Wayfaring Stranger

Wayfaring Stranger

Traditional folk song

http://www.flutetunes.com/tunes.php?id=347

"There are many and varied opinions about the origins of this traditional song. Some of the proposed origins are Appalachian folk, old Irish folk, and Catskills folk. One theory is that it originates from the Negro Spirituals, and there was a deliberate concealment of the song's origins. Clearly the song is of a spiritual nature, as the “Wayfaring Stranger” sings of the hardships of his temporal life passing by and refers to his journeying on to a better place.

This song has been recorded countless times, but in the 1940s it became strongly associated with American folk singer Burl Ives, who made it one of his signature songs. Ives even used it as the title of his CBS radio show and his autobiography. For these reasons, Ives is sometimes referred to as “The Wayfaring Stranger”."

- Taken from Flutetunes. com 

Orfeo ed Euridice. Euridice exists only to create the story of Orfeo.

Che farò senza Euridice, Orfeo's aria from Orfeo ed Euridice

Che farò senza Euridice  What will I do without Euridice
Dove andrò senza il mio ben. Where will I go without my wonderul one.
Euridice, o Dio, risponde Euridice, oh God, answer
Io son pure il tuo fedele. I am entirely your loyal one.
Euridice! Ah, non m´avvanza Euridice! Ah, it doesn´t give me
più socorso, più speranza any help, any hope
ne dal mondo, ne dal cel. neither this world, neither heaven.

Translation by Gabriel Huaroc (ghuaroc@usm.edu.ec)

From the flute tunes page:

According to Greek mythology, Orpheus was “the father of songs”: with his music and singing, he could charm birds, fish and wild beasts, coax the trees and rocks into dance, and even divert the course of rivers.

When his wife Eurydice died of a snake bite, Orpheus played such sad songs and sang so mournfully that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus traveled to the underworld and by his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone (he was the only person ever to do so), who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. He set off with Eurydice following and in his anxiety as soon as he reached the upper world he turned to look at her, forgetting that both needed to be in the upper world, and she vanished for the second time.

It is then that Orpheus intones the lament, “Che farò senza Euridice?” (“What will I do without Eurydice?”), a sublime aria which has truly become immortal.

 http://www.flutetunes.com/tunes.php?id=236

Christmas Blogcert 2014, The Franklinoc Flute Ensemble

The Franklinoc Flute Ensemble

Deck the Halls 

Traditional Welsh. Arr. Kenneth Baird

Silent Night

Franz Gruber. Arr. Kenneth Baird

Ar Hyd y Nos
Traditional Welsh

Carol of the Bells 
Mykola Leontovych

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
Attributed to Benjamin R. Hanby 

We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Traditional English. Arr. Kenneth Baird

Painting by artist Cheri Wollenberg:

Sources

Video footage

Snowman painting by Cheri Wollenberg

Deck the Halls, Silent Night, We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Ar Hyd y Nos, Carol Of The Bells, Jolly Old St Nicholas

Crown Fountain and Sunday Morning

This is Crown Fountain.  It is located at Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois.  The fountain is a display of two tall towers, composed of clear brick, and a reflecting pool that has a black floor.   The towers display video of the faces of Chicago residents.  The models are very still, making sudden micro-expressions after lengths of visual silence.  It ends with an explosion of water coming out of the mouth.  

I wrote this flute trio (Sunday Morning) using the MuseScore application.  It is a free music writing application with an online community.  I used a new device, the THX Certified Microphone.  It makes a pretty big difference in quality of sound.  Up until now, I have just been using my MacBook microphone to record.  

Franklinoc

About the microphone

About Crown Fountain

About MuseScore

Hello, Sue!

During a trip to Chicago, we stopped at The Field Museum to see Sue.  Here is an excerpt about him (Sue is a male.  He is named after Sue Hendrickson, palaeontologist, the female human responsible for this amazing find.  ) from The Field Museum website:

The world-famous fossil known as “Sue” is the largest, best-preserved, and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found. Sue measures 42 feet long from snout to tail and 13 feet tall at the hip. She boasts 58 dagger-like teeth and cuts a fine figure as the Museum’s most popular backdrop for visitor photos. A replica skull crowns the skeleton in Stanley Field Hall, while Sue’s original skull, which weighs 600 pounds, rests within an exhibition on the Museum’s balcony, under a mural depicting this majestic creature in the flesh.

• Marvel at the size and superb preservation of Sue’s skeleton, which is more than 90 percent complete.

• Examine Sue’s original skull from all sides—even underneath—and discover what scientists suspect may have caused the holes in her mighty jaws.

• Explore the difference between fact, theory, and speculation and see clips from pop culture that show how scientific understanding of T. rex has changed over the years.

• Discover what a CT scan of Sue’s skull revealed about T. rex that scientists had not previously known.

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/at-the-field/exhibitions/sue-t-rex

https://musescore.com/user/850141/scores/415536

Plaisir d'amour

Plaisir d'amour

Jean-Paul-Egide Martini

Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment.

chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

J'ai tout quitté pour l'ingrate Sylvie.

Elle me quitte et prend un autre amant.

Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment.

chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

Tant que cette eau coulera doucement

vers ce ruisseau qui borde la prairie,

Je t'aimerai me répétait Sylvie.

L'eau coule encore. Elle a changé pourtant.

Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment.

chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

~

The pleasure of love lasts only a moment

The grief of love lasts a lifetime.

I gave up everything for ungrateful Sylvia,

She is leaving me for another lover.

The pleasure of love lasts only a moment,

The grief of love lasts a lifetime.

"As long as this water will run gently

Towards this brook which borders the meadow,

I will love you", Sylvia told me repeatedly.

The water still runs, but she has changed.

The pleasure of love lasts only a moment,

The grief of love lasts a lifetime.

The Kesh Jig

An Irish Cat