Henning's Headquarters

[Crudblud]

Well, after getting two days of what I thought was good work done on the contest piece, I found myself rather tired; so I took first one day, and then more to rest.  Today, I was feeling that I wanted to try to pick it up, even as (in principle) I am ready to let it go, and continue resting, if that is what my body is telling me.  Looking at the score, I see that back on Day 1, I must have had an errant mouse-click, screwing up the cello line.  I cannot reconstruct it (or, for that I certainly do not presently have energy) so I am taking the signs, and will leave it be the spilt milk o'er which I shan't cry.  I shall continue resting this week, and come Monday, will address a piece for my friend Janet Ross, for soprano and alto flute. setting a lovely new text furnished (at my request) by our Cato.

Reading this certainly makes me feel better about the days I've been taking off to clear my head before I get serious with the next project. Hope you're feeling energised again soon, Karl!

[Karl Henning]

Cheers, Dan!

[Karl Henning]

My friend and colleague Robert Jan August will play my Op. 34 #3 Fancy on Psalm 80 From the Scottish Psalter as the Prelude for First Church in Boston's service this Sunday.  the service begins at 11:00 Chowder Time and will be broadcast on WERS 88.9 FM Boston available on line at https://www.wers.org/

[Sergeant Rock]

My friend and colleague Robert Jan August will play my Op. 34 #3 Fancy on Psalm 80 From the Scottish Psalter as the Prelude for First Church in Boston's service this Sunday.  the service begins at 11:00 Chowder Time and will be broadcast on WERS 88.9 FM Boston available on line at https://www.wers.org/

Excellent! HenningMusik in the air!

Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Cheers!

[Karl Henning]

Well, after getting two days of what I thought was good work done on the contest piece, I found myself rather tired; so I took first one day, and then more to rest.  Today, I was feeling that I wanted to try to pick it up, even as (in principle) I am ready to let it go, and continue resting, if that is what my body is telling me.  Looking at the score, I see that back on Day 1, I must have had an errant mouse-click, screwing up the cello line.  I cannot reconstruct it (or, for that I certainly do not presently have energy) so I am taking the signs, and will leave it be the spilt milk o'er which I shan't cry.  I shall continue resting this week, and come Monday, will address a piece for my friend Janet Ross, for soprano and alto flute. setting a lovely new text furnished (at my request) by our Cato.

Just when it was darkest (so to speak) my publisher told me something which I knew (in the back of my still-re-mapping mind) to wit: that Sibelius auto-saves backup files.

It was thus a fairly easy matter to restore the cello line, and (that done) I proceeded with the piece, both taking greater care to rest more, and more frequently, and trimming my architecture:  The submission needs to be between 4 and six minutes in length, so why exhaust myself hewing to an original plan of six minutes?

The new plan is a 4"30 piece, and with today's work, the piece is about at the four-minute mark.  I am downing tools for the day, and I have ample time to finish the piece for submission Sunday night.

[Mahlerian]

Just when it was darkest (so to speak) my publisher told me something which I knew (in the back of my still-re-mapping mind) to wit: that Sibelius auto-saves backup files.

It was thus a fairly easy matter to restore the cello line, and (that done) I proceeded with the piece, both taking greater care to rest more, and more frequently, and trimming my architecture:  The submission needs to be between 4 and six minutes in length, so why exhaust myself hewing to an original plan of six minutes?

The new plan is a 4"30 piece, and with today's work, the piece is about at the four-minute mark.  I am downing tools for the day, and I have ample time to finish the piece for submission Sunday night.

Best of luck!

[Karl Henning]

Díky!

[Cato]

Following the score's development in the past days, I wrote the following about the piece up to the Romanze:

"The current state of The Mask I Wore Before is conjuring forth the following interpretation: this morning, after perusing the latest score, I realized how the music is mistrustful, so to speak, nervous about something, as heard in the quick, even abrupt changes and in the scudding, skittering, stuttering figures in both the clarinet and the strings.  The slower parts have the portentous feel of an impending unpleasant discovery, precisely one of the possible atmospheres surrounding a masked person!"

And now that I see the Romanze...Wow! The best section so far!!!  An exquisite "clarinet-worthy" (Klarinettenmaessig as they would say in German) melody with wonderful counterpoint!

[Karl Henning]

Just when it was darkest (so to speak) my publisher told me something which I knew (in the back of my still-re-mapping mind) to wit: that Sibelius auto-saves backup files.

It was thus a fairly easy matter to restore the cello line, and (that done) I proceeded with the piece, both taking greater care to rest more, and more frequently, and trimming my architecture:  The submission needs to be between 4 and six minutes in length, so why exhaust myself hewing to an original plan of six minutes?

The new plan is a 4"30 piece, and with today's work, the piece is about at the four-minute mark.  I am downing tools for the day, and I have ample time to finish the piece for submission Sunday night.

Thus, I am at the point where I need write 10 seconds' worth of music per day, today, tomorrow & Sunday.  I have (technically) done my work for today.  But, I shall rest for an hour and  a half, and see if I want to lay in a tad more work before calling it a day.

[Karl Henning]

Well, I do believe 'tis done.

[JBS]

Looks good to me.

[Karl Henning]

Thank 'ee!

[Karl Henning]

Made a couple of minor emendations, very pleased.

[Cato]

Looks good to me.

Yes!  The last movement is easily equal to its ancestors!  This should be a winner!   0:)

[Karl Henning]

Whatever befall with the contest, I am well pleased with the piece.

When I first thought about the plan for the piece, I had "Bourrée" in mind for the last movement. However, as the piece took shape, the only specific musical idea I had was the quirky rhythm in the 5/4 bar of m.146 (an idea which I do not hesitate to admit that I've copped from Jethro Tull) which is not at all Bourrée-like. But since I had decided to dub the first section "Jitterbug," and with a nod to Count Basie's "One O'clock Jump" I pivoted from "Bourrée" to "Jump," even though the latter may not be an actual dance....

[Karl Henning]

A colleague writes: "I've just listened, while reading through,  the entire finished Mask.    So much material presented, so elegantly, in the briefest timeframe is a marvel!  Though each movement's character is intensely individual, the work flows and coheres beautifully. One feels, after four and a half minutes, that one's experienced an invigorating journey.  Well done."

[Cato]

A colleague writes: "I've just listened, while reading through,  the entire finished Mask.    So much material presented, so elegantly, in the briefest timeframe is a marvel! Though each movement's character is intensely individual, the work flows and coheres beautifully. One feels, after four and a half minutes, that one's experienced an invigorating journey.  Well done."

Yes, I mentioned that idea to Karl in the earliest sections: a "Webernian" compression of so many moods, a kaleidoscope of expression.

[Karl Henning]

Starting to think about a piece for my friend, and erstwhile Triad member, Janet Ross: a setting for soprano & alto flute of the following text by our own Cato

Thus moaned the soil:

My life, my life, my life,

A mass of desire

In a priestless church,

A smile of despair

In a cloud-choked face,

A gasp of adieu

In an unknelled box.   

Thus cried the fire:

My life, my life, my life,

Growing and thinking and warming,

Gilded and hated,

Warming and yearning and fading,

Useful and useless,

Fading and yearning and fading,

With a yearning heart.


Thus sighed the air:

My life, my life, my life,

A wave in a sea

With a too-far shore,

A clock in a world

With a time-free sky,

A grain in a dune

With a boundless mind.



Thus sang the sea:

My life, my life, my life,

Dreaming and birthing and storming,

Frozen and cobbled,

Storming and healing and playing,

Lovelorn and Love-filled,

Playing and healing and playing,

In the healing soul.

[Cato]

One of the "Top 15 Music Blogs in 2020" at #4:

https://blog.feedspot.com/music_composition_blogs/