Henning's Headquarters

[karlhenning]

Oh, mercy, but now I sense these musely itchings to write a substantial work for harpsichord solo, for my friend Paul . . . .

That's definitely not until after the Cantata.

[karlhenning]

What a hoot! Thank you, Johan.

Incidentally, I've picked up work again on The Mystic Trumpeter . . . .

I had better make sure I have good page-turns this time!

[ibanezmonster]

Never! So the key will be, to learn something, and have a chance of knowing what I'm doing . . . .

You've written for acoustic guitar before, right?

There are so many techniques and sounds with the instrument that I'm sure he would only be able to explain to you a small amount of it, since it would take a while to really, really good grasp of writing for the instrument (then again, if you've written for acoustic guitar, that helps out tons). I'm not really sure how much you know about the instrument right now- you should ask him about a couple of techniques you might not have explored yet.

Maybe ask him to demonstrate and explain techniques such as whammy bar usage, artificial harmonics (different than on the violin- usually we use the right hand to produce it), bending, palm muting, pick scratching effects, the volume knob, effects pedals, what guitar tone you want using the amp, etc. At least, if there is anything you are unsure about when it comes to writing for the instrument, you can always ask him (or me).

Also, most people who play rock or metal-style guitar aren't usually on the level of classical musicians. They tend to stick to certain keys most of the time, for one, which can be... good and bad. 


EDIT: just saw that you asked him to "demo various timbres." I guess that would suffice.

[karlhenning]

Thanks! My writing for guitar has been rather limited . . . an arrangement of one number from Lost Waters and the guitar in the sextet arrangement of the one scene from White Nights.

[Mn Dave]

He shook the droplets from his umbrella and snapped it shut. Like many old buildings, Henning Hall smelled dank and dusty. Malcolm treated himself to a deep sniff for nostalgia's sake.

[karlhenning]

It's had to do for The Shed, you know, Soaring Tortoise . . . .

[Mn Dave]

It's had to do for The Shed, you know, Soaring Tortoise . . . .

[karlhenning]

The texts which I have (probably entirely too ambitiously)  selected for the Cantata are:

I.  "The Crystalline Ship" — Leo Schulte

And so the crystalline ship has sailed,
Where you feasted on the soul's hard bread,
With the winds in league
With the seas calm or gale
The crystalline ship must sail
Somewhere
You rested in the soul's long bed,
And dreamed you were alive
On the crystalline ship
With the fish and the birds
And the cook in the galley
Sings to her ears
That water is a three-edged sword,
One for the skin and one for the bone
And one for the spirit all alone,
Who is tempted to splash and thrash
The Pacific of your mind's distress
That the crystalline ship has sailed
Somewhere
You bested the sea and split the shell
With a three-edged sword
Of pain and smiles and a wondering blue,
And now launch a vessel found only in you
Left behind by the crystalline ship.

II.  from "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity (Hymn)" — Milton

No War, or Battails sound
Was heard the World around:
The idle spear and shield were high up hung;
The hooked Chariot stood
Unstain'd with hostile blood,
The Trumpet spake not to the armed throng,
And Kings sate still with awfull eye,
As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.

But peacefull was the night
Wherin the Prince of light
His raign of peace upon the earth began:
The Windes, with wonder whist,
Smoothly the waters kist,
Whispering new joyes to the milde Ocean,
Who now hath quite forgot to rave,
While Birds of Calm sit brooding on the charmed wave.

III.  "A Cradle Song" — Blake

Sweet dreams form a shade,
O'er my lovely infants head.
Sweet dreams of pleasant streams,
By happy silent moony beams

Sweet sleep with soft down.
Weave thy brows an infant crown.
Sweet sleep Angel mild,
Hover o'er my happy child.

Sweet smiles in the night,
Hover over my delight.
Sweet smiles Mothers smiles,
All the livelong night beguiles.

Sweet moans, dovelike sighs,
Chase not slumber from thy eyes,
Sweet moans, sweeter smiles,
All the dovelike moans beguiles.

Sleep sleep happy child,
All creation slept and smil'd.
Sleep sleep, happy sleep.
While o'er thee thy mother weep

Sweet babe in thy face,
Holy image I can trace.
Sweet babe once like thee.
Thy maker lay and wept for me

Wept for me for thee for all,
When he was an infant small.
Thou his image ever see.
Heavenly face that smiles on thee,

Smiles on thee on me on all,
Who became an infant small,
Infant smiles are His own smiles,
Heaven & earth to peace beguiles.

IV.  "My Symphony" — Wm Henry Channing

To live content with small means;
To seek elegance rather than luxury,
and refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich;
To study hard, think quietly,
Talk gently,
Act frankly;
To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart;
To bear all cheerfully,
Do all bravely,
Await occasions,
Hurry never.
In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.

This is to be my symphony.

V.  "These, I singing in spring" — Whitman

THESE, I, singing in spring, collect for lovers,
(For who but I should understand lovers, and all their sorrow and joy?
And who but I should be the poet of comrades?)
Collecting, I traverse the garden, the world—but soon I pass the gates,
Now along the pond-side—now wading in a little, fearing not the wet,
Now by the post-and-rail fences, where the old stones thrown there, pick'd from the fields, have accumulated,
(Wild-flowers and vines and weeds come up through the stones, and partly cover them—
Beyond these I pass,)
Far, far in the forest, before I think where I go,
Solitary, smelling the earthy smell, stopping now and then in the silence,
Alone I had thought—yet soon a troop gathers around me,
Some walk by my side, and some behind, and some embrace my arms or neck,
They, the spirits of dear friends, dead or alive—thicker they come, a great crowd, and I in the middle,
Collecting, dispensing, singing in spring, there I wander with them,
Plucking something for tokens—tossing toward whoever is near me;
Here! lilac, with a branch of pine,
Here, out of my pocket, some moss which I pull'd off a live-oak in Florida, as it hung trailing down,
Here, some pinks and laurel leaves, and a handful of sage,
And here what I now draw from the water, wading in the pondside,
(O here I last saw him that tenderly loves me—and returns again, never to separate from me,
And this, O this shall henceforth be the token of comrades—this Calamus-root shall,
Interchange it, youths, with each other! Let none render it back!)
And twigs of maple, and a bunch of wild orange, and chestnut,
And stems of currants, and plum-blows, and the aromatic cedar:
These, I, compass'd around by a thick cloud of spirits,
Wandering, point to, or touch as I pass, or throw them loosely from me,
Indicating to each one what he shall have—giving something to each;
But what I drew from the water by the pond-side, that I reserve,
I will give of it—but only to them that love, as I myself am capable of loving.

While I am not yet at the stage to actually resume composition — I need yet to sit down and talk with Héloïse, learn of her different recorders — I've now made rudimentary architectural decisions:

I.  "The Crystalline Ship" — Leo Schulte :: soprano & mezzo; recorder; alto flute

II.  from "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity (Hymn)" — Milton :: soprano; piccolo; recorder; harpsichord (frame drum?)

III.  "A Cradle Song" — Blake :: soprano & mezzo (generally, alternate stanzas; together on stanzas 3 & ; harpsichord (frame drum?)

IV.  "My Symphony" — Wm Henry Channing :: mezzo; recorder

V.  "These, I singing in spring" — Whitman :: tutti

[karlhenning]

While I am not yet at the stage to actually resume composition —

Why resume composition . . . ?

Because actually I started a soprano & harp setting of the Blake for Kay, a year or two since.

Cor, and I've just found a print-out I made of Poe's "Annabel Lee" . . . I remember a strong impulse to set it, but I do not at all recall what I had in mind, voice-wise . . . .

[karlhenning]

I may wind up reconsidering, and pitching some of the new material.  But all the same, pleased with some portion of it, and pleased with even the semblance of "getting on" with it . . . .

[jowcol]

Ah, memory lane! Saul advising me on how to Compose Beautifully, complete with exemplary samples from the major composer, Howard Shore!

Clearly, all I need is the inspiration of The Lord of the Calamari Rings!

From The Portable Henning:

Of all of the great "What-if's" in the domain of Henningology, the most frequently addressed topic is the Summer of 2010, and the impact it COULD have had upon the course of Henning's work.  For, during those precious months, Henning had the unique opportunity to study under the noted composer Saul, as well as to receive spiritual guidance from Theresa, the forum's pure energy angel.

The potential impacts of these two mentors would have been incalculable.  Not only would have Henning wisely stopped consuming the fluoridated water that was impurifying the essence of his bodily fluids and renounced the pernicious influence of the second Viennese school,  but he also would have mastered the skill for getting from point A to point B in his compositions.

Unfortunately for the music world at large, both of these roads were left untaken.  We could only speculate what a Henning Realization of the film score of The Hobbit would sound like..

[karlhenning]

Ah, what might have been!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

From The Portable Henning:

Of all of the great "What-if's" in the domain of Henningology, the most frequently addressed topic is the Summer of 2010, and the impact it COULD have had upon the course of Henning's work.  For, during those precious months, Henning had the unique opportunity to study under the noted composer Saul, as well as to receive spiritual guidance from Theresa, the forum's pure energy angel.

The potential impacts of these two mentors would have been incalculable.  Not only would have Henning wisely stopped consuming the fluoridated water that was impurifying the essence of his bodily fluids and renounced the pernicious influence of the second Viennese school,  but he also would have mastered the skill for getting from point A to point B in his compositions.

Unfortunately for the music world at large, both of these roads were left untaken.  We could only speculate what a Henning Realization of the film score of The Hobbit would sound like.

This will be debated as long as there is a Henning lover on this planet, and even then (s)he will wrestle with this agonisingly fascinating question on his or her own, fruitlessly.

[karlhenning]

I may wind up reconsidering, and pitching some of the new material.  But all the same, pleased with some portion of it, and pleased with even the semblance of "getting on" with it . . . .

Here's one of the funny things about the process . . . when I reached m.78 there, I found myself at a complete loss where I should want to go (and partly for that reason wondered if I shouldn't "erase back" to some earlier point).  Before actually honing the Blade of Excision, though, I reckoned that what I needed to do, first of all, was think ahead a little — get just some kind of global sense.  I did not do much work on the bus this morning, but I did scribble some notes about, oh, blocks. (Well, I take that back: I actually wrote something of a tune, too.)

Then, at lunchtime while I sat in King's Chapel to attend a concert featuring some friends . . . I wrote on from m.78 as if I'd never had any question about it at all.

Rum business, this composition . . . .

[karlhenning]

— I need yet to sit down and talk with Héloïse, learn of her different recorders —

Getting closer — Héloïse & I are exchanging the ritual e-mail messages . . . .

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Getting closer — Héloïse & I are exchanging the ritual e-mail messages . . . .

You know what happened to Abelard, don't you?

[karlhenning]

I figure I'm safe if I don't name any offspring after astrological instruments . . . .

[karlhenning]

(Non-astrological) instrument discussion slated for Tuesday evening.

In an idling-engine way, I continue to wonder just what I had intended for "Annabel Lee" . . . not pressing, firstly because I've other saucepans on the stove, and secondly because it will be better if that first thought resurfaces on its own.

The other cool fire at present is the question of the harpsichord solo piece, the process to be pursued there, and overall scale.  Again, no hurry.

[karlhenning]

A most curious dream last night, in which Charles & I talked a good deal about our respective music. Whatever else, it must mean that right down into my subconscious, I have full confidence in the Viola Sonata.

[DavidW]

A most curious dream last night, in which Charles & I talked a good deal about our respective music. Whatever else, it must mean that right down into my subconscious, I have full confidence in the Viola Sonata.

Do you mean that you dreamed about Koechlin?