A Composer’s Journal Entries February 27 - 28, 2005

[figaro]

Sunday February 27

11 p.m. Began writing the 2nd prayer for choir & orchestra - the Hail Holy Queen prayer to Our Lady. A few pages are written, it goes easily - so far, at least. This prayer will also be very tonal, so far I am not using a row, but am freely composing. It is different in both form & sound than the St. Michael prayer. Even though the prayer is much longer, this piece will be shorter & simpler than St. Michael. At least, that is what I now envision. This prayer is so beautiful, I do not wish to break it up, as I did with the other prayer. I might, however, repeat entire sections - it is too early to say. Unlike the Prayer to St. Michael - this time I had no clairvoyant vision. I just sat down at the piano, & there it was. It just began.

Unlike the Prayer to St. Michael, I have no overall conscious plan or ideas as yet. In fact, I began it with no conscious ideas at all. The notes seem to know where to go very nicely on their own. When this first section is complete, then I will decide on a form. This first section is almost done, I have already used almost a third of the words. I am beginning to weave a new motive into the piece, & it is possible that this motive will be the substratum of the next section - or some future section or interlude.

Undoubtedly, there will be a third prayer in this cycle for choir & orchestra. (Well, first I will write it for Bob’s new string octet & then score it for orchestra later.) St. Michael, Our Lady the Madonna - & then I suspect the last will be to the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. Protection - Grace - Enlightenment. Or: Protection - Peace - Healing for the world. The prayer to the Holy Spirit can either float - or bring Power. I must decide on a prayer. I will inwardly ask that the Holy Spirit help me choose the perfect prayer for the world. The prayer to Our Lady will be lighter & more lyric than St. Michael. Now that I have begun this second prayer, I can barely remember the first one; except the sections that I clairvoyantly saw. Those are burned into my being & inner sight.

I was out for some hours tonight, & when I returned I was once again aware of the supernatural fragrances, the fruit-like scents mixed with a light incense. I just got another whiff, as I wrote those words. I have not yet mentioned these fragrances in A Composer’s Journal. It seems, from the website counter, that most people are reading both A Composer’s Journal & A Mystic’s Journal. Therefore, I assume I need not explain these mysterious scents here.

Had dinner with Bob again tonight. His machines are still crashing, his computers & his recording equipment. The next string quintet rehearsal is this Thursday night. Bob said that a composer from California & some musicians from Cornell might attend. I have not yet heard the entire piece in rehearsal. Phoned Diana in Dallas for a photo for posters. She had a houseguest & wasn’t checking her e-mail. Bob & I decided that the open rehearsal on the 13th should be two hours long & included in the concert ticket & price. I checked his poster for mistakes. We decided to say my CAPS grant was partial funding for the concert, since we are charging admission. An e-mail from Rea. She asks me to write something up to hand well-known musicians in NYC, musicians to play/record my scores. Must remember to write something up. E-mailed the Emerson Quartet. Ordered more Early Songs CDs, I’ve almost run out again.

M. is away this week, & there is nothing but snow, snow, snow on the horizon. Put the snow shovel near the mailbox, so I could easily get to it. Might have to walk to the television studio Monday & Tuesday nights, found my good winter boots. My other ones leak. We might get 14 inches of snow. Must put the lock on the upstairs middle room door, so that Ian doesn’t tumble down the stairs.


Monday, February 28

1:35 a.m. Wrote a few more pages of the prayer to Our Lady this afternoon. The overall form is beginning to emerge, to clarify itself. Bob insists the best forms are the traditional ABA forms and variations thereof. I have no disagreement with traditional forms, & I often use them. But form, for me, can also be very internal to the music. It’s not always a plan we composers start out with & then adhere to. Sometimes the music itself unfolds on its own, like a painting - a corner here, a line there, a splash over there - or like a good cook in the kitchen, adding and subtracting flavors & textures to taste. Form is very, very important to me. But not always as a formula - unless I am very pressed for time, or unless the musical ideas depend on an imposed formula. Granted, more complicated forms are not as apparent to the ear. The theorists will have to analyze & explain these to the musicians & audiences of the future. Initially all forms arose from the music itself. The first composer who used the ABA form came across it by accident - it felt right. It felt balanced. Beethoven wrote within existing forms, but stretched them, changed them. Forms evolve & new forms are born - just like the stars in our universe.

Standing outside the television studio tonight, on a late break from editing. A young man was standing by the curb, waiting for his ride. The snow falling was thick & fast, I could hardly see him. He was wearing a tall red & white cloth stove pipe hat, a dark jacket and light pants. No gloves & sneakers. His hat was at least two feet high. It dwarfed him, all you could really see was the hat. An all white world, except for those broad bright red stripes. I stood there watching him watch the empty road & wondered why he was wearing that very odd hat. He never saw me. I am still trying to figure out the digital machines. My little monastery cell, a small edit room filled with machines & monitors. I was there from five until almost midnight tonight. And then the hat. I had better go outside & shovel the sidewalks before the snow gets too heavy to easily lift.