Clara Tsang Fung 曾鳳
演出背後的故事
The pieces selected for this concert circles around the theme of Serendipity. The intent is to remind the audience to embrace life and celebrate the discoveries along every one of our journeys in life even if it might not unfold as we expect. Sometimes, it is through these encounters that new things blossoms and we discover more about ourselves. With sound judgment and keen perception, unexpected and fortunate discoveries will be made however unintentional they may be, and the development of our lives will unfold in a pleasant and surprisingly positive manner.
To find out more about the definition of this word from the Oxford Dictionary, it is - The faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident. A formerly rare word that had an explosive popularity in the twentieth century, it is a word coined by an English gentleman in London named Horace Walpole. First committed in print in 1754 in a letter to Horace Mann, we find out that the origins of this word came from a curious Oriental fairy tale of ‘the Three Princes of Serendip’ about the heroes’ journey out in the world of which they ”were always making discoveries by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of."
Serendipity 邂逅
8 Dec 2014
We hope that after listening to this concert and finding out more about the history and story behind this ‘expressive’ word, our audience can walk away with a positive outlook on life. No matter how things unfold and what challenges lie ahead, with wisdom and a clear mind, we all have the ability to go out and unearth the ‘happy accidents’ unique to each and every one of our lives.
The fascinating story goes like this. In the kingdom of Serendip, there lived a King and his three sons. King Giaffer was a loving father who engaged a number of the best scholars in their respective fields to train and educate his sons. His sons soon became highly trained in the arts and sciences however the King was skeptical about their wisdom and decides to send them on a prolonged journey so that they can acquire empirical experiences that they can recognize as their very own.
The king summoned his sons and on the pretense of being displeased with them, banished him from the kingdom of Serendip. As they were traveling in the Kingdom of Beramo, misfortune befalls the princes and they were wrongly accused of stealing a camel. They described that the camel was blind in one eye, missing a tooth and lame and further informed that the camel was carrying a load of butter on one side and honey on the other and ridden by a pregnant woman. After the camel was found and the princes released, they were brought in front of the Emperor and brilliant recounted how they interpreted the scant evidence observed along the road to accurately describe a camel they have never seen.
Emperor Beramo was impressed by the princes’ sagacity and urges the princes to retrieve the mirror stolen and taken to another land by a Virgin Queen. From there on, more adventures and events took place where the three princes use their wit and sagacity to resolve problems and bring peace and prosperity to the Kingdom of Beramo. The story ends with the three wise sons of King Giaffer becoming three wise rulers. Upon Giaffer’s death, the eldest son succeeds his father as King of Serendip. The second son returns to the land of the Virgin Queen, got married and becomes king. The youngest son was offered marriage by Emperor Beramo with his daughter and eventually became lord of this empire.