Henning's Headquarters

[Karl Henning]

An ancient piece of mine . . . I did add/modify some slight detail, and even added an entire single measure to improve the flow of the last page.

[Cato]

An ancient piece of mine . . . I did add/modify some slight detail, and even added an entire single measure to improve the flow of the last page.

It does have a late Medieval-Renaissance feel!  A fun work: was it composed for a specific group? 

[Karl Henning]

I wrote it as the postlude for Easter Sunday, 1999 at First Congo in Woburn.  Well, it was either Easter or 19 Dec 1999 . . . maybe if I check my catalogue, I can discern one or t'other . . . .

[Karl Henning]

Here I have chanced upon an item I was not sure I still had:  a copy of Mark Engelhardt's edition of the chant version of the St John Passion which we sang every Good Friday at St Paul's . . . the very edition to which Ed Broms took a dislike (when the fault did not lie with the music).  Again, since I seized the opportunity to write an original setting which we then sang the following Good Friday, how shall I chide Ed?

[Karl Henning]

And in the same folder, look what I found . . . (I owe someone a [much belated] sound file . . . .)

[Karl Henning]

Re-post & refresh:

Variations on Wie lieblich est, S.10 (oboe & organ)

Night of the Weeping Crocodiles, Op.16 (cl/vn/pf)

Night of the Weeping Crocodiles, Op.16a (cl/pf/prc)

Fancy on Psalm 80 from the Scottish Psalter, Op.34 № 3, performed by Carson Cooman, on YouTube.

O Beauteous Heavenly Light, Op.34 № 2, performed by Carson Cooman, on YouTube.

Journey to the Dayspring, Op.40 on YouTube

'Tis Winter Now (Danby), Op.45a (mezzo-soprano, flute & organ) at Amazon

Initiation of Barefoot on the Crowded Road, the former Op.41 (now the Discreet Erasures, Op.99, below)

Danse antique, Op.44

Score of The Wind, the Sky, & the Wheeling Stars, Part I

Score of The Wind, the Sky, & the Wheeling Stars, Part II

Counting Sheep (or, The Dreamy Abacus of Don Quijote), Op.58a for Pierrot-plus ensemble [ score, part I ].

Counting Sheep (or, The Dreamy Abacus of Don Quijote), Op.58a for Pierrot-plus ensemble [ score, part II ].

I Look From Afar, Op.60 for choir, brass quintet, organ & optional timpani

Blue Shamrock, Op.63 for clarinet unaccompanied, at Amazon.

Sweetest Ancient Cradle Song, Op.67 for choir, brass quintet, organ & optional timpani 1^st half | 2^nd half

Sweetest Ancient Cradle Song, Op.67 for choir, brass quintet, organ & optional timpani ::  Choral Score 1^st half | 2^nd half

Timbrel and Dance, Op.73 [ St Paul's choir plus ].

Scene 1 from White Nights, Op.75 № 2

Scene 2 from White Nights, Op.75 № 3

Scene 3a from White Nights, Op.75 № 4

Intermezzo I from White Nights, Op.75 № 6

Intermezzo I from White Nights, Op.75 № 6, arr. for saxophone choir

Scene 4 from White Nights, Op.75 № 7

Scene 5 from White Nights, Op.75 № 8

Before-&-after, Finale-VS.-Sibelius exhibits from the Op.75 № 8| A | B | C | D

Scene 7 from White Nights, Op.75 № 10

Canzona, Op.77a № 1 (org solo)

Gigue, Op.77a № 2 (org solo)

26 February De profundis, Op.78 [ Jaya Lakshminarayan & friends ]

Mirage, Op.79a (alto fl, cl, pf)

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, Op.80 carol for choir, brass quintet, organ & timpani

Moonrise, Op.84 for brass quintet. And MIDI

Moonrise, Op.84a for flute choir in six parts. And MIDI

15 March Passion rehearsal A [ Sine Nomine ]

15 March Passion rehearsal B [ Sine Nomine ]

15 March Passion rehearsal C [ Sine Nomine ]

Conclusion of the 19 Mar 2010 performance by Sine Nomine of the St John Passion, Op.92:

http://www.youtube.com/v/8netMuAHFkI

12 May recital [ k a rl h e nn i ng Ensemble (Bloom/Henning/Cienniwa) ]

18 May recital [ Bloom/Henning ]

23 May pre-concert rehearsal [ Sine Nomine ]

22 June recital [ N. Chamberlain/B. Chamberlain/Henning ]

Love is the spirit of this church, Op.85 № 3

Nicodemus brings myrrh and aloes for the burial of the Christ, Op.85 № 4 for cello & piano | Recording on SoundCloud

For God so loved the world, after Op.87 № 9 {Would you like the Doxology with that?} Yes | No | Recording on SoundCloud

The Passion According to St John, Op.92 (on MediaFire, courtesy of Johan)

Lutosawski’s Lullaby, Op.96a № 1 (string quartet)

Marginalia, Op.96a № 2 (string quartet)

Après-lullaby, Op.96a № 3 (string quartet)

Score of Fair Warning [Viola Sonata, mvt 1]

MIDI of Fair Warning [Viola Sonata, mvt 1]

Score of Suspension Bridge (In Dave's Shed) [Viola Sonata, mvt 2]

MIDI of Suspension Bridge (In Dave's Shed) [Viola Sonata, mvt 2]

Score of Tango in Boston (Dances with Shades) [Viola Sonata, mvt 3]

MIDI of Tango in Boston (Dances with Shades) [Viola Sonata, mvt 3]

Cato's analysis of the Viola Sonata

Johan's MediaFire folder, including the whole of Dana's première performance of the Viola Sonata

Discreet Erasures[/i], Op.99 for orchestra

Angular Whimsies, Op.100a (bass clarinet, percussion [two players] & piano)

Whimsy brevis, Op.100b (bass flute & piano)

http://www.youtube.com/v/OAp3w15ISl4

How to Tell (Chasing the Tail of Nothing), Op.103 (alto flute, clarinet & frame drum); 7 June 2014 performance

These Unlikely Events, Op.104 № 4

These Unlikely Events, Op.104 № 5

Kyrie, Op.106 № 1

Gloria, Op.106 № 2 :: work-in-progress, March 2015

Credo, Op.106 № 3

Sanctus, Op.106 № 4

(The Sanctus, arranged for tuba quartet)

Agnus Dei, Op.106 № 5

Brothers, If They Only Knew It, saxophone quartet (after Op.106 № 5)

In the Artist's Studio, Op.107, for 17 winds & harp

Organ Sonata, Op.108 :: Mvt 1, Eritis sicut Deus

Organ Sonata, Op.108 :: Mvt 2, . . . scientes bonum . . .

Organ Sonata, Op.108 :: Mvt 3, . . . et malum

Thoreau in Concord Jail, Op.109 for clarinet solo

http://www.youtube.com/v/OnLYQ748aEg

Airy Distillates, Op.110 for flute solo

Annabel Lee, Op.111 for vocal quartet

http://www.youtube.com/v/tN3aMOrzEb8

Misapprehension, Op.112 for clarinet choir

The Mystic Trumpeter, Op.113 № 1 for soprano & clarinet

Après-mystère, Op.113 № 2 for flute & clarinet And MIDI

http://www.youtube.com/v/7RhH161HhlA

just what everyone was expecting, Op.114 № 1 for clarinet & marimba

(very nearly) what everyone was expecting, Op.114 № 5 for bass clarinet & marimba

just what everyone was expecting, Op.114a for clarinet, mandocello & double bass

My Island Home, Op.115 for percussion ensemble

http://www.youtube.com/v/hlh61D6COvU

Plotting (y is the new x), Op.116 for violin & harpsichord

http://www.youtube.com/v/2vKGfppo0o8

Jazz for Nostalgic Squirrels, Op.117 (fl, cl in A, gtr & cb) [ and at Soundcloud ]

When the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy, Op.118 № 1 (shakuhachi, drum & handbell choir)

http://www.youtube.com/v/79tPHWpH3UI

Divinum mysterium, Op.118 № 2 (choir unison & handbells)

http://www.youtube.com/v/MPr7NhE2-Bs

Easter Stikheron, Op.118 № 3 (choir SATB & handbells)

Welcome, Happy Morning!, Op.118 № 4 (handbells)

My Lord, What a Morning, Op.118 № 5 (choir & handbells)

http://www.youtube.com/v/AJzV-RxXiIk

Hymtunes Moscow & Te Deum, Op.118 № 6 (handbells)

Musette, Op.118 № 7 (handbells)

Psalm 130, Op.118 № 8 [ I think ] (clarinet & bass voice) [work-in-progress]

The Crystalline Ship, Op.119 № 1 (mezzo-soprano & baritone saxophone)

I Saw People Walking Around Like Trees, Op.120 (flute, clarinet, double-bass & frame drum)

http://www.youtube.com/v/E0_-CTvtSS8

... illa existimans quia hortulanus esset ...., Op.121 (vc/pf)

Le tombeau de W.A.G., Op.122a (flute, clarinet, double-bass & frame drum) Audio

A Song of Remembrance, Op.123 (mixed chorus SAB & pf)

http://www.youtube.com/v/kYWAm11MX4s

The Mysterious Fruit, Op.124 (mezzo-soprano & marimba)

The Mysterious Fruit, Op.124a (mezzo-soprano & pf)

Tiny Wild Avocadoes, Op.125 № 1 "Children's Song" (2 vn/va)

Tiny Wild Avocadoes, Op.125 № 2 "Autumn Leaves (Wind Effect)" (2 vn/va)

Tiny Wild Avocadoes, Op.125 № 3 "Scampering Squirrels" (2 vn/va)

Tiny Wild Avocadoes, Op.125 № 4 "Pond at Twilight" (2 vn/va)

Tiny Wild Avocadoes, Op.125 № 5 "The Gnomes (Paul's Garden)" (2 vn/va)

Tiny Wild Avocadoes, Op.125 № 6 "Cheerful Song on the Wing" (2 vn/va)

Tiny Wild Avocadoes, Op.125 № 7 "The Avocado in Winter" (2 vn/va)

In the shadow of the kindly Star, Op.126 № 1 (violin solo and handbell choir)

I Want Jesus to Walk With Me, Op.126 № 2 (choir SATB unaccompanied)

Variations on a Basque Carol, Op.126 № 3 (clarinet unaccompanied)

Beach Balls (Red) , Op.125 № 5, org solo [ work in progress ]

Suite, Op.127 № 1 "Summer Song" (vc/pf)

Suite, Op.127 № 2 "Valentine" (vc/pf) And MIDI

Notebook for Elaina & Anna, Op.128 № 1 "Out for a Walk" (fl/a sx)

8 Oct 2013 recital at King's Chapel

Henningmusick at ReverbNation.

Henningmusick at Instant Encore.

About an hour's worth of Henningmusick, too, at SoundCloud

The 9^th Ear at SoundCloud.

And: Maria appears on the evening news in DC.

[Cato]

And in the same folder, look what I found . . . (I owe someone a [much belated] sound file . . . .)

Well, this is unexpected!  If you place the eccentrically named Second Tuba Concerto here I will be really surprised!   

I made this arrangement for organ of a march from Joachim Raff's Fifth Symphony, a favorite of my brother, for the wedding of his sister-in-law.  She happened to hear it playing at his house one day, and said: "That's the music I want at my wedding!"

So he called me to reduce the score for an organ: fortunately, the score was available at a university library not too far away from where we were living at the time.  I needed to compose an ending, so the last few bars are my invention, the only thing I have composed since swearing off the vocation long ago.

[Cato]

Here it is: my analysis of Karl's Viola Sonata:

In the first movement, you hear the shadow of Alban Berg in the Viola: a mysterious yearning arises from a kind of struggling non-tonal tonality.  Note that even in the first bar, in the 5:4 figure of 16ths, one hears a kind of tonality in the broken D# (= Eb) Bb (= A#) Eb (= D#) chord, and then again in bar 2, note the broken up D major scale in the 5:4 figure, nearly emphasized by the accent mark on the D after the 16th rest.  Bar 3 has the little march figure which again has an aroma of traditional tonality (F minor, starting with the C-F figure at the end of bar 2), and tells us that maybe the Viola has been wanting to be in F minor from the start, but cannot decide.  The seeming chaos in the piano, with its B/A# and D/C# in the bass, and similarly wide-spaced dissonances in the treble, would apparently not be involved, but listen carefully to the odd E major in the piano in bars 3 and 4, which the Viola picks up in its partially contrary figure at the beginning of bar 4.

The chord at the end of bar 4, with its open fifths in the piano and the Viola's minor second G#/A stubbornly refusing to accept the engagement ring from either suitor, will become very important motivically, as it is paralleled in bars 28-31, and in bars 203-205, repeated nearly verbatim in bar 41, and paralleled again in the conclusion. The minor second in the Viola can of course be heard as a variation on the major 7ths in the piano's bass at the beginning.  This idea is reinforced in bar 7 in the piano, where the bass ascends from Bb to Bb to G#, while the treble and the Viola hold an A.

Lest ye think that the little minor second is just a moment's hesitation, let me send you to bar 14, where for a moment both instruments play G#, but then the piano plays F#2/G# on the last beat, and to the Meno mosso section at bar 45, where things are seemingly in accord, with a unison on B in both instruments, but immediately we get a disagreement (Bb in the piano/A# in the Viola), followed by a C/Db and then in bar 46 we hear that G#/A, resolved into a unison to be sure, but then note the minor seconds in bars 49 and 50 (nicely played in the performance).  This is one of the more comically poignant, or poignantly comic parts of the work.

The Piu mosso section at bar 59 shows a variation on the 5:4 motif from the opening melody.  The motif is now legalized with a time signature of its own (5/16), but does return in the piano for a moment in bar 64.  Of interest rhythmically and motivically are bars 66-72: the music struggles upward through major and minor seconds for a while.  In bar 69 the 5:4 figure in the piano sets the stage for an erratic ascent from B to C, with a minor ninth crescendo in bar 72.

The delicious Slow (but with life) part (bars 83-108) shows variations on the previous motifs (bar 86 develops the 5:4 figure, and the double open fifths in bar 87),  and I like how the wide leaps in the piano presage the sudden drop in the Viola in bars 97-98.  Octaves abound, but not for long, as the music fragments to a kind of pointillism in bars 109-132.  The open-fifths-vs.-minor-second debate is heard in the piano in bar 122, just to make sure you are paying attention, and that 5:4 figure now appears as a 5:6 in the base.

And then my favorite part: the completely schizoid Piu mosso ancora! (Bars 133-176) The section continues to play with items already established, e.g. hear the bass part of the piano continue the minor/major 2nd/7th/9th patterns, while the treble plays around with the motifs introduced back in bar 95ff. and 106-107.  Listen to how they contrast with the melodic line in the Viola, with trills (136-137), emphatically accented 16ths, the 5:4 and new 6:4 figures, while the piano obediently avoids such rhythmically complexities, allowing only some syncopations.  And I must remark upon how well the premiere performance handled this section!

In bars 177 the music develops the earlier Piu mosso (bars 59-82) and drives toward a climax where a variation of the opening is proclaimed beginning at bar 201.  During this drive, note again the presence of those minor/major 2nd/7th/9th patterns: bars 189 and 194-195 are especially impressive here, the latter two bars show a minor second expanding to a third and then a fourth, leading to the open fifths in the treble in the next two bars.

As mentioned earlier, those Beethovenian chords from bar 4 return in bars 203-205.  We then hear a brilliant, condensed, and varied recapitulation of the most important parts of the entire movement (e.g. listen to the piano in bars 212-214 and in the bass only to 218 and compare it to bars 95-102, while above one hears a near apotheosis of the 5:4 figure interspersed with continual variations on it: check out e.g. bar 219 where the Viola plays an eighth-note triplet with a duplet, as well as the bass part in the piano in bars 220-221.  Bar 221 is particularly fascinating with the way motivic and rhythmic elements coalesce in the piano, before our Beethovenian chords put an end to this serious yet playful and highly expressive movement! 

Suspension Bridge: Karl has pointed out two of the building blocks of this bridge movement.  The first is a scale (see e.g. bar 85 in the piano) spanning two octaves, allowing both dissonance and a pentatonic warmth.  The second block is a "periodic rhythmic pattern which needs 73 measures of 3/2 to play out."  The listener certainly does not need to recognize either of these, but the composer sets such limits for himself as guideposts toward continual inspiration.

Ever since hearing the opening to Mahler's Tenth Symphony (on the violas!), and the long chant-like phrases in the Tenth of Shostakovich, I am a sucker for long, lonely, unaccompanied themes!  So you can predict that the unadorned 20-bar Viola theme at the start of Suspension Bridge, the Second Movement of the Viola Sonata, is something which would appeal to me.  The theme almost has a hymn-like character, and is in G with only a few, but very delicious, chromatic wanderings (e.g. the Ab-Abb in bar 5, carrying forward the minor-second motif from the previous movement). 

The piano offers an ascent from a "G" abyss in bar 20, with notes often rising in 6ths (e.g. bars 20-33) until the end of the section, where some leaps of a 7th occur.  The 6ths can be heard as inversions of the 3rds in the Viola theme (e.g. from the half-note in bar 32 to 38), providing thematic-harmonic unity in a section where the long, Adagio-Largo line needs stabilizing.  The section ends with an open fifth D-A to which A an octave lower and then a deep B octave are added.  We then hear our 5:4 friend (in assorted guises) from the First Movement, while the piano revisits (again beneath various masks) the 7th and 9th chords (e.g. bars 50-54).  The piano's music recalls bars 83-94 from the First Movement.  Of interest are the insistent duplets and triplets in the Viola, which link the music rhythmically to similar insistent figures found throughout the First Movement (bars 42-43, 56, 72, and the final bar). 

Of course, these figures are also presaging similar things in the last movement, which makes one wonder if the first two movements are not elaborately inventive variations on elements from the Tango in Boston.  As befits a middle movement named Suspension Bridge the music connects itself most impressively to both of the outer movements. 
 
To return: the piano attempts to raise the bridge with the help of the 5:4 figure going up eccentric scales, but things fall apart by bar 64, where the piano reminds us that the minor-second motif has not disappeared!  And speaking of insistent figures, there is a nearly constant F/E 7th in the bass between bars 64 and 78, while our friends (the major and minor seconds in 66-67 and 75-76, the 5:4 figure) frolic back and forth, ending with the return of a variation in Eb minor of the Viola's opening statement.

Then in bar 80, starting on G in the bass (the key of the Viola's opening), the piano starts charging upward, while the Viola also rises up a D major-minor scale played in octaves.  The section leads to a Maestoso with a series of (mostly) hexachords in the piano, wherein one picks up open and diminished fifths, 7ths, and 9ths, (e.g. bar 95 C/G/B/A#/C#/G#). These point backward (e.g. bars 83-94 in Fair Warning) and forward (e.g. bars 105-113 in the Finale).

Bars 101-120 present an enigmatic dialogue with the Viola speaking pizzicatoly and the piano playing 5 8th notes against 4 (cf. the 5:4 motif), with an emphasis on our motivic intervals of 2nds, 5ths, 7ths, and 9ths.  And a cadenza for the Viola – starting on G – parallels both the heaven-storming of the piano in bars 80-92 and the preceding dialogue: note how the louder triplets form one voice contrasting with a second voice of soft 16ths. 

Punctuated by the piano (fortissimo) with a hexachord (Db/Ab/C in the bass, Eb/F/Cb in the treble), the cadenza continues now with large chords on the Viola, harkening back to the piano's Maestoso section: check bar 142-143, where the minor second (C#/D) "resolves" into a F#/C/E 7th chord.  The chords also presage a similar section in the Finale (e.g. bars 105-114 in the Tango in Boston), which even occasionally uses the same chordal sequences (cf. the two chords at the beginning of bar 147 with bars 105-106 in the Tango in Boston.  A repeated chord (D/B/F#/E) ends the cadenza, and brings us to another dialogue between the two instruments, even more antiphonal than before, with an exotic array of rhythmic figures repeating the same notes, as if a Martian Morse code were being transmitted.  In fact, however, one tastes here some of the "tango-ish" aspects of the last movement. 

From this exotic soundscape we plunge downward on the piano – starting on (a high) G – while the 5:4 motif is heard in the Viola, and is soon echoed in the piano.  After the ff climax, the Viola plays a Largo version of the opening Adagio, again in a kind of key of G, with which the piano quietly and sweetly (dolce) disagrees in the final bar with a D#/C# 7th in the bass, which we easily understand, since a 7th has been heard in the bass before (on F/E in bars 64-78).  We have gone full circle, but discover that circle is actually a Möbius strip, so that we are no longer back at the beginning but somewhere else...maybe we are in Boston and ready to tango! 


For the Tango in Boston, the subtitle Dances With Shades is perhaps instructive: one can assume the reference is not to guys in sunglasses, but to ghosts and the pirouettes they might be making.  (Of course, maybe the ghosts are wearing sunglasses!)  In either case, one hears a rather mysterious and ghostly opening with our melodic and harmonic friends from earlier: the assorted seconds/sevenths/ninths and assorted fourths and fifths.  In the very first bar, an Ab in the bass of the piano is answered by a C/F# and then a D/C#, and soon a G in the Viola joins that bass Ab.  This opening section reminds one of an earlier sequence in Fair Warning (cf. bars 82-90).  And the melodic motif at 24-27 in the piano's treble evokes the spirit of Erwartung.  After dancing up a quasi E major scale, the Viola sings on C# and D# while the piano provides a tango beat with a chord of B/C/F leading to A#/D/F#.  Of interest is the bass rocking back and forth on the fourth-fifth pattern of A-E-E-A, providing a temporary "E" background and a yearning in the Viola line with that C#-D# theme.

At bar 33, the piano begins a bass ground in C-Db-Ab (or A)-F, while the Viola again struggles up that quasi E major scale, finally arriving at the theme from bars 19-22 now played in octaves.  Deliciously evocative is the end of the section (bar 47) where the Db octave on the Viola fades away with a chord of Db/G/C in the piano.  This continues the minor-second element (Db/C) heard in the first two movements.  Also, as part of a final movement's summation of previous material, the Viola's music here might be heard as a variational reminiscence of bars 55-62 from the second movement.

And speaking of bass grounds, in the next section (bars 49-69) listen to the "Scott Joplin Channels Schoenberg c. 1915" in the piano's left hand, where our 5:4 figure dances "with intensity" with (or against) the Viola's dance played mainly in thirds. and using 5 8th notes tangoing on top of the piano's 5:4 notes, thereby creating a giddy contrast for the ear.  There is also an occasional 7:8 figure with 16ths in the piano: it begins on a low G# and rumbles upward to F (bar 54), then on D to B (bars 58 and 66) before reaching G# again at the end of bar 69.  (See Karl's previous comment on the multi-octave scale in the opening comments about Suspension Bridge.)  Our destination is not G#, but (of course) the A, a minor ninth higher (bar 70).  But the Viola has been busy during all this too!  The 5-patterning is also heard in the descending figure in the Viola (beginning at the treble clef bars 66-67) and later in its ascending figures (bars 68-69).  And the 7-pattern is heard in a 7-note descending motif (bars 62-63, 65, 67-68).

The unison on A (bars 70-71) is quickly disturbed by a Bb and G#, which is right in character!  We then return nearly to the beginning of Fair Warning with a startling variation on the Viola theme from that movement (cf. bars 71-80 with Fair Warning's bars 7-18).  The piano continues its 5:4 motif interspersed with groups of 7 notes (e.g. the  bass in bars 73-74, 77, 79 vs. the treble in bar 80).  Suddenly at bar 81we enter an A minor/major area, with a simple pizzicato theme, which strikes my ear as evocative of an ancient Greek melody.  Then after the piano intones a mysterious 9th chord (A/F/B), we hear a transposition of some of the opening bars (24-30) with some variations: rather than the rising pizzicato of bars 33-41, we now have a very lugubrious theme (from the last beat of bar 89 to 104): if it is not quite a danse macabre, it is Herrmannesque, where octaves are just as disconcerting as 2nds, 7ths, or 9ths.  This leads to a Largamente where the Viola returns to its cadenza chords of Suspension Bridge, but this time the piano adds its voice (cf. bars 137-142 of Suspension Bridge with bars 105-114). 

The Adagietto (bars 115-132) takes us back to Fair Warning's Meno mosso (bars 45-58) section: if it is not quite a variation, it is certainly a reconfiguration of that earlier section.  Two massive hexachords chords conclude the section, leading to a Vivo finale which the piano insists must be in C, while the Viola plays rhythmic elements heard earlier which emphasize a strident B minor (e.g. the D/B in bars 133-135 along with the C#-B/F# figures throughout the finale). 

A purely personal and no doubt idiosyncratic reaction to the final page: I was reminded of the thunderous finale to Rachmaninov's First Symphony.  Perhaps it was the repetition of the motifs in the bass of the piano, but the connection was immediate.

If the essay has helped to illuminate some things for a listener, then its purpose has been fulfilled.  Ultimately, Karl Henning's Sonata for Viola and Piano Opus 102 sings for itself and will illuminate the listener with its tour through an unknown soulscape.   

And speaking of the archives, let me again recommend another masterpiece here from Karl Henning, the Viola Sonata.

[Karl Henning]

Well, and this may be the Summer of the Clarinet Sonata.

[Karl Henning]

Perhaps the most interesting thing for me about this revisitation is:  I'd forgotten entirely about these, let's call them poetic attempts, for decades — which is not true of the music I wrote at the same time.  And in fact, yesterday evening I started a fresh Sibelius edition of a short piano piece from that era (a piece which Luke has seen in MS., though he probably cannot remember it, and no fault to him  )

I am reserving judgement even on that piano piece until I finish the process of this new edition . . . but it's uncanny how it brings me back, and in a way that the p. a. do not, or do not with anything like the same power.

[Karl Henning]

Hah!

Well, here we are:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/998632367/triad-bostons-choral-collective

We already have pledges for 75% of our Kickstarter goal!  (And I have word that someone who has commissioned Henningmusick in the past ponied up a solid 10% of that goal.)

Our "concert post mortem" and où allons, maintenant? meeting is this coming Monday;  will report!

[Karl Henning]

Second day, at an easy pace, of creating the Sibelius file of a piece I wrote in St Petersburg, back when:

[Cato]

Here is the poem which Karl will use for one of his next vocal works: he wanted a monodrama sung by a woman.

From the Pit of a Cave in the Cloud

Transformed,
Novembering the bells of God's soul,
Encased,
Unraveling cocoons of vile days,
I knew the purpose of my life.

Evil,
Dictatormenting the hells of my soul
Unswayed,
By slaughtering the worms of vile ways,
I knew the purpose of my strife.

That young girl,
A walking husk burned and enslaved
And burning with future dreams of limbs
gray and bleached!
Can you see her?

That young girl,
A desert rock boiled and despoiled
And boiling with daggered teeth and hands
Weird and wild!
Do you know her?

The desert men in the ancient robes
With modern tools for killing,
Burned and murdered the ancient town
Whose modern fools were willing
To believe their promises of mercy.

One desert man in an ancient robe
Sought young girls here for pilling.
Scorned, he captured one certain girl
With soul and mind unwilling
To believe his promises of mercy.

Branded the boys, banded the girls,
For the master lay in silk
With desires for skin of milk,
And the maidens must still his thirst.

Whipping the boys, stripping the girls,
And the maidens cried in vain,
In the tent a man inane
Had a dagger to change their wills.




A maiden of the north,
Of unyielding will,
Spirit of unchanging stone,
And a stone of unchanging spirit,
Remains a cave unknown.
Can you see her?

This diamond of the north,
Of undying strength,
Sneering at unbridled lust,
And a lust of unbridled sneering,
Awaits a time of trust.
Do you know her?

But the master must be obeyed!
To yield she will be made!
Beaten and racked and racked and beaten,
The diamond is cut for the master's hand,
Savaged and clubbed and clubbed and savaged,
The maiden has left for the spirit's land.

For the maiden must be amazed
By worlds that she has raised!
Golden and saved and saved and golden,
The diamond is free from the master's hand,
Savaged and clubbed and clubbed and savaged,
The maiden now lives in the spirit's land.

Fury failed to sway the girl:
Kindness, thought the man,
Will force her body to unfurl,
Kindness, thought the man
Will force her spirit to uncurl,
And then the world is right!

Kindness then the girl did hear,
Trickster, thought the girl,
I'll bring my body to his ear,
Kindness, thought the man,
Has to the maiden made me dear,
And now the world is right!

The dictator of the sands,
Tormentor and master of closed young belles
Now gasps to see the girl's legs smile,
And the maiden holds her breath,
As her legs so swift and with grim delight
Clamp and choke and strangle his neck,
While the maiden holds her breath,
The dictator of the sands,
Tormentor and master of closed young shells
Now gasps to stay alive and scream,
But the maiden brings him death.

Freedom is born from evil's demise,
Purpose is born from freedom:
In the robes of the dead man,
The prince of the sands,
The girl escaped the hands
Of the slavers.

Courage is born from evil's demise,
Constant the need for vengeance,
With the ax of her new soul,
The queen of the sands,
The girl did break the bands
Of the captives.

Roaming the desert and questing for evil,
With knives and fire and guns and ropes
The Great Protector
Did stab and burn and shoot and hang
The demons dancing around her.

Freeing the captives while questing for evil,
With sharks in heart and hands of knives
The Great Protector
Did hunt and stalk and clutch and slay
The devils killing around her.

Saving others,
Cleansing the desert,
Did she save and cleanse herself?
Sisters and brothers,
I am now alone,
I am

Transformed,
Novembering the bells of God's soul,
Encased,
Unraveling cocoons of vile days,
I am the purpose of my life.

Evil,
Dictatormenting the hells of my soul
Unswayed,
By slaughtering the worms of vile ways,
I am the purpose of my soul.

[Karl Henning]

Here is the poem which Karl will use for one of his next vocal works: he wanted a monodrama sung by a woman.

From the Pit of a Cave in the Cloud

Evelyn Griffin, who did such a cracking job with The Mystic Trumpeter, is game for a fresh work.

Peter H. Bloom and Dan Meyers are both on board;  and although I was at first planning to employ Dan again as percussionist, he made me welcome to have him play woodwinds.  And my response was, "Which?"

So Peter will double on piccolo and bass flute (less crazy than it may sound);  Dan on soprano and tenor recorders.  At first, too, I was supposing that I would play clarinet . . . but with the evolving instrumentation, I thought, Why not have an all-flute accompaniment?  And since I am conducting, why not compose more complicated textures than I might, with no conductor?

I am only waiting to confirm the availability of another flutist (on C flute, certainly, and possibly to double on alto) before I begin composition.

[Cato]

I should mention that the above poem is based upon a section of a novel still unpublished: From the Caves of the Cloud.

[Karl Henning]

I should mention that the above poem is based upon a section of a novel still unpublished: From the Caves of the Cloud.

Which I can recommend heartily.

[Karl Henning]

Well, it is done. I have not actually changed even a note, but it looks different notationally than my Ur-text, because I have finally formally recognized in the notation what I had always done when playing through the piece.  Is it any good?  I certainly still like it;  but I do wonder if I am not simply too wound up in the piece, not to like it, to care for it.  Why?  The partial answers include:  My formal schooling was done, and I was able again to do some musical things which some, at least, of my instructors would have challenged, and I should not have had any answer better than, "Well, I think I like it."  The beauty of St Petersburg, especially at the time of the White Nights.  The overwhelming charm and command of my wife's artwork, and exulting in her talent.  The agreeable haze of being newly wed, which (again) has an extra magical element in the city of the White Nights.

So, whether or not it is really any good, here is my Just-Another-I-IV-V Tune.

[North Star]

White Nights in St Petersburg? As the sun won't set for almost three weeks where I'll be spending my summer, I'd say that is due to the light pollution in St Pb

[Karl Henning]

At this point, may well be 

[Karl Henning]

And, YHM, Karlo!