When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: 'Whose?' - Don Marquis
2006, April 30
Bach's Organ Mass
Taking off on a very large project, exploring the twenty-one chorales of the Third Part of the Keyboard Practice, or Dritter Theil der Clavier Übung, BWV 669-BWV 689.
Bach wrote a set of twenty-one organ chorale settings for the German Organ Mass, the Lutheran church service for which he wrote so much music. Some were large and some were small and Bach published them in his Third Part of the Keyboard Practice.
I hope to listen to recordings and to make midi files of at least the smaller pieces, learning about them as I go. I intend to post as I go along on this complex investigation.
Exploration - practical investigation and analysis which leads to knowledge, skills and understanding. Exploration may arise from the needs of a given situation, but may also be stimulated by curiosity, extending personal vocabulary or style, and may result in unexpected, unusual or innovative outcomes. (Definition from the wikipedia)
Some links:
Order of the Lutheran Mass in Leipzig
2006, April 09
April Showers
April showers bring new growth on the California Coast Live Oak.
2006, March 31
Ten years on the Web
JSBChorales.net 10 years old today.
A Brombaugh Organ in Eugene Oregon
Ten years ago today I uploaded the first version of JSBChorales.net with sets of midi files of the 4-part chorales to download.
To celebrate the anniversary, here are some more favorites from James Pressler and QuickTime files from JSBChorales.net.
From James Pressler (click on the headphone icon):
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, the first Schübler Chorale, BWV 645
Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott, BWV 721
Herzlich thut mich verlangen, BWV 727
From JSBChorales.net:
Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 649
Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter, BWV 650
Here are many more organ links and articles.
2006, March 22
Library Thing
LibraryThing - addictive
Go to LibraryThing.com and start cataloging. It is fun, an interesting way to compare collections, and a way to meet (virtually) other owners of favorite books.
Tim Spalding has put together a very attractive site, with a database that works with only occasional glitches, and a fairly intuitive interface. One thing that would be better would be a way to make the back-up option less hidden. In case the server crashes, which I take it did happen once, you should download your library as a text file, and keep it on your computer.
Then, to reconstitute the library online, you can just upload the books.csv file. To make the books.csv file, you go to the Extras tab at the top of the page, then Export Data. Click the "Export all data as text" link, and you will have a comma separated text file. It did not work for me in Excel as he suggests, but did load easily into FileMaker.
So far I have cataloged 300 books and am now taking a break to make graphics of covers not available, and perhaps to do some reviews. Tim says he is preparing to add a CD database; that will be at least as addictive.
2006, March 21
Bach's Birthday 2006
For J.S. Bach's birthday, 321 years, some favorites.
Gottfried Silbermann biography
From James Pressler (click on the headphone icon):
Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel hoch, BWV 769
Prelude and Fugue in G, BWV 541
2006, March 13
You Go, Vermont
Reminds me of something the town council of Berkeley CA would do.
Here is a link to a most interesting entry in SCOTUSblog,
From a village green...
2006, February 26
James Pressler, Organist
James Pressler has created mp3 files of the complete Bach organ work and many files from many other composers.
Thanks to an email from Ralph Hancock, I found this site of mp3 files created by a retired(?) organist. One of my favorite pieces is BWV 733. James says this piece is "for full organ and pedal, which takes a long time to come in, but is worth the wait"
The files are created on the computer with the virtual organ software Hauptwerk Virtual Pipe Organ. This software uses sounds sampled from organs from all over the world to create the effect of a real pipe organ in your own home.
This is a very expensive specialized piece of software, requiring that a person be very knowledgeable and experienced with organs and computers. James Pressler certainly fills that bill. His interesting and helpful comments about each file also help me to understand the music, the composers and the baroque era.
If you subscribe, Mr. Pressler will send you a daily and-or weekly email with a fresh organ piece for listening. I have subscribed, and thank him very much for his work.
The links:
Canonic Variations BWV 769 on Virtual Organ
2006, February 11
Robins and Ravens
Spring? The Celtic calendar says yes, it starts midway between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox, about February 5th.
Kate at CiderPress Hill heard a robin on Thursday, February 9th and thought about Spring.
Yesterday I saw a robin on the wire outside the window, and two days ago saw a pair of ravens in a short version of their mating flight. The mating flights of ravens are truly wonderful, they dive and separate, come together, zoom upwards, fly in tandem then separate again, rise up and dive, over and over as if they heard music in the wind, not audible to us.
For Celts and the birds, yes, Spring is here.
