A Fine Day to Celebrate Your Carnality!
Perhaps you might be aroused and evoke that ancient Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia? Or mayhap find heated inspiration via the traditional date to share tokens of romantic love with those who have fired your passions? As if one needed a special day to responsibly partake of the sensual joys that nature offers. Yet, here we are, so joyously indulge!
Despite the vicissitudes plaguing human societies on a global level, Lust has not been banished. Its pursuit has always required inventive means for expression. It is well known that many of our technological advances have been driven by individuals seeking to expand their means for erotic fulfillment. So, whether mediated by electronic technologies or in vivid personal encounters, keep it safe, creative, and consensual, dear fellow intrepid sybarites.
The 1979 Blake Edwards comedy 10, starring Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews, and Bo Derek, used Maurice Ravel’s Boléro as an audio simulacrum of a lustful encounter. Interest in this work brought renewed sales of recordings and Ravel became, for a brief time, the world’s most famous classical composer—40 years after his demise. Originally written for a ballet, the work was experimental, being a repetition of the same musical material, in the same key of C Major, with the orchestration becoming increasingly elaborate, with no thematic development and only one brief modulation. For the climax, there’s a brief excursion into E Major, before ending back in the home key. There’s an ostinato rhythm which underlies the entire work (repeated 169 times), and two melodies which make a duo that continually repeat in their wonderfully sensuous (and sensual) murmurings.
Please follow the link to enjoy this performance played by the Vienna Philharmonic directed by “The Dude” Gustavo Dudamel, the music director designate for the New York Philharmonic to begin with the 2026-7 season. I trust you will be enthralled, inspired, and delighted.
May all you horny, life-loving devils enjoy a lust-filled day—as well as a musk-filled night—with your exciting, eager, and enthusiastic partners! And, never underestimate the exultant experience of self-love, should you embrace that option for fulfilling gratification.
—Magus Peter H. Gilmore
The delightfully erotic painting excerpted above is:
Satyr and Nymph, by Gerard van Honthorst (1623)