I vaguely seemed to be in the 1700s in a large room which somewhat resembled a church and in which a lecture was being given. With me was a friend (a little older than I) whom I immensely admired but whom I still didn't know well. He seemed to be an accomplished artist of some sort. He in particular seemed to be from the 1700s.

The man giving the lecture was using charts and diagrams and talking about an important step in the development of musical theory. He talked about a shift of emphasis which had been placed on certain notes as music had developed. He spoke of one composer in particular who had made the shift from other notes to the note of "r." He said that shift had been dramatic because at the time the shift had been made, musicians hadn't been fully aware of the nature of sound. The shift, which had been intuitive, had immensely enhanced the writing of music.

I thought he said that the name of the composer was "Heine." Since I knew that Heinrich Heine was a German poet, I thought I might have misunderstood the name when it had been pronounced.

How much there was in the world and how much I needed to know. I thought of the immensity of the skies and imagined stars in my mind. I recalled how I had recently been outside looking at the stars and contemplating the vastness of the universe.

It occurred to me that the lecturer hadn't even played the music he was discussing yet. I wondered how I would be affected when I actually heard the music. Suddenly, someone did start playing the music. My friend who was sitting behind me touched me when the music began. I felt that in some vague way we were communicating. I thought he might somehow be able to help me. I listened closer to the music which was a melody.

The music was so beautiful I felt taken away by it. The beauty of it seemed to carry me over mountains; wide vistas unfurled before me. The music was so intense I almost began to feel some pain. Inside me I began to feel there might be some relation between beauty and pain which I hadn't yet uncovered. I was uncertain that such a relation did exist, but felt it might indeed be there.

It seemed the time had come for me to explore the possibility that beauty and pain were somehow intimately related.