Henning's Headquarters

[karlhenning]

Revisiting Lost Waters just for fun.

[karlhenning]

Well, and now Radiant Maples.

[karlhenning]

Just heard from the group for whom I'm (in the midst of) writing Castelo dos Anjos.  They like it a lot so far.

Now, to finish it . . . .

[greg]

are you gonna put more music up for us to listen to, Karl?

[karlhenning]

Hmm . . . not this morning;  the file I've got is too big.  I'll export a more-compressed file this evening.

[greg]

cool......

i was about to hold you up for all of your music.

"This is a stick up! Gimme all your music!" 

[karlhenning]

As a bonus (if you like), Greg, I've gotten a good lick of work in on the piece, and this sound-file is substantially more of the music than I had this morning.

This chunk of Castelo dos Anjos sounds like it ends completely.  But it doesn't yet, really.  There'll be another six minutes to it.

(The clarinet, oboe and English horn sounds are actually three soli voices.)

[karlhenning]

One notable loss in this zealously compressed file (the things we do to keep it under half a meg) is, in the Vivo section (beginning at 1:47), the (rather engaging, I hope) tambourine seems to be completely gone . . . ah, well.

[karlhenning]

The ensemble for whom I am writing Castelo dos Anjos furnished four texts (three in Portuguese, one in Spanish) and a number of snippets of folksong, a few of which pertained to one of the Portuguese texts.  The texts and music were offered freely as a point d'appui, and I was invited to make of them what I would.

I found that liked all four of the texts so well, I didn't want to be parted from any of them;  so I decided to compose a sort of seamless suite.  Two of the texts are Christmas narratives, and I decided they would occupy the interior of the suite.  As 'bookends' to frame these, I arranged the two texts which describe a marvelous castle, attended by angels singing God's praises.

(A kindly friend furnished the translations.)

[1.] No céu está um castelo

No céu está um castelo lavrado de mil maravilhas;
Jacob apanhava a pedra, Abraão a componia.
Entre as árvores e o castela doze mil anjos havia,
Dando graças e louvores, e o Senhor ainda mais queria.

Glórias ao Senhor no céu,
paz entre nós na terra
para sempre, sem fim.
Amén, Senhor.  Ao céu vá.

[In heaven there is a castle built of a thousand wonders
Jacob bore the stone, Abraham the mortar.
Through the trees and in the castle there were twelve thousand angels
Giving thanks and praises, and the Lord deserved even more.

Glory to our Lord in heaven,
Peace among us on earth
Forever, without end
Amen, Lord. To heaven you go.]

[2.] Noite de Natal (a)

Pela noite de Natal, noite de tanta alegria,
caminhando vai José, caminhando vai Maria.
Ambos os dois p'ra Belém, mais de noite que de dia,
e chegaram a Belém, já toda a gente dormia.
—Abri a porta, o porteiro, porteiro de portaria!
Não deu resposta o porteiro porque também já dormia.

Só encontraram pousada dentro duma estrebaria;
ali ficaram os dois até ao romper do dia.
Buscou lume São José porque a noite estava fria;
lá ficou ao desamparo, sozinha, a Virgem Maria.
Quando voltou São José, já viu a Virgem Maria
c'o Deus Menino nos braços que todo o mundo alumia.

E veio um anjo do céu cantando: —Ave Maria!
Agora mesmo em Belém nasceu Jesus de Maria.
Veo ao mundo esta noite dentro duma estrebaria,
entre um boi e uma mula e sem outra companhia.
Demos graças a Deus Padre e a Jesus Cristo também.
Que sejam ambos louvados para todo o sempre, amén.

[Through Christmas night, night of such joy,
Joseph walks along, Mary walks along.
Both of them to Bethlehem, already all the people slept.
"Open the door, doorman, doorman of this entryway!"
No answer gave the doorman because he also slept.

Rest they found within a stable;
There the two remained until the break of day.
Joseph sought a flame because the night was cold;
There remained, helpless and alone, the Virgin Mary.
When Saint Joseph returned, he found the Virgin Mary
Holding in her arms the heavenly Child that lights the whole world.

And from heaven there came an angel singing: Ave Maria!
Just now in Bethlehem was Jesus born of Mary.
He came to this world this night in the stable,
Between a cow and a mule and without other company.
We give thanks to our Lord the Father and also to Jesus Christ,
That both be praised forever, amen.]

[3.] Noite de Natal (b)

Caminando iba la Virgen, con los rigores del invierno,
con la barriga a la boca, preñada del Padre Eterno.
—Se vas cansada, Señora, ya vamos llegando al pueblo.
¿Se das posada, señores, para un reina del cielo?
—En mi casa no hay aposento para tan alta señora;
allá arriba hay un corral batido de l'aire certo,
onde durmen las ovejas por el rigor del invierno.
Al cantar el gallo tinto, al cantar el gallo negro,
y al cantar los pajaritos, ha nacido el rey del cielo.
No ha nacido en vama de rosas, ni tampoco de romero;
nació en un percebito, entre la paja y el heno.
La mula l'atiró coces, la vaca l'echó el aliento.
—Bendita seas tú, vaca, de ti salga buen ternero,
para labrar buenas tierras del buen trigo y del buen centeno.
Maldita seas tú, mula, de ti no salga provecho,
para andares en la estrada entre dos varas y un freno.

[Along the path went the Virgin, in the rigor of winter,
With the stomach and mouth, silvered by the Eternal Lord.
Do you feel tired, Lady, we are coming to the town.
"Is there a place to rest, gentlemen, for the queen of heaven?"
"In my house there is no bed for so heavenly a lady;
Out there, yonder is a beaten stable with the right airs,
Where the sheep sleep through the rigors of winter.
At the crow of the red rooster, at the crow of the black rooster,
With the song of all the birds, there is born the King of heaven.
He was not born in a bed of roses, neither of rosemary
Born in a manger, between the straw and the hay
The mule kicks, the cow breathes loudly
Blessed you are, cow, from you comes a healthy calf,
To work in the good earth for good wheat and good rye.
Damnation to you, mule, for you there comes no pleasure,
But to walk between two sticks and a brake.]

[4.] Rosaflorida

Lá no céu está um castilho
pintado à maravilha;
lá mandaram fazer um mosteiro
todo de pedra ladrilha.
O ferrolho era d'ouro,
a armela de prata fina;
entre o ferrolho e a armela
doze mil anjos havia.

Lá no meio do castilho
está uma rosa florida,
e no meio dessa rosa,
está a Virgem Maria.

[In heaven there is a castle
painted in a marvelous way
There they ordered a monastery
all of stone tile worked.
The bolts made of gold,
latches of finest silver;
between the bolt and the latches,
there were twelve thousand angels.

There in the middle of the castle
there is a rose in bloom,
and in the middle of this rose,
is the Virgin Mary.]

[karlhenning]

Over the years (gosh, what a fogey I'm sounding) I've wondered if I should re-score Radiant Maples, to try to get it performed. I wrote the piece for a service at the Jefferson Ave Presbyterian Church in Detroit, where the music director had arranged to use some three or four pieces of mine. He was going to have the harpist there anyway, and his organist was also a crack pianist; so, watch my smoke, I wrote a piece which demanded a fine pianist.

By the time I landed in Detroit, though, the pianist had fallen ill; and at any event, the piece would have defeated the harpist. In a way characteristic of my work, Maples requires counting and agility which are something of a stretch for your average harpist.

And otherwise, the unusual scoring meant that this piece has been even harder than most of my music to find a group of players for.

I've recently made the virtual acquaintance of a sextet, so . . . as long as their percussionist doesn't mind breaking out a marimba, this combination falls within their toolbox.

Last night I also got the "finishing" done on the score of Irreplaceable Doodles. The composition itself has long been finished (after all, I've performed it in public three times already) . . . but a lot of expression detail (a forte or pianissimo here, a diminuendo there) was still in my head and not yet on the page. But if I wanted other clarinetists to play it, of course, I had to get all that other stuff on the page to be read.

That also means, to be sure, that the piece is that much further along the Lux Nova Press pipeline . . . .

[The Emperor]

Nice to read Portuguese in here.

[karlhenning]

Nice to read Portuguese in here.

O prazer foi meu.

Separately:

No One Sets Out to Be a Smooth Jazz Musician

[karlhenning]

More work, thank goodness, on Castelo dos Anjos this evening.  All it took was 14 hours of sleep.

I had an idea for the third text, but I suppose it wasn't quite the right idea, because with steady consistency nothing was coming of it.  Today, I discovered what the text wants, and I think it's the best part of the piece so far.

[karlhenning]

Twittery rhythms on the bus-ride this morning, befitting the text:

Al cantar el gallo tinto, al cantar el gallo negro,
y al cantar los pajaritos, ha nacido el rey del cielo.
No ha nacido en vama de rosas, ni tampoco de romero;
nació en un percebito, entre la paja y el heno.

[karlhenning]

Closing in on Castelo.  This afternoon on the bus I need to draw up what in Boston we should call a "wicked exciting" bongo accompaniment to the A' recap of Text III;  this morning I worked on adapting the two-voice-&-bongo ostinato accompanying Text I, for Text IV;  and either tonight or tomorrow morning I will see to the florid solo line for Text IV.

[karlhenning]

Al cantar el gallo tinto, al cantar el gallo negro,
y al cantar los pajaritos, ha nacido el rey del cielo.
No ha nacido en vama de rosas, ni tampoco de romero;
nació en un percebito, entre la paja y el heno.

This sorted out very nicely, at last, on Saturday morning.  Our parakeets helped a great deal, naturally.

[karlhenning]

Just back from a "composing lunch break" at the Borders Café. Wrote up a wicked bongo accompaniment for the two last strophes of Text III. And since I don't really want simply to copy the alto-duo ostinato from Text I, for use in accompanying Text IV, I worked on adapting the ostinato a bit. I will, though, make the bongo pattern for Text I serve for Text IV, as well; and the slight adjustment to the two-voice ostinato, plus the identical bongo rhythm, will be something largely-familiar-but-partly-new.

Should be able to finish that 'accompaniment layer' before I reach home on the bus; in which case all that remains is plugging the new material into Finale, and then composing the florid solo for the first part of Text IV.

[Cato]

Yay!

As you know, a good number of people want to hear the performance! 

Who will handle this "wicked" percussion?  Is that already arranged?

If not, I know somewhat soiled Beatnik with a gray goatee who has some bongos...         

[BachQ]

I will, though, make the bongo pattern for Text I serve for Text IV,

That would have been my suggestion as well .........

[karlhenning]

That would have been my suggestion as well .........

Yes, your memo arrived, thanks!

Who will handle this "wicked" percussion?  Is that already arranged?

Oh, that's already arranged.

And will he ever be sorry he didn't take my calls!