Such choirs as dreams are made of

And now commenced the horrid din, the desperate struggle, the maddening ferocity, the frantic desperation, the confusion, and self-abandonment of war.

– Washington Irving, Knickerbocker’s History of New York

We quote from “The Tea-Pot” of yesterday the subjoined paragraph:  “Oh, yes!  Oh, we perceive!  Oh, no doubt!  Oh, my!  Oh, goodness!  Oh, tempora!  Oh, Moses!”  Why, the fellow is all O!  That accounts for his reasoning in a circle, and explains why there is neither beginning nor end to him, nor to anything he says.  We really do not believe the vagabond can write a word that hasn’t an O in it.  Wonder if this O-ing is a habit of his?  By-the-by, he came away from Down-East in a great hurry.  Wonder if he O’s as much there as he does here?  “O!  it is pitiful.”

– Edgar Allan Poe, “X-ing a Paragrab”

Occasionally, I dream of music, of composing music.  That is, I do not dream that I have my pencil poised over MS. paper in my 3-ring binder, but I see a score unfolding, and my thoughts of music affect what appears on the score in my dream.

Most of the time, when I awake and recall the music I just dreamt of, it is not particularly worth recording here, in the real musical world.  I think last night may be one of the exceptions.

Not that it will make a great piece, mind you–that, I do not expect.  Really it is a simple harmonic arc, nothing dramatically novel about it, at all, at all.  Simple material for an easy SATB choral piece, really.  As I lay in non-urgent wakefulness afterwards, I thought of what text to use, and how it should be deployed, which will make the piece a mildly aleatoric endeavor.

Well, we shall see if, two weeks from now, I remember.  Because the plain fact is, that with the Florida travel at the end of this week, and the necessary preparations leading thereunto, I am very doubtful that I should have any chance to attend to this fanciful dream-piece soon.

The pianist/organist in DC whose virtual acquaintance I made not long ago sent a nice message about the Three Short Organ Pieces she bought from Lux Nova.  The message reminded me that I meant to send her the Opp. 4 & 11 piano solo pieces (from the Little Towns, Low Countries re-jiggernaut).  So now, I have.

(I think there is no reason at all why the pieces should not reside both in their Opp. 4 & 11 suites, and in a grand Little T., Low C. series.)

Day after tomorrow, there may be news.