Unable to walk or do what he wants on his own, he feels life is meaningless. He no longer wants to live and asks for help to end his life with dignity.

Euthanasia is legally permitted in Switzerland and the Netherlands. Andr? voluntarily expressed his wish for euthanasia but hesitated when it came time to carry it out. This caused distress for his two daughters and others involved. After many twists and turns, Andr? is taken by ambulance to Bern, Switzerland, a six-hour journey from Paris. His two daughters remain anxiously waiting in Paris. Then they receive a call from a hospital in Bern. The hospital staff relay Andr?'s final moments.

"Your father fell asleep while listening to Brahms' piano sonata."

Movie poster for 'Everything Went Fine'

At this scene, Dr. David Goodall overlapped in my mind. The final moments of Australian botanist David Goodall (1916?2020) and the atmosphere of this film were similar. I have briefly mentioned Dr. Goodall's story two or three times in 'World Humanities Travel.'

Why did Dr. Goodall fly all the way from Australia to Basel, Switzerland, to choose euthanasia? Because after living so long, no one he loved remained. He did not want to be unhappy any longer.

The last meal he ate at the Basel hospital was cheesecake and fish and chips. Just before the injection, he listened to Beethoven's 9th Symphony, "Choral." Then he embarked on his journey to the place he came from.

Botanist David Goodall
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Why did actress Yoon Jeong-hee, Andr? from the film, and scientist David Goodall want to listen to music at the moment when the vast universe collapses into a single point? What exactly is music?

Victor Hugo, the novelist who wrote Les Mis?rables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, whose novels were adapted into musicals that remain steady sellers on stage, described music like this.

"Music expresses what cannot be put into words by humans, yet cannot be silenced."

Hugo's words reveal the essential nature of music. Music does not require words (language). Music is an art that expresses feelings. Before being articulated in language, music captures the whirlpool of emotions.

Whether on group tours or independent travel, we try to attend a concert once or twice during trips to Europe. Why is that? While art museum tours require guides, music performances have no language barriers.

Among the 54 geniuses I covered in the genius series, those with particularly deep knowledge of music included Victor Hugo, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hermann Hesse, Charlie Chaplin, Paik Nam-june, Milan Kundera, and Haruki Murakami.

Take Hermann Hesse, for example. I studied Hesse by visiting his hometown of Calw in Germany, T?bingen, Basel, and other places, but I did not know he had profound insight into music until the book Hermann Hesse, Writing on Music was translated in 2022.

Hesse wrote about music like this.

"Music is the only art to which I unconditionally pay homage and believe must exist."

He also defined music as "something that evokes the identity of the moment and eternity."

Poster of the opera "The Marriage of Figaro" composed by Mozart in 1786
[Photo by Wikipedia]

While living in Switzerland, Hesse attended concerts whenever he had the chance and recorded his feelings and thoughts about music. That book is Musik, Hermann Hesse. In it, Hesse wrote about Mozart's operas.

"If it were not for Mozart's spirit, which sublimated into something vivid that has not aged even after 150 years, not a single one of those literary works would have survived beyond Mozart's era. Let alone until today."

The operas Hesse mentioned are The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, and Don Giovanni. The Marriage of Figaro was originally a French playwright's work, first made into a play, then Da Ponte rewrote it as an opera libretto. The Magic Flute was written by librettist Schikaneder. Don Giovanni was also Da Ponte's work.

Hesse often incorporated music into his novels to unfold narratives. In Demian, the protagonist Sinclair is depicted as enjoying Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and in Steppenwolf, the character Pablo is portrayed as a jazz musician.

Hugo, Hesse, and Murakami are three who loved music and developed from enthusiasts to possessing musical insight. However, Nietzsche's starting point was different. Before leaving brilliant works in philosophy and criticism, Nietzsche was already a composer, pianist, and music critic.

Why did Richard Wagner want to meet the young Nietzsche, who was thirty-one, in Leipzig? Because he heard that the young university student performed and critiqued his works, which piqued his curiosity. Nietzsche revered Wagner like a father and regarded him as a mentor. Wagner invited Nietzsche to his home in Lucerne, Switzerland, where Nietzsche practically lived. Nietzsche's philosophy and criticism cannot be explained without music. Nietzsche even wrote books titled Wagner in Bayreuth and Nietzsche contra Wagner. This is the background for French author Georges Li?bert writing Nietzsche and Music.

Complete Works of Nietzsche Volume 1

One of Nietzsche's widely known quotes about music is, "Without music, life would be a mistake, a tiring business, a mere exile." However, I value the following most highly.

"Music has something unspeakable and secret. Music is familiar to us but resembles an eternal paradise we can never reach. Music can be grasped intellectually but never fully explained. This is because music shows the movement of our existence, deeply hidden yet detached from reality and suffering."

A couple of months ago, a big sister like a mother passed away two months after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. She refused all surgeries, saying dying in old age is the way of nature. To make matters worse, she suffered a stroke. When her language ability declined and communication became difficult, she sang. Whenever she spoke on the phone with relatives, she communicated through song.

Jo Seong-gwan, writer and genius researcher

Operator of 'Genius Table,' former editor-in-chief of Weekly Chosun

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.