Anniversary campaign ends with a flourish

In a hushed Richardson Auditorium filled with alumni clad in blue blazers and pumpkin-hued sweaters, comparative literature professor Robert Fagles stood in the spotlight on the stage and read from his translation of "The Iliad."

"The god created a world of gorgeous immortal work," he began. He was describing the forging of Achilles' shield, but he could have been talking about the speakers and performances at "The Heroic Moment: Homer and Beethoven," one of several events held during the weekend to celebrate the successful conclusion of the Anniversary Campaign for Princeton.

The celebration also included a lecture Friday by Jeffrey Bezos '86, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, and a colloquium Saturday on "Challenges to Higher Education in the New Century" featuring President Shapiro and the presidents of five other elite universities.

The Anniversary Campaign, begun in 1995, raised more that $1.1 billion for Princeton.

During the event in Richardson on Friday, humanities professor Toni Morrison spoke about the vitality of the arts at Princeton. "I believe it illustrates a vital aspect of the Princeton experience," she said.

"The effort to speak the same language," Morrison said, "is returning more and more on university campuses." Speaking in slow, measured tones, Morrison said Princeton is a place "where market demands are irrelevant" and "where faculty and students can share the mystery of creation."

"It's that blend of public participation and engagement that underscores liberal arts education on this campus," she said. "Princeton should take great pleasure in its faculty and departments of the creative arts."

Music department chair Scott Burnham asked the obvious question about the two headlining artists, who lived thousands of years apart: "Where do Beethoven and Homer meet?"

"They meet here, they meet now," Burnham proclaimed.

"Homer and Beethoven are not simply great artists," he said. "Homer and Beethoven are myth-makers . . . They turn us into children who want to hear the same story again and again and again."

Homer, "the blind seer," and Beethoven, "the deaf composer," are both epic figures, said Burnham. He added that Beethoven looked to his predecessor, Brahms, to create his own inescapably masculine artistic worlds.

Comparative literature professor Robert Fagles read selections of his translations of "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey." The audience sat spellbound as he described the intricately detailed scenes depicted on Achilles' armor in a passage from "The Iliad."

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Fagles then told the spine-tingling story of the death of Hector in "The Iliad." His voice rose and fell with the excitement of Achilles' pursuit of Hector and of the warriors' fierce combat.

The final reading was from "The Odyssey" and related the reunion of Odysseus and Penelope upon the former's return to Ithaca. "His returning [speaks] of marriage for all of us and of coming home once more," said Fagles.

Just as students and alumni gathered in Richardson to celebrate the virtues of Princeton, so did Odysseus rejoice to have Penelope, "the soul of loyalty in his arms at last."

As the dimmed lights came on, Princeton University Orchestra conductor Michael Pratt took the stage. The orchestra played Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor. The opening notes of the piece — what Burnham called "the best known sound bite in the world of Western music" — filled the auditorium.

The orchestra's performance of one of Beethoven's masterpieces brought together the mythic themes of Homer and Beethoven and demonstrated, once again, Princeton's vibrant vision of the creative arts.