The Season - 5's and 6's, 10's and 110

I have meandered quite seriously on Psalm 110 at the Poetry of Christ today - preparing for the celebration of Christmas with the two acrostics to follow.

Now aren't you impressed with my discipline? I have exactly 10 posts per month at PoC - for the last 12 months - a fulfillment of my New Year's 2011 resolution.  As a result, all my notes for my translations on structural things are drafted together with a few more random comments on theological issues.

This morning, we had a pageant at St Barnabas with delightful dancing angels. 5 years ago there were about 5 children - today there were approaching 5 dozen. The theme was: time as strange and the human impossibility of seeing the transcendent. And time is strange. And the Christ that was always and is with us and is to come was seen in a child. The preacher was the Rev. Dr. Brokenleg - he gave a superb homily on the number 5 in Matthew and the fulfillment of the promise to David.

I also sang with a flautist, my Psalm 5 setting  (a test drive in rehearsal mode)- I was not so disciplined here. So I modified the music to include the instruction - in strict rhythm.  The words go by so quickly with the flute accompaniment that one has to manage the 6 pages of music with almost Gilbert and Sullivan gusto.  Why is this one for flute?  Rhythmic accompaniment changes the expression of the words in strange ways.

Things I noted this month

Here's a lovely performance of Psalm 95 by David Koysis+
Henry's got a combo article on Virgin Births and Whale's Bellies

I have put many of my starred posts (where I leave comments) into the shared items list. (See the right hand panel or link here). That's the quickest way to do this kind of thing.  I have another cold so I need to bury myself in something. (Definitely can't sing to Audacity - sooo wobbly.)  Maybe I will go back to Esther as some posts have pushed me or Ecclesiastes - no, too much work. I think I will do some mechanical stuff like formatting the monster Word document that will eventually contain all my psalm notes - whew!  Or I will write some more music for scene 3 - the road from Psalm 11 to 25. Long scene.

The curious case of the foreign pulse

It surprises me that I have spent the last two to three weeks composing. Anyway, in my usual preoccupied (I have been occupied for a while) way, I began Psalm 11 by singing the Hebrew to myself and then I imposed the Hebrew pulse on the English. Psalm 11 is about the mockers - waver off to your mountain, bird. So it has a particular saucy lilt. After I got the first three musical phrases, I imposed them in an a-a-b-a-b pattern on the structure of the text.  The result is a curious incarnation of sound with the b section imitating the a section but not distant as if heaven were far away.

The music suggested parallels in the text I had not considered...  Consider here silently.

(I tried recording the first acrostic yesterday - but it is too long for my one-breath technique. I must find some better recording features where I can stop for a drink at one of the many bars!)

[I just downloaded Audacity - a suitable name for recording software]

Respite

A link to some pictures we took while 'shopping'

Act 1 Scenes 1 and 2 drafted

I have sketched the whole of act 1 scenes 1 and 2 of the Opera known as the Psalter. My most recent delight was adding a flute part to Psalm 5 - rather fun I think - MP3 here (vocals alone here, sheet music here).  We'll see if it's playable - maybe try it out on Thursday.

The outline I suggested last month is holding out at the detail level.  As I worked through the scansion for the music, I changed a few details in the text.  A dozen or so.  I think I won't meditate too much on this first part but forge ahead into the remaining music - rather a lot of fun - and no manuscripts to fuss with.

Music exposes the meaningless

I was brought to a musical standstill - a muting of all instruments, by Psalm 7:8.  There is no way to compose an opera of recitation when you don't know who is speaking and about what. What appeal is being made in this verse on whose behalf?

My current experimental thesis is that the psalms are collected in the shadow of the exile. Does that help to supply a character to the tribes? I searched my available texts and found an article that reconstructs a new text: The textual problems of Psalm 7, Jacob Leveen, Cambridge.  He suggests, among many emendations, reading אֱלֹהִים gods for לְאֻמִּים tribes. I don't think that will help the music much. The help to the assembly of the tribes seems more immediate in any age whether of David or of post-exile or even of today with our current tribal conflicts.

OK - so back to the imagining of a leit-motif for the tribes...

Recitation in Hebrew

The music I have written can also be sung in Hebrew. I will not immediately underlay Hebrew text to the whole recitation - but it is feasible as I have demonstrated here for the first phrase or two of Psalm 1. (PDF is a little more complete. In the image below I have not spelled it out in full - e.g. the resh with shwa would be unemphasized and r-sha-im therefore 3 syllables rather than two as illustrated). All that is required is a judicious omitting of some reciting notes, and the selection of up beat and on the beat syllables according to the requirement of the language. (If I record it in Hebrew, I will post the link on the right panel).

The reason this is possible is that the music is written by small groups of words with attention to their structural relationships.  The image below also gives due acknowledgement of MuseScore whose software I am using. It is quick to learn but avoid complex copy and paste. And be very careful when you are in note input mode, you may be overwriting what you have written. This is a nice feature when you become aware of it.