Theme from Mahogany (Song)

Random Thoughts / Listening Pleasures

Reflection comes from one of my all-time favourite poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
A Psalm of Life - What the heart of the young man said to the psalmist.

I got an email that initially upset me. No longer. Taking this moment to look back at the last binge ... the past year. Rest assured I am moving forward.

Listening: The haunting song "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" written by Michael Masser and Gerald Goffin. It was recorded by American singer Thelma Houston in 1973, then most notably popularized by Diana Ross as the theme to the 1975 movie Mahogany produced by Motown/Paramount in 1975.

A Psalm of Life

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

   Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

   And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

   And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art, to dust returnest,

   Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,

   Is our destined end or way;

But to act, that each to-morrow

   Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,

   And our hearts, though stout and brave,

Still, like muffled drums, are beating

   Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world’s broad field of battle,

   In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

   Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!

   Let the dead Past bury its dead!

Act,— act in the living Present!

   Heart within, and God o’erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us

   We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

   Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

   Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

   Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

   With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

   Learn to labor and to wait."


Poem Credit:
Poetry Foundation. Accessed January 23, 2018.

Video Credit:
Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To). Youtube, uploaded by Shooofly. Accessed JAnuary 23, 2018.



(c) 2018. Inspired Pen. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

On Wings of Song

Listening Pleasures for Meditation

There are many ways of breaking a heart. We all know that ... but what really breaks one is taking away its dream, whatever that dream might be.   


What I'm listening to in reflection? An all-time favourite short piece "Auf Flügeln des Gesanges" (English: "On Wings of Song"), by composer Felix Mendelssohn. This lovely piece of music was dedicated by the composer to his beloved sister, Fanny Mendelssohn, also a composer.

The poet Heinrich Heine created the lyrics (1835) for its well-known operatic version. The video provides images of  various paintings from artists Chagall, Homer, O'keefe, Pissarro, Sargent, and Spadecaller portraying the beautiful night garden, where love is transported by the "Wings of Song." It's a Spadecaller Video: Mendelssohn's "Auf Flugeln des Gesanges." On the piano is Peter Nagy.   (Accessed January 20, 2018.)






Resource:

Mendelssohn - Lieder, S547/R217 (7 Lieder from Mendelssohn, Op, 19a, 34, 47): Mendelssohn - Auf Flugeln des Gesanges (On Wings of Song) (from Op. 34, No. 2), S547/R217, No. 1 by Péter Nagy.

(c) 2018. Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

A writing life

Random Thoughts

If you're a writer, how's your writing life lately?  Although I don't buy a lot of "How to Write" books any longer, I still enjoy revisiting the select few I've kept.


My best friend and soul mate, and writing support, gone now, once told me that if I have lost my moment's inspiration, it's probably in the tip of my pen. She was my staunchest critic and same-time greatest encourager who never gave up on me especially when my pen seemed dried up.

I enjoy reading my fellow writer-friends' works. They inspire. 

How far can we as writers tell stories without as much revealing of ourselves? How much do we want to unveil of ourselves in the first place?

In sensitive wanderings, through range of narratives, how much can we show with freedom and candour our thoughts from our inner world, and our memories, fill our yearnings to let go those creative juices?

Oh this writing life!

Tchaikovsky Nocturne in D minor for Cello

Listening Pleasures

Tchaikovsky's Nocturne (The Tchaikovsky Handbook 'TH' 64), No. 4 of his Six Pieces, Op. 19, for piano (1873), was arranged for solo cello and orchestra by the composer for a concert in February 1888. The orchestra consists of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B-flat), 2 bassoons + 2 horns (in F) + violins I, violins II, violas, cellos, and double basses. 

There is only one movement: Andante (D minor, 60 bars), lasting approximately 5 to 7 minutes.

Below is a video of Tchaikovsky's Nocturne in D minor for cello, performed by Julian Lloyd Webber and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maxim Shostakovich.





Composition.  Tchaikovsky arranged Nocturne for a performance by Anatoly Brandukov in Paris, in February 1888.  The orchestral version was transposed to the key of D major, but the piano piece is set in C-sharp minor.



Video Credit:

Tchaikovsky's Nocturne in D minor for cello. Youtube, uploaded by JLWFan1. Accessed January 10, 2018.

Resource:

Nocturne (Tchaikovsky Research).



(c) 2018. Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.

Backing down and letting go

How do you feel when the day got to you? That is, from your ego’s point of view. A pricked self-esteem...  when the very "professional" people who are meant to provide the anodyne are the ones who let you down.

I’ve heard that before, they’re just doing their job, right? Please help, my collar pain is re-visiting.

Or people who profess to be our friends yet whose actions are far from caring.

We do need to practice the quieting and containing of ourselves for our own sake, you know, those times when things don’t seem to come together.

We need to just quiet down - even if that something is aversion and hurting the very values we hold on to.

Quieting down can take a while. Even many months. This month I've started cleaning up my Address Book. It feels good. Can't wait to clean-up my Facebook 'friends' who are never friends.

Who said life is a bowl of cherries. It can be, but not always.

To keep peace, we usually put on that ultra-flexibility, that is, not insisting our way, even if we should have. But then, there comes a point when, in the face of other people’s intransigent, unreasonable attitudes, we are challenged. That point when we can still give our piece of mind even if it means a bit of boat-rocking.

Giving one's peace of mind doesn't have to be always verbal. It can be an action signifying "enough is enough."

Sometimes, refusing to back down has its own rewards. It can even mean a breakthrough.

A point in time. 



(c) 2018. Tel Asiado. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 

Mozart's Serenade for 13 Winds in B-flat major, K. 361

Music Appreciation Hour /




Serenade No. 10 for 13 Winds in B-flat major, K 361/370a "Gran Partita" (1781-82)

00:00 - Largo. Allegro molto
09:14 - Menuetto - Trio I - Trio II
19:31 - Adagio
25:02 - Menuetto. Allegretto - Trio I - Trio II
30:24 - Romanze. Adagio - Allegretto - Adagio
37:45 - Thema mit Variationen
47:18 - Rondo. Allegro molto

Performed by the Orchestra of St. Luke, with conductor Sir Charles Mackerras. Oboe - Stephen Taylor (principal) & Melanie Field Clarinet - William Blount (principal) & Daniel Olsen Bassett Horn - Gary Koch (principal) & Mitchell Weiss Horn - Stewart Rose (principal), Scott Temple, William Purvis, and Russell Rizner Bassoon - Dennis Godburn (principal) & Marc Goldberg String Bass - John Feeney.  (Recorded by Telarc in 1994)

Painting: Gesellschaft in den Gärten der Villa d'Este, Johann Wilhelm Baur

As my intent is an hour of music appreciation, for more information about this music by Mozart, go to Wikipedia.org's Serenade No. 10 (Mozart).


Video Credit:

Mozart / Serenade for 13 Winds in B-flat major, K. 361 "Gran Partita" (Mackerras). Youtube, uploaded by scrymgeour34. Accessed 7 January 2018.


(c) 2018. Inspired Pen. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved. 

A Life Quote

Sometimes our lives have to be completely shaken up, changed, and rearranged to relocate us to the place we are meant to be.