A composition for winter
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Sleigh Ride
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Music | Visuals | Words
Enjoy!
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THE Season #2
Author: Michael Angelo Bobb
Christmas!
A poem for the start of Advent
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16th Annual Exhibition
Don’t miss it!
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EXHIBITION
Announcing: The Anna Lovely Gallery
OPEN EXHIBITION 2022
100 Artists | 100 Artworks
For nine days starting today, Friday 2nd September, the show will run.
Last year, for the first time, I submitted an entry – and won best in category.
This year my entry is:
The Queen And Two Princesses
About the piece:
A composed photograph of Holy Trinity SE20, a church building in Penge, London was abstracted in Photoshop. An award-winning laboratory in Scotland made the image photometallic and added a 6mm acrylic facemount – an absolute essential – effectively doubling the visual quality.
This is luxury art.
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In Search Of The 32
Ludwig van Beethoven.
Beethoven’s thirty-two piano sonatas have been called, by a few, the New Testament of solo keyboard music; J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, the Old Testament.
Let’s get to the matter of the topic: performance. For over thirty years I have been listening to recordings of the 32. Within the music, and between the notes, are essences of Beethoven and his classical/romantic world. Beethoven’s family and family life, and educational development; his forebears and teachers; his own established life as a pianist and composer; antiquity and culture of his time; his muse and acquaintances; even war and politics of his era — all made the man: Beethoven.
Beethoven’s early solo keyboard sonatas were written to be played on harpsichord or fortepiano — this includes sonata no. 8, op. 13 named grand sonate pathétique by the publisher. In my opinion this is because of the soothing, gentle, rocking and emotionally atmospheric elements of the second movement. As harpsichords do not have a sustain pedal, I have played this particular music without pedal — and, to my delight and wonder, it is more poetic. All my sheet music scores shows pedal.
Several years ago I went to Robert Morley & Company based in Lewisham, London looking for a piano. I had a collection of scores as test pieces. Piano after piano were left wanting. And so I took a leap: I tried a piano out of my bracket. It was Beethoven; I heard Beethoven! The piano was a British made Broadwood. Needless to say, Broadwood gave one of their pianos to Beethoven. Could the truth of the 32 be heard in a Broadwood?
Earlier today I received a subscribed email that linked to an article on the thirty-two sonatas. All extracts played on pianofortes. All eminent pianists or musicians with fine interpretations. All Beethoven…?
Michael Bobb – Artist • Author • Occasional Composer
Friday 26th August 2022
This recording includes Sonate Pathétique — without pedal. It is played on an Elysian piano, not a Broadwood. Listen for the poetry… and enjoy the poem!
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Elizabeth Windsor
Amen, we say, God bless you, ma’am
Reigning on the throne 70 a yarn
Serving steadfast and steady, and so calm
Our queen has made the record book
All eyes to her this day will look
Celebrate our world-class monarch
Head of the Commonwealth lands
Sovereign of the Garter, and
Supreme Governor of the Church of England
750 holiday cards issued every year
1,500 puddings to employees far and near
Philanthropic activity beyond compare
Her first corgi was called Susan by name
A lover of horses and the equine game
And owns unmarked mute swans on the Thames
Her Royal Highness and Majesty
Is also a lover of photography
And taking pictures of her family
To Scottish dancing she is partial
Hosting balls at Balmoral Castle
And Highland cuisine as traditional
Christmas message broadcast on the day
Telegram message on your 100th birthday
And media message honouring citizens – hooray!
Serving steadfast and steady, and so calm
Reigning on the throne 70 a yarn
Amen, we say, God bless you, ma’am!
Music Maestro!
Four short poems about J. S. Bach’s music.
Limerick 1
An ecclesiastical cycle.
“J. S. Bach’s Church Cantata oeuvre
Is really quite pious and pure
The melodies are holy
And so are the harmonies
For 3 liturgical calendars, not 4”
So, what is a Cantata? A Cantata is a musical work composed for the voice. It is approximately twenty minutes long with smaller movements for solo voice, chorus and instrumental accompaniment — sometimes all three.
Church Cantatas, aka Sacred Cantatas, are intended to be performed during Christian liturgy.
What is the difference between an Opera and a Cantata? As a Cantata is a vocal work, mainly during the C17th and C18th, an Opera is a theatrical work combining drama, music, song and sometimes dance.
Limerick 2
The Composer’s sewing machine!
Limerick 3
A poem for Count Kaiserling.
Limerick 4
A contemporary instrument of the viola da gamba.
For full-length videos of my poems, see below:
18 poems from the paperback
Apple Books:
A few years ago I was online scanning the concert listings at a world-class venue in London. On this particular occasion I was looking for small scale music-making. The Baroque era is a favourite of mine, and I chose a recorder and theorbo programme.
On the day of the concert I was early, and so decided to spend some time in a book shop. Afterwards, I went to the concert hall and started my packed lunch. Before I could finish it was time for the concert to begin.
During the concert sometimes the instruments played together, sometimes they played solo. For one recorder solo, the recordist played two recorders simultaneously! When the theorboist played solo pieces, one of them was introduced as a passacaglia – which, to my amusement, collected philistinic giggles. If only the pictures of musical aristocracy on the walls of the concert room had ears of flesh!
This poem, The Known Great Composer, is about the concert. Head and shoulders above, one composer and his music made my whole time in London memorable. Memorable for the right reason – music.
No prizes, but if you can guess the Great Composer I don’t mention, you are a winner! Clue: Imagine the accompanying music in this clip being played two octaves lower on a solo cello…
“The Known Great Composer”
“The window blinds close
The stage lights are adjusted
Two musicians walk on stage
And we welcome them warmly…”
On the way home, I happened to see someone I knew. We talked for a while, and I expressed that I would be writing a poem about the concert. By this time, my mind had already begun putting the poem together.
Furthermore, before arriving home, I visited a local art gallery and talked more about poetry to the exhibiting Artist, referencing the couple of books I bought earlier that day written by the Poet Laureate.
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This is the Month – Eastertide
This is the month
When they say that it rains and pours
Down come the showers
From heaven’s open doors
But in-between the cascades
There are beams of sunlight
Shining through clouds
Heavy laden and fluffy white
This is the month
When the daylight grows longer and longer
With the sun rising earlier
And setting later and later
There is also a change
In the quality of light visible in the atmosphere
This phenomenon only happens
Once in the northern hemisphere
This is the month
When spring is well and truly here
It’s time for leaping of the lamb
And the young deer
Buds are prising open
Seeds and bulbs germinate
O’ the splendour
Of nature’s natural nascency about this date
This is the month
That brings high tides to our shores
As the moon orbits closer
And waxes more and more
These signs are where
The Jewish people take their Passover
And from where Christians
Take the major holiday called Easter
There is nothing like Eastertide
Celebrating a fantastic event
It happened 2000 years ago
And I, in a sense, was present
The most spectacular display
Of God’s agape love
Crucifixion and Resurrection
The only plan from above
On a Friday God laid sin on His Son
The sin of men nailed to a cross
He crucified the sinless Lamb
And took away our dross
On a Sunday Christ is raised
And we are raised with Him
This same Resurrection Power
— The Spirit — is at work within
And now we can live righteously
The old has gone, the new has come
Spreading the Good News Gospel
Of what Jesus Christ has done
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Art Exhibition – Revisited
The recent art exhibition at the Anna Lovely Gallery was open for two weeks, ending on the 3rd April 2022. The Artists showing were selected from the 2021 Summer Open Exhibition. On the penultimate day I made footage and added fitting music by Mussorgsky called ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’.
Splashes of Ink 