Henning's Headquarters

[Karl Henning]

Nuhro?  I'm hoping we might do that with Triad.

The repertory committee will meet sometime this month, it seems.  I've submitted Nuhro, Timbrel & Dance, the Sanctus and A Song for Remembrance for consideration this go. I only expect one of the four to be selected, but I wanted to give a nice variety from which to select.

[Karl Henning]

Okay, Carol is in for the 27 October concert, and thus, in for the new piece.

The accompaniment will be:

soprano recorder (doubling on tenor)
flute in C
bass flute (doubling on piccolo)

An idea comes to me today, and I am not sure if it is just madness, or if it's the perfect idea, which has come to me just in time to put it to use:  adding a horn to the accompanying ensemble.

[Karl Henning]

Modest gain (but, hey, it's still progress!) 

[Karl Henning]

And, wow!  A fellow conductor (perhaps I should simply say conductor) to whom I sent the score yesterday wrote back early this morning with a very generous reaction to the piece.  He leads something of a start-up community band, and so he reports with regret that he lacks the double-reeds (and that a harp would be a matter of for-hire) . . . with delicacy (for he is a fellow composer, as well) he asked if I would be all right with substituting clarinets for the double-reeds.  I've replied positively, with a promise to look the piece over with an eye to an alternate scoring.

Incidentally, I did prepare an alternate scoring (clarinets in place of the oboes, piano in place of the harp).  This morning I heard from Kevin who says he will look at the piece again, but it seems a good fit, though he must find a pianist ("easier than finding a harpist," he writes).

[Karl Henning]

An idea comes to me today, and I am not sure if it is just madness, or if it's the perfect idea, which has come to me just in time to put it to use:  adding a horn to the accompanying ensemble.

Good golly, Pam is in!  So:

soprano (voice)

soprano recorder (doubling on tenor)
flute in C
bass flute (doubling on piccolo)
horn in F

[Karl Henning]

I think the thing at this point (with the young lady, her phone and her teeth) is a quartet of oboes and clarinets . . . .

[Karl Henning]

And here we are thus far (I think the requisite beautiful melody may be imminent . . . .)

[Karl Henning]

Well, it is entirely the fruition of an idea which percolated in the back of my mind two days ago;  and, I do like it.

I only wonder, does it really belong to this piece, or is it an intrusion?  Does its abrupt redirection fit (do we expect such an abrupt redirection to "fit")?

I think I should sleep on it . . . .

[Karl Henning]

Cato said this last section should be a little slower, and he's perfectly right.


This is the piece as I shall send to Kammerwerke.

Edit :: old version deleted

[Karl Henning]

And the MIDI reflecting that tempo change:

http://www.youtube.com/v/d8h6g1gEb9k

[Karl Henning]

Okay, that is (for the moment) done . . . Kammerwerke will not get together to read this until (so far as I know) August.  So now:  to address musical thought to the irascible and mysterious Professor Admee . . . .

[Karl Henning]

I learn that there is (or soon will be) Sibelius 8 available.  One of the few quarrels I have had with the bass flute is "available" in the instrument library of Sibelius 7, notes that are below the range of the (IIRC) alto flute do not play back . . . I wonder if this will be fixed in 8?  Which is to say, I wonder if anyone told them this was a glitch, and wanted fixing?

[Karl Henning]

This morning (yes, on the bus into Boston) I re-read Cato's text, and made some notes for From the Pit of a Cave in a Cloud;  no musical notation, only "pre-compositional" verbal notes about general musical tone, events, character, and notes of the textual parallels, so that I have a "road map" of where it may be suitable to suggest musical recapitulation (or variation).  I sent an e-mail message to Dan to confirm questions about recorder notation (whether I should notate so that middle C is the lowest note, does the soprano sound an octave higher, does the tenor sound at pitch), so I may wait upon that answer before getting seriously into composing the piece.  Or, of course, as I live more with the text, I may begin by creating the vocal line, with fluid notions of what I plan to do with the accompaniment.

[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.

This is a poetic version of an incident in my still unpublished novel From the Caves of the Cloud: yet in another way, it is also a separate work needing no elucidation via the novel.

Karl has been a great fan and supporter of my literary efforts. 

If anyone wants some summer reading, I can offer you a download of the work.   0:)

[Karl Henning]

I heartily endorse From the Caves of the Cloud!  I'm about to re-read it, meself.

[Karl Henning]

It's just a start, but I think it's just how I wanted to start.

[Karl Henning]

I learn that there is (or soon will be) Sibelius 8 available.  One of the few quarrels I have had with the bass flute is "available" in the instrument library of Sibelius 7, notes that are below the range of the (IIRC) alto flute do not play back . . . I wonder if this will be fixed in 8?  Which is to say, I wonder if anyone told them this was a glitch, and wanted fixing?

I was mistaken, the bass flute does play back throughout the range.

[TheGSMoeller]

It's just a start, but I think it's just how I wanted to start.

A Cato/Henning production? I'm totally on board for this. Can't wait to hear the final product.

[Karl Henning]

Groovy!  This piece is for the 27 October concert at King's Chapel;  so I want to have it ready for all the performers to start reading n/l/th 1 September.

And thus, on the Red Line this morning, I sketched some more of the voice line.

[Karl Henning]

Originally I was thinking a 10-minute piece, but the accompanying ensemble is so colorful, I don't want to rush things . . . so I think it will trend more to 15 minutes;  which should still leave room for both the Koukl flute unaccompanied piece, and David's piece for flute, clarinet & fixed media.