Neely's Blog #18

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July 7, 2009 - Additions to my catalogue

I’m going through the academic exercise of updating my curriculum vitae, which Wesleyan requires me to do from time to time. Obviously, this entails updating the catalogue as well. So here’s a list of what I have to work into the catalogue in the next few weeks. In it’s final form it will have dates and (estimated) timings, just like the entries do now.

“Two for Helen,” settings of Emily Dickinson in honor of the 92nd birthday of Helen Boatwright
Scotsman (a humorous song on an anonymous text)
A Garland of Sacred Song
The Portals of Saint Bartholomew
Where I am… (a quasi-improvisational piano piece; see last Thursday’s blog)
A Friendly Fugue for…
   Peter Alan Hoyt
   Mary Luongo
   Joyce Hubbard
   Lorry Yelding
   Mary Decker Klaaren
A Double Fugue for…
    Sarah and Richard
    Peter Standaart
    Kay Briggs
    Jennifer and Andrew
    Jim and Carol
A Partita for Wilhelm Gertz
    Prelude; Fugue; Allemande; Eccosaisse; Gigue
Trazom: A prelude for piano, based on a familiar passage from Mozart
Modal Study No. 1
Arrangements of earlier works for two pianos:
    A Fugue for Bitsey Clark
    Chorale Fantasy on Old 124th
    The Year of Jubilo
Fifty-Four Nifty African Countries (mnemonic chant)
Spatial Chorales (2003)
Lamentation for Good Friday (1996)

The last two items are omissions. (There may be others—I have to go through the catalogue with the proverbial fine-toothed comb…) Otherwise this is music I’ve written since the summer of 2006. I think it’s striking that there are so many fugues. I never thought that at this point in my life I would be so interested in imitative counterpoint. I have a handful of unfinished fugues as well, and ideas for lots of others. In addition to the fugues there is a great deal of imitative counterpoint in Portals (see earlier blogs on this subject), though the spatial nature of that work insures an emphasis on its non-imitative aspects.

I’ve been writing on my other website about A Garland of Sacred Song—see the various “Composition lessons from Charlie.” These are songs for David Rinald and Susannah Knoble to perform—there are four of them so far.

I’m also struck at how many of these pieces involve gamesmanship. From time to time I pick up Homo Ludens by Johan Huizinga. I’ve got to read this book from cover to cover. I have other books on this subject I have yet to read. Anyway, the whole art of musical composition has a profound element of play in it, and that seems to be where a lot of my ideas are coming from right now.