November 30 - Finished

Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished.

(Pause.)

Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there's a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap.

(Pause.)



... O.K., so it's only the end of the weekend and the end of the month finishing, plus a third orchestrated page of Samson and Delilah: V. Disorientation (more good-lookin' cookin'),



a rodent requiem,



and various absurd errands delayed for a couple of years -- some successful,




some not.

November 10 - Nothing to Be Done

Like Estragon (the incredibly talented and chamelion-like Meghan Dibble above -- last year in my opera on Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot --



who's much more her fabulous-looking self as Nurse / Eurydice in Antigone, here with Alix Jerinic, as Antigone's Handmaid), the day is mostly sitting around, thank goodness, after eight days in a row driving to Berkeley and San Francisco for rehearsals and performances, not that I'm complaining. So it's blog and kinda sorta life catch-up (Antigone pictures new and old at markalburgerworks.blogspot.com, by clicking on Op. 88), and the farthest that Harriet and I travel is to the grocery store and a 2/3 price NYT, not bad.

Right, and orchestration of page 7 for Moses and Aaron: XXI.

October 29 - I'll Go On

"Perhaps it's done already, perhaps they have said me already, perhaps they have carried me to the threshold of my story, before the door that opens on my story, that would surprise me, if it opens, it will be I, it will be the silence, where I am, I don't know, I'll never know, in the silence you don't know, you must go on, I can't go on, I'll go on." [Samuel Beckett - The Unnamable (1954)]


Two more pages of Moses and Aaron: XVI. Scherzo "Send Them As Spies" orchestrated, then head out to teach, giving a somewhat impromptu presentation on early minimalism, and we sing (mostly in solfege) the first dozen or so motives in Terry Riley's In C, followed by a dictation on the second half of Richard Rodger's Do-Re-Mi from The Sound of Music, and thereafter Hiraoki Asakawa's diverting Alburger's Wrath and another fine piece by Matthew Cooper.



Off to Marin, grading papers at Celia's, negotiating a way through early Halloween traffic in San Anselmo, checking the box, and, there's checks, so looks like we'll be going on...



Home without much incident (though there was a bit of construction in Berkeley on the way over), and finish XVI. orchestration, beginning same for XVII. Chorus and Ballet - "Better to Have Died in Egypt."

August 26 - Another Day

[Mark Alburger - Waiting for Godot: L. What Do We Do Now (after Samuel Beckett)]

ESTRAGON:

Another day done with.

VLADIMIR:

Not yet.

ESTRAGON:

For me it's over and done with, no matter what happens.



More bass clef work in theory, with dictation on Kyrie IV (section I), a few updates on the blog,



including posting of the Chinese Entrance Hymn for the Emperor (c. 1000 BC); evening class is Ancient Music from



Fu Hsi to



St. Ambrose, all on markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com



Left Bank with Aaron, Doug, and Owen -- then home for another orchestrated page (2) of Abraham and Isaac.

July 21 - Last Days...

Finished. Nearly finished. It must be nearly finished [page 5 MM A5 S2 F pfp]. Day upon day until there's a heap. The substantial heap. The possible heap. Heading off as the fog lingers over the Sulfur Springs Mountains west of Long Barn,


and Eden...

June 21 - What Exactly Did We Expect?

Oh, nothing very definite.

A kind of a prayer that it won't take all summer to get this book blog finished (markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.com).

A vague supplication to the exigencies of the situation, placing seemingly inumerable pix and recs in their vaguely proper places -- but well placed to be able to teach exclusively in the new mode by Monday.



Just tooting along with the publication preparation for Mice and Men, too -- Act V, Scene 2 B page 6 -- recognizing that a tree is a tree is a tree... and that everyone needs someone...