Yesterday was indeed a long day for an old guy.
But it all went pretty well including the rehearsals last night at the end of the day.
I’m seriously thinking of cutting down the Bach cantata movement. I woke at 4 AM this morning and was laying in bed realizing that it’s a bit long winded and that I could easily cut down the orchestral ritornello that I am learning on the organ and still have an excellent little choral version.
One of the sopranos (who did NOT show up last night) has said repeatedly that the piece is an organ piece with choral back up since the voices keep coming in to do little fugal sections on each phrase of the chorale.
The choral sections are really the part I’m interested in having performed that Sunday. And even if I had a little orchestra or some other instruments available to play the orchestra part with me, at this point I think I would trim it to help modern listeners and increase its effectiveness for use in liturgy.
I have landed on two Couperin pieces from the Mass for the Convents to play a week from this Sunday.
For the prelude the rather lengthy Offertoire.
I will be using much gentler stops than this excellent player (on what sounds like a good organ…. out of tune in places?) especially on the Postiv sections. More like what this player chose for the “white note” or slower section in the middle. I think this is a charming piece and sounds very Louie XIV to me.
For the postlude I am planning the short but elegant “Deo Gratias” from the same Mass.
I love this music.
That’s about all I have time for this morning. I don’t want to miss my rescheduled Urologist appointment (ahem…. like I did Monday).
P.S. Comcast called yesterday and knocked 15 bucks off my monthly bill for me. When the courteous operator asked me if that made me happier, I said it made me 15 dollars a month happier.