Been a very quiet, relaxing birthday. Last night's birthday dinner was at Star of India in Ferndale with Wolf. I got my lamb curry, so 
altivo's new lamb is safe from me for a while. We came back to the house and I inflicted the Wolf's Rain soundtrack on him. Aside from the first track (the intro music for each episode, which is a loud rock-ish song), he liked the whole thing. It runs the gamut from Brazilian lounge to classical to folkie—there's even a Native American flute-type song on it. Then he inflicted Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" on me, which I enjoyed very much.
Tonight we're going to my Mom's for the traditional birthday meatloaf dinner. Afterward, we're hoping to take Mom's telescope out to try to see Saturn. That's if the clouds actually diminish like the National Weather Service says they will. If they don't, I guess we'll be playing with the Starry Night software inside instead, which won't be quite as much fun.
Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes. :-)
altivo's new lamb is safe from me for a while. We came back to the house and I inflicted the Wolf's Rain soundtrack on him. Aside from the first track (the intro music for each episode, which is a loud rock-ish song), he liked the whole thing. It runs the gamut from Brazilian lounge to classical to folkie—there's even a Native American flute-type song on it. Then he inflicted Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" on me, which I enjoyed very much. Tonight we're going to my Mom's for the traditional birthday meatloaf dinner. Afterward, we're hoping to take Mom's telescope out to try to see Saturn. That's if the clouds actually diminish like the National Weather Service says they will. If they don't, I guess we'll be playing with the Starry Night software inside instead, which won't be quite as much fun.
Thanks for all the happy birthday wishes. :-)
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Only 363 days to go till the next one!
That said..er, SUNG..... Many Happys! :-)
...ahem...
Tom Waits For No One.
(ducking)
Even though I can't listen to Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis without hearing the words to the Anglican hymn in my head, the music still carries me away to a different and better place. I dunno if I should show you the words or not... But I think I will because they are unusually evangelical for a hymn tune so old and so very English. The tune used as the theme by Vaughan Williams is called Third Mode Melody and is dated 1567, these 19th century words are by Horatius Bonar:
I heard the voice of Jesus say, "Come unto me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down thy head upon my breast."
I came to Jesus as I was, weary, and worn, and sad;
I found in him a resting place, and he has made me glad.
I heard the voice of Jesus say, "Behold, I freely give
The living water; thirsty one, stoop down and drink, and live."
I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quench'd, my soul revived, and now I live in him.
I heard the voice of Jesus say, "I am this dark world's light;
Look unto me, thy morn shall rise, and all they day be bright."
I looked to Jesus, and I found in him my star, my sun;
And in that light of life I'll walk till trav'ling days are done.
I have to admit, one of my kind-of regrets about me not being Christian is that so much really beautiful music was composed in the service of God and religion. It's hard to separate the enjoyment of these pieces from the message, and the music is beautiful probably because of the religious inspiration felt by the composer. It does complicate the music for me. I haven't come up with a good resolution yet, although at least in the case of the Tallis Fantasia the words don't have to come up (unless you're very familiar with them as you are).
I am not a Christian either, though I was once and that's how I know those words. They may not be familiar to anyone outside the Anglican tradition in any case.
Beautiful music is composed with any number of inspirational means. Wagner has been criticized for his prejudices and over the notion that his work supported certain Germanic errors. But the music itself is nonetheless beautiful for all that. The same may be said of many composers, going back all the way to Palestrina or before, and certainly including J.S. Bach himself. I think there is no problem with us enjoying the work of these great artists, whether we see eye to eye with them on everything or not. (And at this point we are hardly paying royalties to Bach's heirs either, for that matter.)
If you have trouble finding the fit of the words to the melody (which happens to be very well done) let me know. I can send you a scan of the page from the hymnal, with the simple four part chorale that inspired this magnificent work. ;)
He should be somewhere around Dayton by now, I guess. Probably no fun for him at the moment (Dayton is a pain to drive through), but he should be home in time for a nap.
I need to read Pratchett. I liked Good Omens a lot and everything I've heard about DiscWorld leads me to think I'd enjoy it a lot too.
Shadowbear and I are looking forward to catching your show next Saturday.
Looking forward to seeing you and the Mr. at the show. Coolness!