Catch up on email at St. Mary's before the class, Sex and the Bible folks checking in with thanks
(there has been a donation made to deservedly augment their pay for recent wonderful endeavors), and also hear tell of an invitation to lecture on George Crumb's Black Angels before a Kronos Quartet concert in Carmel, which is accepted.
Writing to Erling, who forwarded the invite from the SFCCO website
"Actually never officially studied with Crumb, but have hung around with him a lot over the years, beginning when I was in high school playing oboe in Delaware County Youth Orchestra (which he and his wife, Liz, and several other U. Penn and Swarthmore faculty members founded) to his helping out in the viola section -- so we actually sat roughly adjacent.
Interviewed him years later at the Ernest Bloch festival in Newport, OR, of all places, and most recently saw him a year or two back when I was invited to orchestrate a colleague's piece back east -- he heard the finished work, liked it, and cited Berg as an orchestrational influence, which pleased me (the instrumentation was actually mapped over Webern's 5 Pieces for Orchestra and Cantata No. 1)...."
Second dance lecture for Perceiving the Performing Arts with
Rosana Barragan doing a fine turn as substitute, with movies on Lully (evidently early ballet was narrated... kind of makes sense) and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake (with ballet evolving into gymnastics).
Quiz 8 for the Theoreticians of DVC, and time before departure to email folks east re the blog, SATB, Psalms, etc.
"Thanks for all your good wishes -- yes, Berkeley was looking good that day, and taking pictures on the way down from the rental van cab (which was a lot higher off the ground than my normal view from the auto) actually yielded different angles than can be normally had.
The cast definitely had a good time, and I was pleased that a lot of the shots evinced the kind of classical balance for which I was aiming. Maria Mikheyenko (who played Hagar and Leah in this show, and has also portrayed Delilah and Lennie, respectively in the Samson piece and Mice and Men) took a lot of backstage and offsite-dress-rehearsal, which I just received today -- so will probably post some more -- and the good spirits of the cast are again in evidence.
The Psalms are an interesting endeavor. While many composers have set some, seemingly few have set others. I'm finding a number of them more dramatic than I would have expected: a great number are attributed to David during various adventurous times of his life. Working on Psalms 112 and 12 right now, the latter of which begins, in the King James, "Help!", so the music is gridded on the Beatles tune...
I am at your disposal for any final dispositions -- indeed, not for many years, of course. If I go first have always thought that the Aerial Requiem: Agnus Dei (which was part of Halfway Mark) would be a good way to go...
Theory class . . . Quiz 8 [is] Romantic Harmony, with excerpts from Chopin E Minor Prelude, Wagner Tristan, Verdi Rigoletto and Aida excerpts (La donna e mobile and Triumphant Entry), Bizet Carmen: Habanera, Satie Gymnopedie 1, and Ives Variations on America."
75 balmy degrees, through the tunnel, wandering about, and over the bridge to
Celia's, grading papers (A's, B's, and a couple of C's),
checking the box,
a couple more semi-fashion stops, and home for more 12 (2) and Vespers: 112 (7)
