There is a film called “Schindler’s List” and the storyline goes like this. Businessman Oskar Schindler arrives in Krakow in 1939, all set to make his fortune from World War II. After joining the Nazi party purely for political expediency, he staffs his factory with Jewish workers for similarly pragmatic reasons. When the SS begins exterminating Jews, Schindler arranges to have his workers protected to keep his factory in operation, but soon realises that in so doing, he is also saving innocent lives.
The music for this film is a haunting and alluring piece written by John Williams. In one of the online clips, there is a woman Davida Scheffers who has lived her dream of winning a contest and the opportunity to play this music with the Dutch Orchestra. Davida suffers from an excruciating neuromuscular condition that derailed her career, and she thought she would never get to play in a professional orchestra again. There is a young blonde lady in the audience who is her daughter and turned 18 on the day of the performance.
At the end of the clip Davida is in tears, as is her daughter and I find that my eyes are also glistening. Why? Maybe it’s the music itself, maybe it is knowing the backstory of the people in the orchestra or is it something else? Perhaps it is the unconquerable triumph of beauty against the darkest backdrop of suffering and sadness. That even in heinous war and the fragility of our body, something exquisite and magnificent can lift, inspire, move and call us. Through our gentleness and perseverance, we offer to the world the promise that this is not all there is. Through patient courage, the other dimension is accessible with something as complex and simple as a piece of music.