The Styrous® Viewfinder: Thomas Bruce White

On Saturday the celebration of the life of Thomas Bruce White III was held at the BK Studio in Berkeley, California. Over a hundred people from everywhere were in attendance, friends, students, associates, etc.

Videos commemorating Tom's life were presented by documentation artist Kyung Lee and, of course me, Styrous®. Decades ago, Tom asked that the aria, The King of Thule from the opera The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz, be played should there be a memorial for him when he died. I added photos from our 50 year relationship to the audio of that aria (links below). The 4-1/2 minute piece of music was WAY to short to fit the millions of images I have of him, of course, but I did the best I could.

The aria is a French translation of a German lyric poem, Faust, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe written in 1774; I've included an English translation. The quality sucks but I've uploaded the video to my blog (links below).

Thūlē also spelled as Thylē) is a mythical island, the most northerly location (if not Hyperborea) mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography. First written of by the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia (modern-day Marseille, France) in about 320 BC, it was often described by later writers as an island north of Ireland or Britain, despite that Pytheas never explicitly described it as an island. Modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shetland, Northern Scotland, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland. Other potential locations are the island of Saaremaa in Estonia, or the Norwegian island of Smøla.

The 20 hour soundtrack (all the music I could find from the fifties) for the event featured the songs we loved and danced to way back then (link below soon).

The celebration far exceeded my hopes and expectations thanks to the assistance from friends, family and especially Keela of BK Studio. I am indebted to them forever!

July 11, 2026 sunset

photo by Rees Erwin

Hasta Pronto, Tom!

Viewfinder links:

Hector Berlioz

Rees Erwin

Kyung Lee

The King of Thule lyrics

Styrous®

Tom White

Tom White Tribute video

Net links:

Youtube links:

Hector Berlioz ~ The Damnation of Faust

Frederica von Stade ~ The King of Thule

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~ The King Of Thule reading

KQED ~ We R Here

Kyung Lee ~ TELOS: The Fantastic World of Eugene Tssui

Styrous® ~ Monday, July 13, 2026

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Hector Berlioz ~ The King of Thule lyrics

The King of Thule 1896

painting:

Pierre Jean Van der Ouderaa

Es war ein König in Thule,
Gar treu bis an das Grab,
Dem sterbend seine Buhle
einen goldnen Becher gab.

Es ging ihm nichts darüber,
Er leert' ihn jeden Schmaus;
Die Augen gingen ihm über,
So oft er trank daraus.

Und als er kam zu sterben,
Zählt' er seine Städt' im Reich,
Gönnt' alles seinen Erben,
Den Becher nicht zugleich.

Er saß beim Königsmahle,
Die Ritter um ihn her,
Auf hohem Vätersaale,
Dort auf dem Schloß am Meer.

Dort stand der alte Zecher,
Trank letzte Lebensglut,
Und warf den heiligen Becher
Hinunter in die Flut.

Er sah ihn stürzen, trinken
Und sinken tief ins Meer,
die Augen täten ihm sinken,
Trank nie einen Tropfen mehr.

There was a king in Thule,
Was faithful till the grave,
To whom his mistress, dying,
A golden goblet gave.

Nought was to him more precious;
He drained it at every bout;
His eyes with tears ran over,
As oft as he drank thereout.

When came his time of dying,
The towns in his land he told,
Nought else to his heir denying
Except the goblet of gold.

He sat at the royal banquet
With his knights of high degree,
In the lofty hall of his fathers
In the castle by the sea.

There stood the old carouser,
And drank the last life-glow;
And hurled the hallowed goblet
Into the tide below.

He saw it plunging and filling,
And sinking deep in the sea:
Then fell his eyelids for ever,
And never more drank he!