Last Nights and the Morning

Marry, sir, they have committed false report;

moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily,

they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have

belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust

things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves.

– Dogberry

Meditating among liars, and retreating sternly into myself, I see that there are really no liars or lies after all,

And that nothing fails its perfect return—And that what are called lies are perfect returns,

And that each thing exactly represents itself, and what has preceded it,

And that the truth includes all, and is compact, just as much as space is compact,

And that there is no flaw or vacuum in the amount of the truth—but that all is truth without exception;

And henceforth I will go celebrate anything I see or am,

And sing and laugh, and deny nothing.

– Walt Whitman

It is true that I began work on Scene 11 of White Nights yesterday, although there are already notes which I need either to shed, or emend, or slough off to some other scene.  But my initial sketch at what is now m.42 will not do for the nervously happy character which is wanted.  (I think I know exactly what will serve, though.)

If that seems like a slow-at-best start (and, maybe it is) I feel more than compensated by my having gained a freshly clarified global sense of The Rest of the Ballet.  It is sinking in that (if we stick to the Plan) I have 32 minutes of music remaining to compose.

1. In the first place, that is (in principle) achievable this year – this we know from the 2017 accomplishments of the Symphony № 1 and the Sonata for Clarinet & Piano.
2. I now have a fair idea of the three most substantial of the six numbers remaining to be composed:
   • Scene 11 (upon which I am presently at work) [scheduled for 6'30]
   • Intermezzo III, the 'rain-sodden' Intermezzo – highly specific, detailed ideas already in mental sketch for this [scheduled for 4'45]
   • Scene 13, the final scene, Morning – a different idea than has sat on the shelf all these years, but wonderfully apt [scheduled for 10'00]

Now, I do not mean to appear to obligate myself to wrap up the ballet by year's-end.  It may happen;  it is perfectly within reasonable possibility.  It may be my refuge of artistic activity, if it should turn out (what would not be anything like impossible) all three responses expected between now and October are negative.

I suppose I am feeling that Scene 11 is the right thing to tackle at present, and then I should – truly, I should – see to A Heart So White.

So – frankly to fantasize for the moment – if I should complete White Nights this year, and both A Heart So White and It Might Happen Today enjoy their respective premières in October and November, that clears 1H19 for the completion of Karl's Big (But Happily Incomplete) Map to the Body.