Dear Michael
Thank you for your poems. I particularly enjoyed the Alternative Three Wise Men. I am sure it will much hilarity in Heaven.
Regards
Mary
Mary Gill, Croydon Poetry Hour
What’s the difference between a turkey, a stork and The Dove?
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!
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.
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
God created the Garden of Eden
A pure unspoiled paradise
An ordered beautiful landscape
That could grow and increase in size
God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden
And said, “Be fruitful and multiply
Fill the earth and subdue it
And govern all that creep, swim and fly”
In the Garden a love story began
Adam and Eve enjoying flesh-of-my-flesh
The two became an unashamed one
In the first marriage with a world to bless
Adam and Eve experienced the joy of God
His presence with them was unbroken
As strong as a three-stranded cord
That’s how it was in the Paradise Garden
In the Garden was the forbidden tree
That could cause catastrophic strife
In the midst of the Garden, though
Was another tree, the Tree of Life
“In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”
God plainly said to Adam and Eve
All they had to do was not eat from the forbidden tree
Believe God, Adam and Eve, just believe!
It was the cunning, slippery serpent
That tempted Eve to sin
Adam fell too and their eyes were opened
And the Cosmos became cursed as death entered in
God then drove them out of Eden
And placed a cherubim at the east
And a flaming sword that turned every way
Guarding the Tree of Life and its feast
However, this is not how it all ends
We will not return to the lost Eden
Redemption and Consummation is coming
There’s no plan for that Ancient Garden
In the future will be a Greater Garden
With the Tree of Life on both sides of the River
Its leaves are for the healing of the nations
And the juicy, sweet fruit we will savour
Yes, we will eat from the Tree of Life
Its branches regularly fully laden
Yielding a new crop every month
In the new and Everlasting Eden
🎵 Margaret, take me to the hills
🎵 Margaret, take me to the place
🎵 Where we are running
🎵 As fast as fast can be
🌷
Margaret, take me to the place
Where I can see you
🌷
🎵 Margaret, take me to the wind
🎵 Margaret, take me to the place
🎵 Where we are flying
🎵 As high as high can be
🌷
Margaret, take me to the place
Where I can see you
🌷
I’m running…
🌷
Splashes of Ink