Author: william

"Many Mansions" W. Zeitler In modern times we have one set of characters to form numbers (the digits ‘0’ through ‘9’) and another set for letters to form words (the alphabet ‘A’ through ‘Z’). In ancient Greek and Hebrew and other ancient languages this was not so – the letters of their alphabet were used…

Toccata in Em J.S.Bach (1685-1750) A ‘toccata’ is a free-style piece, usually on the showy side. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ is probably the most [in]famous, but he wrote many others. This morning’s toccata opens with a moody introduction, then a mysterious ‘fugue light’, then a dream-like improvisatory section. All of…

Sonata Op.111, Arietta L. van Beethoven (1770-1827) At age 22 Beethoven moved to Vienna – one of the musical capitals of the world. And his career took off: patrons lined up, concert invitations piled up – life was good! Then multiple misfortunes struck. One was his well known deafness. Beginning when he was 26, his…

Sonatine Mv. 3 “Animé” M. Ravel (1875-1937) I am asked from time to time how I manage to play fast pieces. The ‘secret’ comes straight from the Master: “whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matt 23:12). The ‘secret’ to playing fast is to practice slowly. When Rachmaninoff (one of the great pianists of the 20th…

Sonatine Mv.1 Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Back in January I played the first movement of Ravel's Sonatine. The other two movements are quite beautiful also, so for 'summer fun' I thought I might play all three movements spread out over the next three Sundays. If you'll recall, Ravel wrote the first movement of the Sonatine in…

Prelude in C, BWV 547, “9/8” J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Solemn Procession H. Cranmer (1705-1757) In Bach’s day, the pipe organ was the most complex ‘machine’ humanity was building. (True up to the late 19th century), involving precision woodworking, metallurgy and metalworking, and pneumatic, mechanical and structural engineering. It was somewhat like the ‘space shuttle’ of…

The Return of the Prodigal Son“ (New) W. Zeitler (1954- ) Allegro H. Servetus (1692-1757) The Canadian Opera Company was a good gig, but I’m REALLY glad to be home! One of the string players came to my rescue when a minor problem came up (and I don’t know the ropes). Turns out he plays…

Toccata from Organ Symphony No. 5 Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)The way musical instruments work is really rather marvelous. (In particular I’m thinking of pitched musical instruments on which you can play melodies—like trumpets, as opposed to unpitched ones—like cymbals). Essentially the player puts noisy energy into the musical instrument. For pianos it is the ‘whack’ of…

Brass instruments go back to at least Biblical times—the ancient Hebrews had them. But being a nomadic shepherding society, making metal tubes would have been beyond them. In fact, making metal pipes received its big impetus in the late Middle Ages to make gun barrels that didn’t blow up, and plenty of them. It’s odd…

Prelude in F#m, Op.23 No.1 Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) Andante H. Laverick (1690-1777) A theme of this Lenten season is ‘wandering’, and Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) definitely fits that bill. The Rachmaninoff family was a part of the “old aristocracy” in Russia where all of the attitude but none of the money remained. Sergei’s father’s financial incompetence…