This morning I was playing softly on my electronic piano (with the harpsichord sound) in order not to disturb Eileen. I decided it would be fun to play from the Anna Magdalene Bach Notebook. I have a dog-eared copy I have had for many years. This collection is so-called because one copy exists in her handwriting.

It was not unusually for musicians to have hand written copies of music they wanted to have around. In fact, these kinds of copies were much more common than music that had been made on a printing press.

The music in the notebook is not only pieces by J. S. Bach but also other composers including Francois Couperin, C. P. E. Bach, and Georg Bohm. So I think of it as sort of the family record collection.

Everyone in the house was a musician. Anna was a professional singer in the court of Anhalt-Cöthen where Bach served as court musician. I speculate that he may have hired her. At any rate they became a couple after Bach’s first wife died.

Since I have been studying the life and work of Bach’s son, C.P.E. Bach, I imagine what it would have been like in this musical house.

This morning I played several pieces from the Notebook. Then it occurred to me to compare some of them to the J.S. Bach versions from which I usually play them. I discovered that in the E minor partita there were a differing number of measures in the same piece in the two sources.

When Eileen got up, I told her I had spent time down the rabbit hole this morning. This is sort of how I think about the luxury of being retired. Rabbit holes are now something I can get lost in. This was a perfect example.

When I analyze a piece of music, I usually add measure numbers if they are not printed already. This is how I discovered that these two version differed. Anna’s Notebook version has 105 measures in it. The printed version from the first volume of Bach’s published music (Clavierübung volume I) had 108 measures. As I examined the two side by side, I figured out that at one point Bach had added a two measure group and then just before the end he added another measure. All throughout the two there were many slight differences.

I’m assuming that the family record collection version came first and that Bach changed it slightly (improving it, no doubt in his mind) when he prepared for the printed version.

The next step down the rabbit hole is to speculate why he did so.

On a more mundane note, Eileen and I went out and got our Christmas tree. I used to try to delay the purchase of a tree until very close to Christmas. It seemed weird to encourage church people to wait and celebrate Christmas on the actual date and at the same time at home to join in the cultural consumer insanity of extending Christmas back into the season of Advent and even before to Thanksgiving and Halloween.

Even before retiring I was loosening up on this. After retiring I can understand more clearly what I expect from holidays. I like them and like celebrating them. But this year we didn’t get a tree as early as we have been doing. This is more from laziness I think than intention.

So, we had a bit of a difficulty finding a tree to buy today. But we did find one so we’re set with that. I’m expecting the Elizabeth branch of the Jenkins clan to celebrate with us on Christmas Day. So that will be nice.

I finished Ozeki’s The Book of Form and Emptiness last night waiting for Eileen to get back from Kalamazoo. It is an excellent book but I was slightly disappointed in the “happy ending.” It felt a little clunky and was in contrast to how the rest of the book drew me in.

My daughter Elizabeth and her family has given me these wonderful Trust Fall Quarterly Book Club memberships. I save them for when I’m looking for something to read. The books have so far invariably been good. I do like the fact that I am receiving a book in the mail that someone else has recommended.

In each box is a signed copy of a book they recommend and a clever related side line item. Usually there are some interesting information on an enclosed sheet. As a bonus in the last book I received (the one on the left pictured above) there was a galley proof of Wole Oyinka’s Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth

This is a perfect choice for me. Apparently the extra book was a random choice from 2021 fiction titles. Galley proofs are not for resale. But they can be given away.

Last night after finishing The Book of Form and Emptiness, I decided to dip into Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth.

I recognize Soyinka, but more as a playwright and poet. I noticed a volume of his poetry in my library but haven’t checked for a play yet. But I liked that his bio says that he was “twice jailed in Nigeria for his criticism of the Nigerian government, and he destroyed his U.S. Green Card in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.” Sounds like my kind of guy.

So far it is a romp and I am enjoying it immensely.

In addition I am reading Anthony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare for the first time. I read essays on this play by Harold Bloom and Emma Smith. I reached for Bloom and Smith about a third of the way through the play because I didn’t quite understand why some of the action was taking place. These authors helped me understand much that I was missing including the fact that Cleopatra (played by a man) bemoans the prospect of her story being told in a reenactment of humiliation: “I shall see/ Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness/ I’the posture of a whore.” V.ii.219,220.

That’s cool. And probably a weird moment when acted in the Globe theatre.

Anyway, Cleopatra is better understood in terms of modern celebrity and posturing of same. Excellent stuff as usual from the hand of the master.

I got up this morning and made bread. Eileen and I had some for both breakfast and lunch. It makes the house smell great.

I broke down and put up on Facebooger an entry about Edison’s death. Eileen pointed out that many of the people who have had contact with him might need to be notified. It seemed the easiest way though I found the idea of parading my grief a bit distasteful. I had many, many supportive comments and over a hundred “likes.” Social media is such a weird environment.