Henning's Headquarters

Started by BachQ, April 07, 2007, 12:21:26 PM

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DavidW


Karl Henning

Thanks, Davey!

Separately ... sometimes when I poke through folders of electronic files. I discover little oddities. This is a sketch from 2017 for clarinet, electric guitar & violin, called Mysterious Irritants. I have no idea, at this point, what I may have meant the piece for, then. I think it is raw material I may well use for some other piece.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

DavidW

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on October 08, 2021, 07:29:28 AM
I just tried again and again, after about a minute, I was redirected to a page saying that I needed to log into Facebook in order to watch it.   :(

Yeah I also don't use FB.  Too bad they don't just upload to YT which doesn't require an account and is more accessible.  Oh well.

Karl Henning

Quote from: DavidW on October 08, 2021, 05:52:03 PM
Yeah I also don't use FB.  Too bad they don't just upload to YT which doesn't require an account and is more accessible.  Oh well.

Agreed.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

aligreto

I am not on Facebook either but I want to send my congratulations anyway, Karl. It appears to have been a great success.

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

aligreto

Great to have a chance to hear [and see it]. I am listening as I type and enjoying  :)

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

aligreto

Nice, also, to see you there, Karl, hail and hearty. Well done Maestro.

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

krummholz

Just listened to this, and enjoyed it very much! Thanks for posting this, Karl.

Sergeant Rock

Marvelous piece, Karl. Really enjoyed your take on the Kerouac text.

Sarge
the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Karl Henning

Quote from: krummholz on October 10, 2021, 03:58:02 AM
Just listened to this, and enjoyed it very much! Thanks for posting this, Karl.

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on October 10, 2021, 06:25:35 AM
Marvelous piece, Karl. Really enjoyed your take on the Kerouac text.

Sarge

Thank you both!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

vandermolen

Quote from: Sergeant Rock on October 10, 2021, 06:25:35 AM
Marvelous piece, Karl. Really enjoyed your take on the Kerouac text.

Sarge

Me too Karl. Congratulations!
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

I've been mulling of late, partly in response to a virtual acquaintance's recent enthusiasm for composer N. Composer N. is perhaps a year older than I. She's an internationally celebrated composer. In fact, I met her at Symphony Hall after a Boston performance of a piece of hers. The Boston Symphony may never play any of my music. There is no benefit to the idle speculation that it is possible they may play my music after my death. When composer N. is commissioned to write a piece, the sum of money is considerable. If I and composer N. sat down in conversation, and I told her the sum I was paid for my recent commission, she might perhaps laugh, if she were not such a nice person, as all reports suggest. None of this is composer N.'s fault, and it's not a zero-sum game. While I do not believe I hold any of it against composer N., I did not enjoy nor think much of the piece that night at Symphony. I do consider in hindsight that I may simply have been resentful, but neither do I feel that I owe anything to composer N. It also doesn't help, that the artistic director of a choir dedicated to performing new music, turned a piece of mine down (a piece of which many colleagues think highly) with the 'explanation' that my music is not like that of composer N., upon whom they lavish their musical love.

But enough of composer N., whom I wish no ill whatever, and who I hope will continue to enjoy success and prosperity.

Today, I debate which better describes my state: low motivation or nil motivation. My thoughts of late have not (despite the theme of the first paragraph) dwelt upon either resentment of successful living composers, nor self-pity. I am wondering what my goal should be, or even if having a goal is of any use to me. For instance, up to now (let's say) I have had the ambition that the Boston Symphony Orchestra should play music of mine. But it is plain to me that this is a foolish ambition, as there is nothing I can do to make such a thing happen. Today, I wonder if having that as an ambition (or even as a hope) is not merely pointless but self-deceiving.

So, what?

An old friend of mine composes only when commissioned to do so, and has enjoyed some performance opportunities of which I can only dream. I certainly do not resent him, nor feel envious of him. In a general way, I might wish that I were in a similar position, but if I composed only on commission, I should not have written White Nights, nor either of my two symphonies. It is pointless for me to wish that I had been commissioned to write these, I am practically a musical nobody and I have certainly been treated so by musical somebodies. I am not going to be the next John Williams. Setting aside the speculative q. of whether I could successfully score a film, the universe has not afforded me any such opportunity. Nor am I going to be the next John Adams, Philip Glass or Joan Tower. I observe merely factually, with neither envy nor resentment, that the universe has not afforded me even such opportunity.

Then there is the clarinet, from which I have been perforce separated by my stroke. I pursue my therapy and do my homework. My determination remains staunch. Yet with the impaired sensation in my fingers, it is simply impossible to know, today, when I shall be able to play again. But I ain't stoppin'.

Perhaps this week I am asking myself, why should I still compose? For most of my composing life, notwithstanding my negligible level of success, I never needed to ask myself such a question. When I was in rehab after my stroke, I did not ask myself any such question, it was simply that I wanted to compose. For only one thing, I was determined to complete White Nights.

As I write today, the latest of the Op. 169 organ pieces I composed was 31 May, and I don't know whether I'll finish the set as conceived. The last I worked on the string symphony was 4 Oct. I make no claim or promise as to the future. I can only say, I don't feel like writing today.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Cato

#8477
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 23, 2021, 11:03:28 AM
I've been mulling of late, partly in response to a virtual acquaintance's recent enthusiasm for composer N. Composer N. is perhaps a year older than I. She's an internationally celebrated composer. In fact, I met her at Symphony Hall after a Boston performance of a piece of hers. The Boston Symphony may never play any of my music. There is no benefit to the idle speculation that it is possible they may play my music after my death. When composer N. is commissioned to write a piece, the sum of money is considerable. If I and composer N. sat down in conversation, and I told her the sum I was paid for my recent commission, she might perhaps laugh, if she were not such a nice person, as all reports suggest. None of this is composer N.'s fault, and it's not a zero-sum game. While I do not believe I hold any of it against composer N., I did not enjoy nor think much of the piece that night at Symphony. I do consider in hindsight that I may simply have been resentful, but neither do I feel that I owe anything to composer N. It also doesn't help, that the artistic director of a choir dedicated to performing new music, turned a piece of mine down (a piece of which many colleagues think highly) with the 'explanation' that my music is not like that of composer N., upon whom they lavish their musical love.

But enough of composer N., whom I wish no ill whatever, and who I hope will continue to enjoy success and prosperity.

Today, I debate which better describes my state: low motivation or nil motivation. My thoughts of late have not (despite the theme of the first paragraph) dwelt upon either resentment of successful living composers, nor self-pity. I am wondering what my goal should be, or even if having a goal is of any use to me. For instance, up to now (let's say) I have had the ambition that the Boston Symphony Orchestra should play music of mine. But it is plain to me that this is a foolish ambition, as there is nothing I can do to make such a thing happen. Today, I wonder if having that as an ambition (or even as a hope) is not merely pointless but self-deceiving.

So, what?

An old friend of mine composes only when commissioned to do so, and has enjoyed some performance opportunities of which I can only dream. I certainly do not resent him, nor feel envious of him. In a general way, I might wish that I were in a similar position, but if I composed only on commission, I should not have written White Nights, nor either of my two symphonies. It is pointless for me to wish that I had been commissioned to write these, I am practically a musical nobody and I have certainly been treated so by musical somebodies. I am not going to be the next John Williams. Setting aside the speculative q. of whether I could successfully score a film, the universe has not afforded me any such opportunity. Nor am I going to be the next John Adams, Philip Glass or Joan Tower. I observe merely factually, with neither envy nor resentment, that the universe has not afforded me even such opportunity.

Then there is the clarinet, from which I have been perforce separated by my stroke. I pursue my therapy and do my homework. My determination remains staunch. Yet with the impaired sensation in my fingers, it is simply impossible to know, today, when I shall be able to play again. But I ain't stoppin'.


Perhaps this week I am asking myself, why should I still compose? For most of my composing life, notwithstanding my negligible level of success, I never needed to ask myself such a question. When I was in rehab after my stroke, I did not ask myself any such question, it was simply that I wanted to compose. For only one thing, I was determined to complete White Nights.

As I write today, the latest of the Op. 169 organ pieces I composed was 31 May, and I don't know whether I'll finish the set as conceived. The last I worked on the string symphony was 4 Oct. I make no claim or promise as to the future. I can only say, I don't feel like writing today.

Karl!  Certainly I can understand all your sentiments!  As a much rejected writer and composer, I often asked myself: "I know I have talent, and (a small group of) people have told me that the talent gave rise to a certain work which is great or unique or marvelous...etc.  But since only this tiny handful of people appreciate what I do, Why bother?

At one point, the answer was "You should not bother: stop torturing yourself!  Nobody will miss your works!"  And so I threw away my musical manuscripts when I was around 40 years of age, and novels and short stories, all of which had piled up since high school in the 1960's!

Some years later, in my early 50's, however, I had an idea for a short story (Dachau Dithyramb), which I placed here:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,22661.msg769734.html#msg769734

Very pleased with the short story, and around the same time having found photocopies of a good number of my stories, whose original manuscripts I had destroyed, I set about writing a large 2-volume novel, where I would attempt to turn the seemingly trivial trials and tootlelations of childhood into an epic where every sentence had a certain musicality to it.

Very few people have read it all the way through, as you know.  And as you also know, I have added a good number of other novels to my oeuvre, all of them unpublished*, all of them not only rejected, but usually met by silence from agents or publishers, as if they did not exist.

But I decided that enthusiasm from just one person was enough to keep me going!

e.g. THIS kind of enthusiasm!

Quote from: John Copeland on October 22, 2021, 07:48:57 PM

Henning:  Opus 129 — From the Pit of a Cave in the Cloud. Text by Leo Schulte. First performance at King's Chapel in Boston.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1GX6gAmom8

I listened to this recently for the first time and thought it really good.  I didn't know why.  Here is a completely personal experience with 'From the Pit of a Cave in the Cloud'...
I have listened to this piece so many times now.  I read the musical notes made by Leo Schulte, some (most) of which were beyond my understanding, and I listened to the music following the libretto.  This is not the usual kind of stuff I listen to, it's not eh...a purely tonal piece, though tonality is there...but God, Hell and Damnation, I have followed it through, and I've come to understand it a wee bit better.  What a vocal job the Soprano had to do!  Some of the text is sung short, some words are singularly spread, there is an irregularity in some of the words sung which, in a way I do not understand, align with the instruments, which themselves provide a very stark 'unconscious' narrative process of the actual narrative sung.  Hell, this is extremely complex for a simple listener to get, but even if I don't understand the chemistry of creation behind it, I think this is a superb piece of music.  It is quite brutal, in every sense, savage and sinister, a fourteen minute blast of emotion, the music slaughters vile worms (you can hear the worms, even if they're not there) and the purpose of a life is revealed...and it isn't a 'delightful' purpose either..!
I find it hard as a non-musician to write about something so dramatically portrayed from a well informed perspective, this is probably complete nonsense to the librettist and composer.  Please forgive my general incomprehension, but the main point is that this music and it's words have sprinkled a wee bit of unknown magic on my ears.  Anyway, as I say, this not something I would normally listen to...but hellfire and damnation, I really do like this work!   It should be professionally recorded and released on CD (CD1 of a compilation of Henningmusik) so it's full potential can be heard outside the live environment. 
I have listened to it multiple times.  I really do like it, and I still don't know why! ;D


As some members here know, a few years ago I reconstructed two musical works from sketches and memory: a motet Exaudi Me for 9 voices, and a quasi-symphony for a Trio (2 violins and a piano) called New Year's Resolution, which began as incidental music for an avant-garde play by my brother who wrote it in college.  The reaction to those works was most gratifying, and while I have not yet returned to composing - or resurrecting a destroyed work - I may still try it again, even if only my handful of fans will appreciate it.

I am fond of an old philosopher named Albert Jay Nock, who wrote an essay in the 1920's (I believe) called Isaiah's Job.  In the essay he compares the plight of the artist of virtue to the plight of Isaiah in the Old Testament, i.e. most people paid him no heed. 

Nock (similar to H. L. Mencken) was shighly skeptical of the new mass media and the lowering of artistic standards.  For the artist who does not want to cater to mass taste, or cannot bring himself to do so, Nock wrote that the artist must find satisfaction in The Remnant, i.e. the people who dare to stand outside the herd and yearn for better things than those which content the herd.  Note that Nock defines the "mass man" not by his class or economic standing, but by his character!


Quote

...The picture which Isaiah presents of the Judaean masses is most unfavorable. In his view, the mass man — be he high or be he lowly, rich or poor, prince or pauper — gets off very badly. He appears as not only weak minded and weak willed, but as by consequence knavish, arrogant, grasping, dissipated, unprincipled, unscrupulous...

If, say, you are a preacher, you wish to attract as large a congregation as you can, which means an appeal to the masses; and this, in turn, means adapting the terms of your message to the order of intellect and character that the masses exhibit. If you are an educator, say with a college on your hands, you wish to get as many students as possible, and you whittle down your requirements accordingly. If a writer, you aim at getting many readers;... if a musician, many auditors; and so on.

But as we see..., the prophetic message (becomes) so heavily adulterated with trivialities, in every instance, that its effect on the masses is merely to harden them in their sins. Meanwhile, the Remnant, aware of this adulteration and of the desires that prompt it, turn their backs on the prophet and will have nothing to do with him or his message.

Isaiah, on the other hand, worked under no such disabilities. He preached to the masses only in the sense that he preached publicly. Anyone who liked might listen; anyone who liked might pass by. He knew that the Remnant would listen; and knowing also that nothing was to be expected of the masses under any circumstances, he made no specific appeal to them, did not accommodate his message to their measure in any way, and did not care two straws whether they heeded it or not. As a modern publisher might put it, he was not worrying about circulation or about advertising. Hence, with all such obsessions quite out of the way, he was in a position to do his level best, without fear or favor, and answerable only to his august Boss.

If a prophet were not too particular about making money out of his mission or getting a dubious sort of notoriety out of it, the foregoing considerations would lead one to say that serving the Remnant looks like a good job. An assignment that you can really put your back into, and do your best without thinking about results, is a real job; whereas serving the masses is at best only half a job, considering the inexorable conditions that the masses impose upon their servants. They ask you to give them what they want, they insist upon it, and will take nothing else; and following their whims, their irrational changes of fancy, their hot and cold fits, is a tedious business, to say nothing of the fact that what they want at any time makes very little call on one's resources of prophesy.

The Remnant, on the other hand, want only the best you have, whatever that may be. Give them that, and they are satisfied; you have nothing more to worry about.


Nock assures us that The Remnant will find those sculptors, story-tellers, composers, et alii whose works challenge and delight their souls. 

Quote

...the Remnant are always so largely an unknown quantity. You do not know, and will never know, more than two things about them. You can be sure of those — dead sure, as our phrase is — but you will never be able to make even a respectable guess at anything else. You do not know, and will never know, who the Remnant are, nor what they are doing or will do. Two things you do know, and no more: First, that they exist; second, that they will find you. Except for these two certainties, working for the Remnant means working in impenetrable darkness; and this, I should say, is just the condition calculated most effectively to pique the interest of any prophet who is properly gifted with the imagination, insight and intellectual curiosity necessary to a successful pursuit of his trade....


And it may not be a contemporary Remnant who finds your works: you may be creating things for a future Remnant who will appreciate them much more than your contemporaries.  Your works may be part of a new foundation for the future, in the way that the writings of Saint Augustine, written during the worst and last decades of the Roman Empire, became one of the building blocks for Medieval Civilization.

Now in my 70's, I still have all kinds of ideas for my stories...and for my music!  I suspect that I will be lucky if dozens of people come to know them: but even if it is less than a dozen, I have brought some enhancement to the lives of that small group.

And I have decided that their enjoyment of my works will suffice for me to keep creating.  For one never knows what the result of affecting that one person's spirit and mind may be!


* Thanks to the ministrations of my brother, a murder-mystery trilogy was published and is still available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble:

Volume I is now on sale for under $4.00!!!

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Begins-Lesson-Capsule-Murders/dp/0999521438/ref=sr_1_1?crid=281CPPLD6086I&dchild=1&keywords=Why+Begins+WIth+W&qid=1635021135&s=books&sprefix=why+begins+with+w%2Cstripbooks%2C109&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/Dial-Emma-Murder-Killers-Capsule/dp/0989406504/ref=pd_sim_1/138-0281630-0630846?pd_rd_w=s7sA3&pf_rd_p=6caf1c3a-a843-4189-8efc-81b67e85dc96&pf_rd_r=63N2HD4JVZ2HADC9PC6P&pd_rd_r=ad71d105-e4eb-4904-8d7c-aa734106c837&pd_rd_wg=iW5xH&pd_rd_i=0989406504&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Hex-High-School-Courses-Capsule/dp/0989406520/ref=pd_bxgy_img_1/138-0281630-0630846?pd_rd_w=M2h7i&pf_rd_p=c64372fa-c41c-422e-990d-9e034f73989b&pf_rd_r=259N6Y1VR8CJ010P6VRE&pd_rd_r=709a2a40-cdf9-4fd7-baa3-16c653893507&pd_rd_wg=s7YiZ&pd_rd_i=0989406520&psc=1
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

aligreto

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 23, 2021, 11:03:28 AM
I've been mulling of late, partly in response to a virtual acquaintance's recent enthusiasm for composer N. Composer N. is perhaps a year older than I. She's an internationally celebrated composer. In fact, I met her at Symphony Hall after a Boston performance of a piece of hers. The Boston Symphony may never play any of my music. There is no benefit to the idle speculation that it is possible they may play my music after my death. When composer N. is commissioned to write a piece, the sum of money is considerable. If I and composer N. sat down in conversation, and I told her the sum I was paid for my recent commission, she might perhaps laugh, if she were not such a nice person, as all reports suggest. None of this is composer N.'s fault, and it's not a zero-sum game. While I do not believe I hold any of it against composer N., I did not enjoy nor think much of the piece that night at Symphony. I do consider in hindsight that I may simply have been resentful, but neither do I feel that I owe anything to composer N. It also doesn't help, that the artistic director of a choir dedicated to performing new music, turned a piece of mine down (a piece of which many colleagues think highly) with the 'explanation' that my music is not like that of composer N., upon whom they lavish their musical love.

But enough of composer N., whom I wish no ill whatever, and who I hope will continue to enjoy success and prosperity.

Today, I debate which better describes my state: low motivation or nil motivation. My thoughts of late have not (despite the theme of the first paragraph) dwelt upon either resentment of successful living composers, nor self-pity. I am wondering what my goal should be, or even if having a goal is of any use to me. For instance, up to now (let's say) I have had the ambition that the Boston Symphony Orchestra should play music of mine. But it is plain to me that this is a foolish ambition, as there is nothing I can do to make such a thing happen. Today, I wonder if having that as an ambition (or even as a hope) is not merely pointless but self-deceiving.

So, what?

An old friend of mine composes only when commissioned to do so, and has enjoyed some performance opportunities of which I can only dream. I certainly do not resent him, nor feel envious of him. In a general way, I might wish that I were in a similar position, but if I composed only on commission, I should not have written White Nights, nor either of my two symphonies. It is pointless for me to wish that I had been commissioned to write these, I am practically a musical nobody and I have certainly been treated so by musical somebodies. I am not going to be the next John Williams. Setting aside the speculative q. of whether I could successfully score a film, the universe has not afforded me any such opportunity. Nor am I going to be the next John Adams, Philip Glass or Joan Tower. I observe merely factually, with neither envy nor resentment, that the universe has not afforded me even such opportunity.

Then there is the clarinet, from which I have been perforce separated by my stroke. I pursue my therapy and do my homework. My determination remains staunch. Yet with the impaired sensation in my fingers, it is simply impossible to know, today, when I shall be able to play again. But I ain't stoppin'.

Perhaps this week I am asking myself, why should I still compose? For most of my composing life, notwithstanding my negligible level of success, I never needed to ask myself such a question. When I was in rehab after my stroke, I did not ask myself any such question, it was simply that I wanted to compose. For only one thing, I was determined to complete White Nights.

As I write today, the latest of the Op. 169 organ pieces I composed was 31 May, and I don't know whether I'll finish the set as conceived. The last I worked on the string symphony was 4 Oct. I make no claim or promise as to the future. I can only say, I don't feel like writing today.

I would rather ask myself the question if I were you, Karl, who would Karl Henning be if he was not composing? So you have hit a wall. Try to climb over it. You have overcome far greater issues in your life in recent times.

Karl Henning

Thanks, gents. Greatly appreciated, well beyond this brief acknowledgement.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot