Cross-posted from my blog about singing, Just Another Bass... Our final choral performance this weekend is Haydn's Missa in Anguistiis, known more commonly as the Lord Nelson Mass. Of the 14 different mass settings Haydn composed, this one is considered his greatest -- in fact, his biographer calls it "arguably Haydn's greatest single composition," though my… Continue reading Finding Triumph in Lord Nelson’s Mass
Category: Musician
Exploring the Pizzetti Requiem
Cross-posted from my blog about singing, Just Another Bass... Our upcoming Friday night Prelude performance at Tanglewood is a pretty spectacular collection of a cappella choral sacred music. The backbone of the program is Pizzetti's Messa di Requiem, a hauntingly beautiful setting of chant-like melodies that have been a joy to internalize and sing. The Choral Scholar's… Continue reading Exploring the Pizzetti Requiem
Conservation of Creativity
Every once in a while, we can get in a "creativity consumption" kick. Binge watching a TV series, or getting engrossed in playing a particularly creative video game that tells a story with you as the hero. It's not all electronic, either; I know I can easily get sucked into a book series and then… Continue reading Conservation of Creativity
Telepathy
In his magnificent book On Writing, Stephen King describes makes the amusingly accurate claim that writing is basically telepathy. "All the arts depend on telepathy to some degree, but I believe that writing offers the purest distillation," he offers. As an example, he points out that the book is scheduled to be published in late 2000,… Continue reading Telepathy
“Flipping the Bit”
A few more chorus members have left the chorus I sing in, casualties of trust from the transition. They've decided that for them, singing for that conductor in that chorus under these circumstances is just causing them angst. There are enough other musical outlets in the Boston area that they'll certainly find another chorus to… Continue reading “Flipping the Bit”
The Joys of JJFoley 