NEW MUSIC: Two New Organ Chorale Preludes

“Chorale” is simply the official musicology name for a ‘hymn’, and a ‘chorale prelude’ is a free arrangement of a hymn.

Chorale preludes have a long history in music. Even not-particularly-religious composers wrote them—just because!

By the way, hymn tunes get all sorts of different words set to them, so the tunes themselves have been given nicknames to keep them straight. (E.g.”‘Nicaea” and “St. Denio”). If you’re acquainted with any hymnal at all, you’ll certainly recognize these tunes right away.

So, here are two more contributions to that long and honorable tradition. In the mp3 I’ve played the hymn tune itself once straight, and then the chorale prelude. Both are for pipe organ.

Nicaea

• Here's the the whole piece (3:23)
• Here's the the first 30 seconds
• Here's the the score

St. Denio

• Here's the the whole piece (2:07)
• Here's the the first 30 seconds
• Here's the the score

New Music/Image/Poem: “The Journey”

(The poem, image, and music belong together)

The Journey

If darkness be east,
Go west!
If evil be south,
Go north!
If want be below,
Go above!
If sadness be without,
Go within!

You will never find the Water of Life
Lying in the desert:

“Look how bright is the sun!” you say.
“See how the dunes shimmer!
See how beautiful and unique
Is each and every grain of sand!

Or:

“Woe is me!
It is too hard!
I am not strong enough,
Wise enough,
Beautiful enough,
Wealthy enough,
Anything enough
To rouse myself!

Countless are the excuses
With which we distract ourselves,
That keep us prostrate,
That lull us into a fatal sleep,
Slowly dying of thirst,
Slowly transforming us
Into crumbling bones in the sand.

Better to follow visions of Water,
Even mirages!
Than to lay down in the sand and die!

Better to follow rumors of Water,
Hearsay from fellow travelers,
And even the occasional deliberate Lie
Than to lay down in the sand and die!

Run when you can!
Crawl when you must!
But if you keep your course
Strait and True,
Guided by Eternal Polaris by night,
And the sun’s passing shadows by day,
In due time you will find Paradise.

The Compass

An Ordinary Compass

Every journey needs a compass. But compasses usually have their arrows pointing outward–the image for “The Journey” has its arrows pointing inward.

And, the ‘eye’ is an apt symbol for ‘reason’ (as in: “I SEE what you mean”). Meanwhile,  St. John (and others) inform us that “God is Love” (heart)–and not “God is Thought” (mind)! In this image, “heart/Love” envelopes “mind/reason.” Mind without heart is as inclined towards Evil as Good (e.g. Hitler’s acknowledged genius). But Mind directed and focused by Heart/Love–ah–that be a True Compass!!

With your indulgence, the remaining symbolism of this image is left as an exercise to the reader…

The Compass

The Music

“The Journey” is scored for glass armonica, string orchestra and harp.

• Here's the the whole piece (7:04)
• Here's the the first 30 seconds
• Here's the the score

New Music: “Two Fish”

“Alchemy” is fairly well known as the attempt during the Middle Ages and Late Renaissance to turn Lead into Gold. An enormous body of alchemical literature has survived. But within that literature is a stream in which ‘alchemy’ was a metaphor for turning the human heart from Lead into Gold—a way to talk about Spirituality and alternate ideas about Christianity that might not set well with the religious authorities of the day. After all, in those days they didn’t exactly “honor diversity”— being different could result in your being the guest of honor at a burning-at-the-stake!

The famous psychologist Carl Jung wrote extensively about this ‘inner alchemical’ literature.

Some of it is in the form of images, others as poetry or wildly metaphorical prose. The Book of Lambspring is a set of images and accompanying poems. It dates from around 1600.

The poem says that the two fish are the Soul and the Spirit, swimming in the sea of the Body. You can read the poem for yourself, but I’ll leave you with a thought that has helped me make sense of this image and sacred literature in general. And that is: perhaps one way of thinking about the difference between Soul and Spirit is that ‘soul’ is our consciousness directed towards OURSELVES, where ‘spirit’ is our consciousness directed toward God. You’ll notice that the two fish in the image are swimming in opposite directions.

So here’s the first image in the alchemical Book of Lambspring, and my own new piece to go with it.

1. The Two Fish

The Sea is the Body, the two Fishes are Soul and Spirit.

The Sages will tell you
That two fishes are in our sea
Without any flesh or bones.
Let them be cooked in their own water;
Then they also will become a vast sea,
The vastness of which no man can describe.
Moreover, the Sages say
That the two fishes are only one, not two;
They are two, and nevertheless they are one,
Body, Spirit, and Soul.
Now, I tell you most truly,
Cook these three together,
That there may be a very large sea.
Cook the sulphur well with the sulphur,
And hold your tongue about it:
Conceal your knowledge to your own advantage,
And you shall be free from poverty.
Only let your discovery remain a close secret.

• Here's the the whole piece (5:59)
• Here's the the first 30 seconds
• Here's the the score