Category: Music - ROBERT E DUNN

catholic writers guild

11/17/2022

“You asked, and now I will answer. To date, monsieur, my stories have contained no foul language. Such has come out of the mouths of characters, not from the omniscient narrator. Realism has certain demands, M. Chopin. Yet, the Catholic Writers Guild has never given me their Seal of Approval. The Guild cannot distinguish the difference just elucidated. Membership, over. The rebirth of Catholic arts, their motto, will issue elsewhere. Nor was the secular publishing world a friend to me, a fairly competent fiction writer of the male sort, of a rather traditional bent like you, and not into trash and trends. It’s been fun. Maybe someday I’ll see you on Quora. Here are the directions.”
https://www.quora.com/profile/Robert-E-Dunn

Chopin by a Russian monk whose religious name is Abel and birth name is Paul de Senneville

unreal

11/14/2022

I try to make the blog interesting and not talk about myself, but it is mine, and the opportunity bids. Here are the most unreal moments of my objectively insignificant life:

Conceived (that’s why I’m pro-life)
1961 instruction and reception into the Catholic Church
1962 marriage of my father (stepfather) and mother
1962 knowing God the Father
1966 entrance into St. Ignatius High School, SF
1997 death of my father, a saint
2004 purchase of the Tutoring Club, San Jose
2008 employment at the Academy of Art University, SF
2017 death of my mother, a saint
2019 knowing God the Holy Ghost
2020 finding St. Stephen the First Martyr Church, Sacramento
1962- having a friend, God the Son

Some things are not up for a reveal because they are strictly between me and God, but the thing for which I am most grateful is that God kept me alive when I was not living in a state of grace, destination Hell.

2017 Eric Zhang at St. Mary’s Cathedral, SF, “No Time for Caution,” 2.5 million views, from the film, Interstellar (2014) www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBFmPdqAidQ

fiddleback

11/11/2022

Did you know that a medieval knight’s armor was modeled after a priest’s chasuble, called a fiddleback? They resemble the back of a fiddle (violin). The fiddleback is worn during the Latin Mass. Can you guess why? Pictured is just one example.

center breastplate

front and back

Roman soldiers wore a breastplate, too.

saddle up

11/9/2022

Horse on a piano? Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKYkl489Y18

chopinists

11/8/2022

I made a decision and invite other Catholic Chopinists to carefully think about doing the same, and that is to support only those dioceses, groups, or orders that are Catholic and traditional. Investigate each entity first and avoid the coffee monks in Wyoming. He gave you a brain. Use it. Nothing is exempt from scrutiny.

De Hirundine (About the swallow)

Est mihi corporeae species aptissima formae,
Quae fore terrigenûm nulli onerosa quaeat;
Vixetenim digitos numerat mensura quaternos,
Formula qua constat corporis arta mei.
Unde dei templis fas est mihi ponere nidos
Inque hominum pullos aede fovere meos.

I have a body of a very suitable shape,
with which I cannot be a burden to anyone on earth.
After all, it’s only barely four fingers long;
that is what my delicate physique consists of.
That’s why I can build nests in churches
and in the houses of men for my boy care.

Stanza 1, Latin poem by Radboud of Utrecht, ca A.D. 870. The poem might be a writing exercise for school and oldest known poem from the Netherlands https://nl.wikisource.org/wiki/De_hirundin

I'm good by bebe

10/31/2022

trending on pop radio, remake of I'm Blue

room in heaven

10/30/2022

It’s hard to imagine what heaven is like. Read Jimmy Akin, convert and theologian at Catholic Answers. He refers to Scripture and the Catechism. Jimmy looks like a crazy nut, but, actually, he is very sensible, perceptive, and read. I just wait my time.
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/what-is-heaven-really-like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrnSxYyG2ZE John Field

artists & musicians

10/29/2022

Here is a link to Catholic artists and musicians currently working. I know one of them. The directory includes bookbinders and illustrators, and one does illustrations to enhance works of literature. https://catholicartistsdirectory.com

piano competitions

10/26/2022

I agree with Robert. One commenter said that winning the hearts of the audience is more important. The student I tutor in writing is very gifted, and he knows it, but I am not there to change him. I want him to be himself and pursue success his way.

rubinstein

10/24/2022

An agnostic proud of his Jewish heritage and my favorite pianist, Rubinstein (1887-1982) talks about his piano playing. He made mistakes, and no one cared, he sounded so good. Some declare Rachmaninoff the greatest pianist. I listened to a young girl who attends St. Stephen with her family, and she played very, very well. She has talent.

Rubinstein plays Rachmaninoff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_BArG3ollw

chased by bees

10/22/2022

What it feels like when being chased by bees, or people: just stay out in front -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHZIegO4ynk

field

10/21/2022

John Field 1782-1837 Irish pianist, piano teacher, composer, not well-known.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Field_(composer) Here is an easy one to learn.

the sound of music

10/16/2022

“In May 1933 he [Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, 1892-1934, assassinated] created the Fatherland Front. While outwardly fascist, it was mostly Catholic and influenced by the papal encyclical Quadragesimo anno of 1931 which refuted liberalism and socialism in favour of corporatism.” Nazi agents killed Dollfuss, and in 1938 Hitler annexed Austria. Wikipedia. The world was not ready for Dollfuss. The American film, The Sound of Music, takes place during this time. Some of the lyrics are here:
https://www.traditioninaction.org/Cultural/Music_P_files/P053_Schonste.htm

vaganova adagio

10/13/2022

Now we are getting more from Vaganova, the comprehensive ballet school in St. Petersburg. Here we have a duet danced by 18-year-olds. His profile is that of a 19th century composer, maybe Liszt, frightening, and she looks like a sweet farm girl raised on the Russian steppes.

beethoven

10/13/2022

Beethoven’s funeral Mass took place on March 29, 1827, at the Trinity Church of the Minorites, once known as the White Spaniards, now as the Alserkirche or the Trinitarian Church, a Roman Catholic parish church in Vienna.

photo taken on December 20, 2010, at 12:09:53, author Andreas Faessler, no changes were made
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alserkirche_Wien.jpg

I don’t like his music, but he reconciled with the Church, so in place of his music is a bit of music that appeals to me, my preferences running in the direction of the glossy, a summer picnic on the grass at Versailles, followed by a walk in quiet moonlight with bats. I have friends and family who are not believers or are not reconciled and I offer Sunday Mass for them and the same bit of music, too.

A new century of good manners and dress up would be great. In that painting I fancy myself in blue standing next to my father, the King, as he receives the loyal tribute of the nation. The household confessor is behind me, and my mother is the lady in white and mauve. Yep, that is the right order of things.

vaganova concert

10/9/2022

September 30, 2022. Miss Koshkaryova, 17, made one counting error, but she performed a difficult Tchaikovsky ballet very well.

Children & mozart

10/8/2022

Here is a piece for which I would have a second surgery on both hands if the results would last. I once knew a Russian trombonist who lost the feeling in his upper lip and with that his career. Children are quite good to me, and the parents of children I have tutored like me. Most adults, however, are just nice to my face. After they knock me down, I turn to classical piano, not words, not prayer.

lions

10/6/2022

New Rome 20??
Senatus PopulusQue Romanus, marching, lame and strong alike, undeterred

excellence

10/6/2022

If you are the kind of person who has entered every exam room with the expectation or hope of answering every question correctly, move on to the Latin Mass. If you have entered an exam room with a lower expectation, stay with the modern. The two of you deserve each other.

Vaganova is a comprehensive school of ballet and academics. Not that many go all the way to a ballet company, but that isn’t the point. It’s not uni. The pedagogue got me laughing when he said, “How can you convince unromantic people to feel the romance?”

The romance of story, music, art, and faith.

seminary

10/5/2022

Compline is night prayer, the last prayer of the Office, Latin. I chose the SSPX seminary because the singing is exceptional and they have the most videos, and I chose night prayer because Mass is long and, at least for me, better appreciated in person. The other traditional orders are FSSP and ICKSP. Seminary is another name for school and was used prior to the 20th century for a variety of institutions. Now it describes schools for training priests, ministers, and rabbis. St. Thomas is in Virginia. The 2021 photograph shows the size of the student body and teaching staff.

gore

10/5/2022

The Gore I liked. 1963. Before Auto-Tune, the machine that fixes pitch, made lousy singers sound good, and before the Beatles ruined the American music scene, Lesley reached #2 with this song written by two guys.

mp

10/4/2022

Recommendation: all future Catholic bishops must complete service in the military or law enforcement. Reason: wimps afraid to challenge heretics and thereby lose their benefices are eliminated from the gene pool. Evidence: the grand total of bishops who have challenged the goons in Rome is two, Schneider and Vigano (maybe Burke). The rest sit on big bank accounts in Pixie Hollow. Instead, prepare Catholic boys by showing them videos like the following, not The Lion King. I speak as a one-time boy who never bought into Disney make-believe.

winged hussars

10/1/2022

Sabaton wrote this song in 2016 to honor 20,000 Polish, German, and Austrian men who defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. The first Ottoman assault on Vienna was repelled in 1529. The Winged Hussars of Poland, whose motto was “Amor Patriae Nostra Lex – Love of the fatherland is our law”, led the 1683 charge, the largest known cavalry charge in history.

waltz time

9/20/2022

Anna Karenina, 2012, Keira Knightley in black. Someone has a bloody lip.

chopin self-quotation

9/20/2022

Finally Found Frederick

He explained what I thought I was hearing: Chopin quoting himself, repeating himself with some variation. Bi-rhythm (what Frederick calls bi-metrical) is one rhythm for the right hand and one for the left hand and almost requires two brains, but, after frequent practice, it starts to happen.

A rondo is an instrumental form characterized by the initial statement and subsequent restatement of a particular melody or section, the various statements of which are separated by contrasting material. This pattern reveals itself in good writing, too.

From Frederick we learn that composers are sensitive, as are writers, to what is happening around them.