Entries from July 2011
Index Cards (9)
July 27th, 2011 · 1 Comment
Tags: *Index Cards
The Underground Mountain Concert in Norway
July 27th, 2011 · 2 Comments
The tune I’ve arranged here was first published in Hamburg in 1740, in a pamphlet by Johann Mattheson: Etwas Neues Unter Der Sonnen! Das Unterirrdische Klippen-Concert in Norwegen. It related the testimony of a certain General Bertuch, who claimed that on Christmas Eve, 1695, he and a small group of musicians were led by a […]
The Donner Party, Its Crossing
July 27th, 2011 · 2 Comments
Herbert Blau founded a theater company at Oberlin College in the 1970s. It was called Kraken; and in 1974 it toured a production based on the story of the Donner Party. I was a composition student at the Conservatory at the time, and contributed three songs.
Rameau’s Nephew
July 26th, 2011 · 5 Comments
Diderot is one of my favorite writers, and I’ve long enjoyed Le Neveu de Rameau. So, I was delighted to find a monograph on Jean François Rameau (by André Magnan), and particularly intrigued to learn that two melodies by that curious nephew had survived. I harmonized them, and made a piano piece from the result; […]
Index Cards (8)
July 26th, 2011 · 1 Comment
Tags: *Index Cards
Honorificabilitudinitatibus
July 26th, 2011 · Comments Off on Honorificabilitudinitatibus
Shakespeare’s “long word” is used to create an acrostic quodlibet. I took one measure from each composer: the first measure of a piece by Handel, the second measure of a piece by Olagué, the third measure of a piece by Nichelmann, etc. The honor roll is: Handel Olagué Nichelmann Offenbach Ravel Iradier Franck Isaac Confrey […]
Quickstep
July 25th, 2011 · Comments Off on Quickstep
Stumbling Block
July 24th, 2011 · Comments Off on Stumbling Block
“Stumbling Block” is an essay in awkwardness: wrong-note harmonies, recapitulations that peter out, a right hand motif that gets stuck while the left hand moves on. I played this countless times in shows with Bill Irwin, particularly to accompany some clown and trunk business in The Clown Bagatelles. Here’s the first part of it.
The Best of John Keel
July 24th, 2011 · Comments Off on The Best of John Keel
This was John Keel’s last book: a collection of his columns for Fate magazine. He had promised to write an introduction, but was too ill to do it. The publisher, Phyllis Galde, asked me if she could use the bio I had written for the Mothman issue of Fortean Times. So, I got their permission, […]
It’s Fortean
July 24th, 2011 · 1 Comment
The comic strip “It’s Fortean” ran in the children’s paper Zuzu from 1992 to 1995. The editor was Beck Underwood; it was her idea. Some of them were also reprinted in the INFO Journal. Here are a few samples.