Glass founded the Philip Glass Ensemble, with which he still performs on keyboards. He has written numerous operas and musical theatre works, twelve symphonies, eleven concertos, eight string quartets and various other chamber music, and film scores. Three of his film scores have been nominated for Academy Awards.
Glass was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Ida (née Gouline) and Benjamin Charles Glass. His family were Jewish emigrants from Lithuania. His father owned a record store and his mother was a librarian. In his memoir, Glass recalls that at the end of World War II his mother aided Jewish Holocaust survivors, inviting recent arrivals to America to stay at their home until they could find a job and a place to live. She developed a plan to help them learn English and develop skills so they could find work. His sister, Sheppie, would later do similar work as an active member of the International Rescue Committee.
Glass developed his appreciation of music from his father, discovering later his father's side of the family had many musicians. His cousin Cevia was a classical pianist, while others had been in vaudeville.
Glass has composed many film scores, starting with the orchestral score for Koyaanisqatsi (1982), and continuing with two biopics, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985, resulting in the String Quartet No. 3) and Kundun (1997) about the Dalai Lama, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination. In 1968 he composed and conducted the score for director Harrison Engle's minimalist comedy short, Railroaded, played by the Philip Glass Ensemble. This was one of his earliest film efforts.
The year after scoring Hamburger Hill (1987), Glass began a long collaboration with the filmmaker Errol Morris with his music for Morris's celebrated documentaries, including The Thin Blue Line (1988) and A Brief History of Time (1991). He continued composing for the Qatsi trilogy with the scores for Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002). In 1995 he composed the theme for Reggio's short independent film Evidence. He made a cameo appearance—briefly visible performing at the piano—in Peter Weir's The Truman Show (1998), which uses music from Powaqqatsi, Anima Mundi and Mishima, as well as three original tracks by Glass. In the 1990s, he also composed scores for Bent (1997) and the thriller Candyman (1992) and its sequel, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), plus a film adaptation of Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent (1996).
In 1999, he finished a new soundtrack for the 1931 film Dracula. The Hours (2002) earned him a second Academy Award nomination, and was followed by another Morris documentary, The Fog of War (2003). In the mid-2000s Glass provided the scores to films such as Secret Window (2004), Neverwas (2005), The Illusionist and Notes on a Scandal, garnering his third Academy Award nomination for the latter. Glass's most recent film scores include No Reservations (Glass makes a brief cameo in the film sitting at an outdoor café), Cassandra's Dream (2007), Les Regrets (2009), Mr Nice (2010), the Brazilian film Nosso Lar (2010) and Fantastic Four (2015, in collaboration with Marco Beltrami). In 2009, Glass composed original theme music for Transcendent Man, about the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil by filmmaker Barry Ptolemy.
In the 2000s Glass's work from the 1980s again became known to wider public through various media. In 2005 his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1987) was featured in the surreal French thriller, La Moustache, providing a tone intentionally incongruous to the banality of the movie's plot. Metamorphosis: Metamorphosis One from Solo Piano (1989) was featured in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica in the episode "Valley of Darkness" and also in the final episode ("return 0") of Person of Interest. In 2008, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto IV featuring Glass's "Pruit Igoe" (from Koyaanisqatsi). "Pruit Igoe" and "Prophecies" (also from Koyaanisqatsi) were used both in a trailer for Watchmen and in the film itself. Watchmen also included two other Glass pieces in the score: "Something She Has To Do" from The Hours and "Protest" from Satyagraha, act 2, scene 3. In 2013 Glass contributed a piano piece "Duet" to the Park Chan-wook film Stoker. In 2017 Glass scored the National Geographic Films documentary Jane (a documentary on the life of renowned British primatologist Jane Goodall).
Glass's music was featured in two award-winning films by Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, Elena (2011) and Leviathan (2014).
For television, Glass composed the theme for Night Stalker (2005).
Forgetting
Philip Glass Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
From a dream about his lovers
Who pass through his room
They brush lightly by
These lovers
They pass
Never touching
The man is awake now
He can′t get to sleep again
So he repeats these words
Over and over again:
Bravery. Kindness. Clarity.
Honesty. Compassion. Generosity.
Bravery. Honesty. Dignity.
Clarity. Kindness. Compassion.
Bravery. Kindness. Clarity.
Honesty. Compassion. Generosity.
Bravery. Honesty. Dignity.
Clarity. Kindness. Compassion.
Bravery. Kindness. Clarity.
Honesty. Compassion. Generosity.
Bravery. Honesty. Dignity.
Clarity. Kindness. Compassion.
Bravery. Kindness. Clarity.
Honesty. Compassion. Generosity.
Bravery. Honesty. Dignity.
Clarity. Kindness. Compassion.
Philip Glass's song Forgetting is a haunting piece of music that tells a story about a man who wakes up to the sound of rain after dreaming about his past lovers who pass through his room without touching him. The man is awake now but can't get back to sleep again, so he repeats the words "Bravery, Kindness, Clarity, Honesty, Compassion, Generosity, Dignity" like a mantra. Each repetition of these words becomes an increasingly desperate attempt to cling to something that is slipping away.
The lyrics are deeply contemplative and suggest a man who is struggling to make sense of his life. Perhaps he is mourning the loss of his past relationships, or maybe he is at a crossroads in his life and struggling to find meaning in the face of uncertainty. The words that he repeats could be seen as a kind of prayer or meditation, a way of trying to find clarity and direction in the midst of confusion and chaos.
Ultimately, the song is about the power of memory and how we cling to certain moments and emotions in our lives even as they slip away from us. The man in the song is trying to hold onto something, anything, that will help him make sense of his life and give him the strength to move forward.
Line by Line Meaning
A man wakes up to the sound of rain
The man awakens from his slumber due to the sound of rain.
From a dream about his lovers
During his sleep, he dreamed about his partners.
Who pass through his room
In his dream, his lovers passed through his room.
They brush lightly by
The fleeting presence of his lovers barely touches him.
These lovers
The people in his dream who he cares deeply for.
They pass
His lovers move on from him.
Never touching
The presence of his lovers is barely noticeable.
These passing lovers move through his room
The people he loves move through his dreamlike state.
The man is awake now
He is now conscious and aware of his surroundings.
He can't get to sleep again
As a result of the previous dream, he is having trouble dosing off once more.
So he repeats these words
To help him sleep again, he begins to provoke himself.
Over and over again:
He repeats these specific words continuously.
Bravery. Kindness. Clarity.
He mentions these attributes, perhaps as a reminder of how he can improve himself.
Honesty. Compassion. Generosity.
For a second time, the man mentions these qualities, implying that they are important to him.
Bravery. Honesty. Dignity.
He utters these words to inspire himself to become a better person by following these characteristics.
Clarity. Kindness. Compassion.
The man mentions these characteristics for the fourth time, indicating that he values and strives towards them.
Bravery. Kindness. Clarity.
He repeats this first sequence of attributes once more.
Honesty. Compassion. Generosity.
He again speaks these words as he tries to stay awake.
Bravery. Honesty. Dignity.
He uses these qualities as inspiration to help him in his life.
Clarity. Kindness. Compassion.
The man concludes his repeated chant by mentioning these important attributes once more.
Writer(s): Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass
Contributed by Elijah P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Alan Bleier
on Kuru Field of Justice
I couldn't find them anywhere on the internet, so I'm posting them here:
(they are simply passages of the bhagavad-gita)
GHANDI:
yotsyamanan avekse 'ham ya ete 'tra samagatah
dhartarastrasya durbuddher yuddhe priya-cikirsavah
evam ukto hrsikeso gudakesena bharata
senayor ubhayor madhye sthapayitva rathottamam
(kirpaya parayavisto visidann idam abravit)
ARJUNA:
karpanya-dosopahata-svabhavah
prcchami tvam dharma-sammudha-ceta
yac chreyah syan niscitam bruhi tan me
sisyas te 'ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam
(kirpaya parayavisto visidann idam abravit)
KRISHNA:
atha cet tvam imam dharmyam sangramam na karisyasi
tatah sva-dharmam kirtim ca hitva papam avapsyasi
hato va prapsyasi svargam jitva va bhosyase mahim
tasmad uttistha kaunteya yuddhaya krta-niscayah
sukha-duhkhe same krtva labhalabhau jayajayau
tato yuddhaya yujyasva naivam papam avapsyasi
CHORUS:
tam tatha krpayavistam asru-purnakuleksanam
visidantam idam vakyam uvaca madhusudanah
kutas tva kasmalam idam visame samupasthitam
anarya-justam asvargyam ¡akirti-karam arjuna!
GHANDI:
sukha-duhkhe same krtva labhalabhau jayajayau
tato yuddhaya yujyasva naivam papam avapsyasi