The Incidental Unearthing of the Forgotten

 

Countess Candice can’t diss the contest
The Endodontist Denies his tendonitis
Cindi in Sydney keeps her chameleon in quarantine
The final fun tier.

– Postcards From Red Squirrel Trail

Never having seen Verdi’s “Falstaff,” it would have been my first time and, like sex, the first time doesn’t count.

— Oscar Levant, from the first chapter (“Total Recoil”) of his autobiography, Memoirs of an Amnesiac

I have occasion this week to refresh my List of Representative Works, the collateral benefit of this exercise is the rediscovery of a couple of pieces which had dropped out of my consciousness. I originally composed A Snootful of Hooch for a husband and wife (vibraphone and flute.) As with a number of other pieces, the folks I wrote it for never returned to me. I later rescored/arranged the piece for flute, violin and cello, but no, the piece still went nowhere. Maybe I should prepare a new version for Aubade? Let me take that idle thought under advisement. Below is the Opus 122, Le Tombeau de W.A.G. which I composed for the memorial service of Bill Goodwin, an occasion from which I was ultimately excluded. I don’t have all the answers and what little information I have does not reflect well on certain parties, and there let the matter rest. I used the piece as a sort of solemn introduction to a concert which included Sweetest Ancient Cradle Song, which Bill had commissioned me to write.

HTUMC Music Program · 01 Karl Henning: Le tombeau de W.A.G., Op.122